Duke of Orleans Bay |
Duke of Orleans Bay |
Hello
everyone, I was in a real rush to
publish the last issue of our Travel Blog that I forgot to put in the photos of
Duke of Orleans Bay – I mean how could I possibly say it was the most
beautiful, best beach and scenery we’d ever seen without including some photos!!!! I did publish them on Facebook. Sorry for that folks – photos now in this
issue. Also, we forgot the camera when
we were in the Underwater Observatory (hence no photos to publish) – we’re
pretty hopeless sometimes I know!!!
THURSDAY 30TH MAY -
We left Albany at 9am. It had been pouring rain all night and it was
still raining very heavily when we left. We intended to go to Denmark about an hour’s drive from Albany
for our next destination to free camp there or at Peaceful Bay a bit further up
the coast. Driving through Denmark, it
was still raining and it was very cold too. We decided to keep going for a bit
longer, hoping the weather would change or ease off. We stopped at Walpole for lunch at midday. The temperature was 6 degrees outside and
absolutely freezing, so we decided to head straight to the warmth and comfort
of a caravan park at Busselton. We
arrived at The Four Seasons Caravan Park at Busselton at 3pm and quickly set up and put
the heater on to warm us up. I put on a
pot of pumpkin soup and couldn’t wait for it to cook to warm us up inside too.
The park was a large older style one, with lots of space in
between the vans. There were a lot of
permanent vans also. They were very
friendly and helpful in the office and the managers were making an effort to
spruce the place up considerably, with verandas added to the cottages for rent
and new outdoor furniture around the camp kitchen and a new flower bed at the front
of the park and yellow sandstone walls around the park. It was fairly quiet at the park when we
arrived, but they were expecting quite a few people for the WA Foundation Day
long weekend. There was a 7 day special
winter rate of $190, so we decided to stay for 7 days.
Busselton has a population of 25,000 people
FRIDAY 31ST MAY -
Thankfully the weather improved.
The rain stopped and the sunshine came out and we could take Sally for a
long walk on the beach which was a 5 minute walk over the road from the caravan
park. Geographe
Bay is a very big calm bay, stretching for 30 kilometres up to Cape
Naturaliste. It was named in 1801 by the
French explorer Nicolas Baudin after his ship called The Geographe.
People were coming into the park all day and it was starting
to get quite busy. The caravans set up
their outdoor firesas they were allowed open fires so long as they were off the
grass. They were all huddled around
their fire pots by mid-afternoon.
Richard was interested in one called the OzPig that he’s looked at in
the camping shops. It folds up in a
carry case. He wants Daniel to help him
convert a 9kg gas bottle into a portable fire pit which he’s seen at many of
the campsites we’ve stayed at.
We went for a drive around town in the afternoon and parked
close to the world famous Busselton Jetty.
Busselton Jetty is 1.8
kilometres long and is the longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere, and
the second largest in the World. It is
heritage listed. It was built 146 years
ago and recently had a $27 million overhaul, with an Interpretive Centre,
Underwater Observatory, fish cleaning stations and a train being added. We paid $29 each for a return trip on the
train to the end of the Jetty and admission into The
Underwater Observatory which is 8 metres below sea level. Prior to the Observatory being built, only
divers or snorkellers could appreciate the artificial reef and the variety of
tropical and subtropical corals, sponges, fish and invertebrates beneath the
water. The Observatory can hold 40
people at a time in its 9.5 metre observation chamber. There were 11 viewing windows on the three
levels; below sea level, mid-level and sea level. We could see lots of different corals and
sponges on the wooden pylons and it was amazing to watch all the different
species of fish swimming around. We saw
a school of taylor passing by, followed by a school of anchovies and lots of
leather jackets. It was fascinating
watching them from the different windows on the three levels. The guided tour
lasted for an hour and was really interesting.
Busselton Jetty |
Half way back on the train, we were lucky enough to spot 4
dolphins jumping in and out of the water.
It was so awesome to watch them frolicking around.
SATURDAY 2ND JUNE -
We met up with our friends Alan and Sandra that live in Busselton (we
met them the first night we free camped on The Nullarbor). We called around to their beautiful home and
had morning tea with them. That
stretched into lunch, and it was late in the afternoon when we left them,
loaded up with large lemons (the size of balls), oranges, mandarins and 2 huge sweet
potatoes from their garden.
SUNDAY 2ND JUNE -
We went for a drive to Dunsborough
a lovely little town a 20 minute drive west from Busselton. They had a 2 day Jazz Festival for the WA
Foundation Day long weekend. The town
was very busy with tourists and their dogs and we stopped to listen to the jazz
band in the park. People were dancing
and having a good time. From there we
went to Yallingup to watch the
surfers from the top of the hill looking down onto the water and the jagged
rocks and high cliff faces. It’s a
popular surfing beach. The waves weren’t huge but there were a few surfers
trying to catch them. Yallingup is an
aboriginal word meaning “Place of Love”. The waves are so good here that pro
surfer Taj Burrow calls it home.
TUESDAY 4TH JUNE -
Alan and Sandra invited us to meet their bowling/caravan group of
friends at a local Chinese restaurant.
The lunch specials, all $10.50, were massive helpings and the food was
really fresh and tasty. The group were really friendly and we had a very
enjoyable lunch with them all and swapped caravan stories. We were told about so many different places
to visit in WA. After lunch, we all
ended up at Alan and Sandra’s for coffee and more stories. What a fun-loving crowd. We were really
pleased to meet them. Alan is to give us
the details of their forthcoming caravan group gathering in early February 2014. We’d love to go away with them all if we can
make it.
WEDNESDAY 5TH JUNE -
We went for a drive to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse in Cape Leeuwin National Park. We took the Lighthouse Loop walk (about 4
kilometres) with spectacular views of The Indian Ocean. The Humpback and Southern Right Whales can be
spotted from this path from May to September.
Unfortunately, we didn’t see any today. The Lighthouse is 116 years old
and is the tallest on mainland Australia.
It is a working lighthouse and overlooks where the Indian and Southern
Oceans meet. We took the scenic drive
through Bunker Bay, Eagle Bay, Meelup Beach and Castle Rock – all with stunning
scenery and back to Dunsborough and Busselton.
NEXT WEEK: We will be heading to Perth to catch
up with our Son Daniel, Richard’s Brother Bob in Sorrento and some of our
friends. Our daughter Karina and her
boyfriend Kieran are coming to Perth on 13th June for a week’s
holiday. It will be so good for us to be
together again and we’re really looking forward to seeing both Karina and
Daniel again. We will probably spend 3-4 weeks in Perth before moving north.
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