Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park

4 October

Yesterday was rather momentous – we did a big left turn and are now heading east.  After travelling south for so long, it really does feel weird.  We can no longer take a short little detour to the Indian Ocean, it’ll be the Southern Ocean from now.  Of course heading east means we’re heading towards home, which means the trip is nearing its end.  No-o-o-o-o!  We prefer to view it as beginning a 6 week journey across southern Australia.  Ah, that feels better J

The big difference in travel since about Geraldton is that there’s a lot to see and do in a more concentrated area.  So we’re having to make decisions about whether we’ll go inland or coastal, this township or that one.  Up north it was a fairly standard route with fewer decisions and we’ve become used to not having to make such decisions.  Of course this means seeing some areas and missing others.  Oh well, I guess that leaves us plenty to see should we get back over this way J

Since leaving Perth we’ve had quite a bit of choice and decided on the coastal road as far as possible.  This has taken us through lovely national parks as well as towns like Bunbury and Busselton.  One beautiful place we camped was ‘Martins Tank’ which is in the Yalgorup NP near Preston Beach.  It’s a proper bush camp among the trees and birds and with a very light drizzle the air was fresh with the smell of the eucalypts.  When I pulled the curtain open next morning there was a big red kangaroo with a smaller female carrying a joey standing a couple of metres from the back of the troopy, quietly watching us.

We did go inland in places and found the area around Harvey to be lush, green, pretty countryside supporting dairy farming and citrus orchards.  Apparently it supplies the bulk of WA’s milk.  As has been the case in so many areas at this time of year, everything’s in flower so there’s plenty of colour around.

 

Bunbury’s a large town on the coast where we spent some time by the harbour and also looking around some of the new housing estates.  We climbed the lookout tower which was great as it gave a good perspective of where we were – the river, inlet, harbour and ocean. 

Then we enjoyed a visit to the art gallery which houses some fantastic pieces of local work – really finely sculpted wood designs, glass work, paintings etc.

 

Bunbury art gallery, housed in an old convent

We liked Busselton a lot.  The weather was cool and drizzly but we still enjoyed time by the nearly 2km long jetty, the beautiful foreshore and exploring the residential area which always gives us a feel for a place.  We both thought this would be a very easy place to live – if we wanted to be in a small town, or in the west.  

Rather than a photo of the jetty, here's the rainbow we saw in Busselton

Then we came to Dunsborough and the area between the town and the cape (Cape Naturaliste).  What a beautiful area this is. After exploring some of the bays and beaches we went for a look at the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse and then a walk.  

We walked along a coastal track high enough to give a good view across the ocean and before long were seeing spouts of water, big splashes and glimpses of huge bodies - it was so nice to see whales again.   It’s such a buzz!