Bunbury was our first stop but there’s not much to see except the dolphins that come into the bay most mornings (and we had missed them of course). The Dolphin Discovery Centre there is a non-profit educational facility - and they do a far better job than the Monkey Mia outfit.
So, on to Busselton to walk their main attraction – the 140 year old, 2km jetty with an underwater observatory at the end. The tourist train was being renovated but as we walked along the narrowing jetty from concrete onto wooden rotten planks, we wondered who would ride it. Surely, the last thing you want is to be sitting on 10 tons of iron on a dodgy jetty! Walked back to find the fee-collecting shack was closed and the gate wide open – the woman had happily taken $5 off us about 3 minutes before the free entry hours – what happened to her Christmas Spirit?
Cape Naturaliste on the northern cape is has walking trails, a lighthouse and a boardwalk for whale-watching… Oh and flies… we walked the 3km in record time, swatting madly. Andy said that if he knew flies made me walk that fast, he would have brought a jar of them with him everywhere. (cheeky bugger)Yallingup was the Aboriginal honeymoon location before European settlement and means ‘place of love’. There’s a great surf break here and just 3km up the road, the pink granite of Canal Rocks is a cool place to watch the sunset. As long as the waves are not crashing in, you can scramble up to the top. The place is renowned for 'King Waves' that suddenly come over the top and sweep you into the sea!
