Busselton

We had a relatively short drive (about 240 km)  from the Swan Valley to our next stop, Busselton which is in the south west region of WA.

On the way we stopped at a tiny town called Harvey for a rest just near a river (or brook) and so we went for a walk to investigate. We ended up in this beautiful garden which was just stunning. WA has the most beautiful gardens all over the place. In private homes and in public parks the roses are amazing and there are all sorts of flowering trees and plants. The climate must be just right over here. They have also had a lot of rain recently which I'm sure would help.

We left the rest area and continued on into town to buy something for lunch. We went past this house called the 'Villa Costalotta II'!

There were some lovely gardens in the town too and this beautiful flowering tree. I don't know what it is but it was very tall and just stunning.

We drove on through some lovely farm country to reach Busselton by early afternoon.

We found a great spot at the Kookaburra Caravan Park which was run by the local council. Council run parks are few and far between these days. They are usually the oldest parks and in the best spots. It was great because it had no fences, no boom gate and no keys, just a code to get into the amenities block, and more importantly it was only one block back from the beach and within walking distance of the main shopping area. So it was very convenient. We ended up staying for four nights.

One of the main attractions in Busselton is the jetty which is about 1900 mtrs long. This is quite a bit longer than the jetty in Carnarvon and the one in Busselton is in much better condition. There is a lot of history associated with the jetty. I has been extended three times, has been damaged by fire and by storms and has formed an integral part of the history of the town over many years.

The jetty has a rail line all the way to the end and a little train takes people out to the end and back. It is quite a walk so the train was quite popular.

The jetty is a very popular fishing spot and in the evenings it was lined with people all the way out to the end. It must be such a special place to many people as it has a section where there are plaques placed on the side in memory of people who have died and had their ashes scattered from the jetty. There were probably about 50 plaques in all. One of them said after the details of the man that had died 'He told us to toss 'em. So we did!'

The water was so clear and didn't appear to be very deep either. It was beautiful. The shallow water was one of the reasons why the jetty was extended.

Busselton is a really nice town. It has everything you need, its really clean and well organised with lovely parks and public areas along the foreshore near the jetty. WA has amazing facilities for children. There are parks everywhere with really creative and imaginative equipment for them to play on. Busselton had about three or four large play areas for kids.

This huge fig tree was just near the jetty area. Mike is standing underneath it so you can get an idea of how big it is. We had a really nice lunch at the restaurant underneath the tree too!

In the afternoon we went for a drive out to the Busselton marina and went for a walk around to look at the boats. Much to our delight two dolphins appeared and were swimming around between the rows of boats. They were way too fast for me to get a photo but I was really surprised that they would come right into the marina.

We then went off to do some more exploring and ended up on a track that had all these lilies everywhere. I call them funeral lilies but I'm sure they have another name. We subsequently saw them in many other places, even in the national park, so I don't know if they are native or an introduced pest! They are quite pretty though.

On our way back out to the main road I spotted a lizard on the track and called out to Mike to stop so he stopped really quickly to avoid running him over. I got out of the car to have a look at him.

Looks innocent doesn't he? Well, when I went a bit closer he wasn't so happy....

Very big mouth with nasty blue tongue. I tried to explain that it was down to me that he didn't get run over but it made no difference to his attitude. 

The next day we went for a drive to Dunsborough which is another small town just along the coast from Busselton and then continued through Yallingup.

This brings me to an important feature of this part of the country. There are many many towns which end in 'up'. The suffix up means 'place of'' in the Aboriginal dialect of Noongar. There are more than 250 towns which are named using this suffix in the south west of WA. Just an example, we went through Jindalup, Wagerup, Dwellingup, Cookernup, Dardenup, Nannup, Manjimup, etc.

The countryside is covered in a sort of heath with pink wildflowers interspersed which was very pretty.

This photo refused to go landscape!

We set off on another unmarked track (Mike has an attraction to unmarked tracks!) and ended up at Cape Mentelle which was lovely. We saw a whale and her calf cruising by out from the coast. There were all these rocky outcrops near the beach and some people were snorkeling around in one of the bays.

All along this track to the beach there were the most fantastic wildflowers including a huge patch of kangaroo paw. They were just along the side of the road, and when we got out to take pictures we found another side road nearby where they were everywhere all along it.

Thousands of them!!

On the way back to Busselton we stopped at Cowaramup. So of course they have taken this name and run with it! It was a pretty little town with cows all down the main street. Not real ones of course!

This area has the most fantastic bottlebrush trees. They are everywhere and they are just dripping with blooms. They use them in parks, by the side of the road, in private gardens, anywhere really and they look great.

Our last day in Busselton was spent mostly lazing around although we did visit the local museum which is located in an old butter factory. This museum has a huge collection which covers just about every aspect of life, including farming, butter making (of course) domestics, schooling, offices, you name it. Below are a few things that caught my eye.

Hand embroidered postcards.

Just like mum's!

Sewing machines, of course!

Crazy patchwork cushion cover.

My Nana used to wear one of these corsets!

Another great thing about Busselton is that it has a patchwork shop! I was so pleased to find The Blue Box. I bought some more fat quarters. I justify this by making them my souvenirs! I'm sure I will remember where I bought them! We had a great time in Busselton but we have so many more things to see in the south west though that we couldn't stay any longer and our next stop was Manjimup, which will feature in my next post.