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| Busselton Jetty |
This week is a bit of a fill in week as we head towards Perth as we have come ahead a little quicker than we thought & not due to see our friends till 6th on. Busselton is a nice large town, very modern, but other than the famous jetty not a lot to interest us & the weather turned drizzly. We were lucky to get photos of the jetty while there was some sun out. Stayed that night in a pine plantation freebie with no facilities, but the phone & TV both worked. Next day (2nd) travelled onto Bunbury which Stu thought would be bigger than Busselton but was not. A much older town & a bit scruffy & again nothing of interest but Stu had a few things he needed from shops so that filled in a little time. Night accommodation in the Leischenault Peninsula Conservation Park after travelling down a terrible corrugated road which just about shook the microwave out of its place. Only 3 vans there. OK, toilets provided & firewood but only $14 so couldn't complain. There was a very large wetland estuary which on the way in was busy with black swans, white egrets & ducks etc, but as the road was so bad & the chauffeur was very concentrated on his task I didn't dare ask to stop. We did go for a nice walk after settling in but sadly the birds were too far away. We did however see a little family of roos, several young ones & a mother & possibly the 'dad'. It was interesting to stand quietly & watch them, the youngsters very unsettled & mum putting her head close & putting their fears to rest. After a while they settled down & didn't worry as long as we didn't try to come too close. I suppose one becomes a little blase` after a while, but I still love to see them living in the wild & doing their own thing.
3rd - headed inland along a lovely dual carriageway to a lovely little town called Pinjarra - very historic & well kept. This was to be our base for 3 nights & we had prebooked a caravan park because of the school holidays & couldn't find free sites in our book in the area. On arrival at the park we were a bit daunted as it was really for permanents who lived in old caravans or little huts, some of them retired people, some obviously unemployed younger people. We had opted for no power as it was $26 even unpowered & we were OK without. The ablution blocks were clean & there was a laundry though as we have our own little one I normally use that IF I have power to do so. Right beside our van was a tiny pup tent with two young people in it who didn't seem to be travellers & appeared to just hang around in the kitchen provided all day. I would say they were unemployed. Some of the sites had lovely little gardens & ornaments etc, all retired people who couldn't afford any better. It was quite depressing to see how some people have to live & makes one wonder about the stories of their demise. One thing we noticed was that almost everyone we saw was smoking!!! Unfortunately we had had to prepay when we booked so couldn't really go elsewhere, but we were out most of the day so it was OK. It certainly wasn't a place were would have felt comfortable sitting out under our awning. There were quite a few children there too, some obviously lived in the onsite caravans. They all seemed normal happy kids & were quite well behaved. We spent the first afternoon exploring the little town & walked over their suspension bridge (just a bridge).
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| Walk in Lane Poole reserve |
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| Walk in Lane Poole reserve |
4th - A driving day exploring a nearby village called Dwellingup - really lovely, again old & historic. Visited a Conservation Park Area called Lane Poole Reserve & discovered we could have camped in there. It is part of the Murray River Valley (not to be confused with THE Murray River in the other states). It is 100 kms south of Perth & very popular with metropolitan visitors & tourists alike. It covers 55,000 hectares so there are plenty of walks etc to do & dirt roads in all directions. As we often find, the signage is quite poor or confusing so easy to get lost. It is a great place for kayaking (if we only had ours with us), in winter becoming a raging torrent, and in summer a limpid stream for swimming, kayaking or fishing. They even allow dogs in the camping areas as long as they are kept on a leash. Nearly everyone in Australia seems to have a dog so lots of parks provide doggy plastic bags & bins. We did a couple of walking trails which were pleasant & thought about a cycling trail as well but decided they would be too hilly for us oldies. There was a POW camp in another part of the forest which is only a few bits & pieces & signs saying where each building etc was sited. It was for Italian & German prisoners, who were taken out to work on the farms in the area & the Italians in particular were admired for their hard work ethics. Many remained in Australia at the end of the war by going AWOL just before their release & disappearing around the country. Also visited a lovely dam but surprised at how low it was.
5th - A real change for us, visiting some caravanning people we met on our last journey here. They live in Mandurah, a large modern area, full of canals & a boaties paradise with large estuaries plus the ocean. It was really lovely to have some long conversations with them & see where they live etc. Wayne is a real handyman & a perfectionist, builds his own small yachts among other things, & their home is immaculate & beautiful though a very small section which suits them these days. They are both into cycling, walking, swimming, boating, kayaking - you name it! Much more active than us, & live in the perfect place to do it all. Mandurah has cycle tracks, & walking tracks everywhere. Because it is a relatively young town it is quite planned, so all the houses look relatively new & the streets much the same, lots of islands & circles, which it makes it a nightmare for getting around if you are a stranger - thank goodness for the GPS. They took us on a grand tour of the whole place & being Sunday it was busy with families everywhere. Both Stu & I said we had never seen so many houses in all our life. We were relieved when they took us back to their house where we had a lovely hot Sunday lunch & pored over maps & routes & suggestions for us to see further north. All in all a lovely day.
6th - Finally arrived in Perth - very easy, freeway all the way from Mandurah (100 kms). Had prebooked our caravan site for a week in order to spend lots of time with Stu's friends who we last visited here about 6 years ago. So lovely to see them & it was as if we had only seen each other a month or so ago. Stu & Bruce were at sea together & have been mates ever since. Bruce has just retired as a ship's pilot. So there will be no blog during this week here & then they are going to travel with us for a few days as we head north. Really looking forward to having the company for a change.
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| Shags - Attention! |
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| Whistling Kite |
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