Busselton WA, Bunbury WA, Cape Naturaliste WA, Lighthouse, jetty

Busselton WA April 24, 2015
It's overcast and cold. Our plan while here was to have a look around the coast from Bunbury in the North to Augusta in the south, so we had better get a move on. First stop however was the world-famous jetty at Albany (why have I never heard of these things?). It's claim to fame is that it is the longest wooden pier in the world and at 1864 metres in length, who is going to argue?

We only had a peek today as there was a cruise ship's worth of people crowding everything out from the jetty to the beach to the special cruise-day market. At the end of the jetty there is an underwater observation area and there is a little train to get you out and back. But like everything in WA, it's going to cost you a pretty penny. Even a walk along the jetty will cost you $3. As it is maintained by the local people, not 'the government' and costs a bomb to look after, every dollar counts I guess.

Jetty. Busselton WA

Jetty. Busselton WA

Jetty. Busselton WA

Not having any idea what to expect, or what we remembered from our last visit to Bunbury in 1974 we went up there to have a look. I expected a family old port, with old buildings and jetty and the like, but we found nothing like it: everything is new and wall to wall houses and apartments. The only old thing we found was the old railway station, now being used as the bus dept and the info centre.

To give you some idea of how bland this place is, when we asked the info-person what the local attractions were she gave us directions to an ice-cream parlour and a chocolate shop...

The only attraction appears to be the look-out tower, up which I went and took these 4 snaps, roughly s, e, n, w; you'll see what I mean

South. Bunbury WA

North. Bunbury WA

East. Bunbury WA

West. Bunbury WA

Lookout. Bunbury WA

We had lunch at another of these Dome cafes, but this one whilst looking sort of the same as the one in Esperance, had no atmosphere at all, it had all been blown out by the 'breeze' coming in the front door and out the back. Couldn't get out fast enough.

Back to Busselton, well, past Busselton actually, and along to the southern end of Geographe Bay, called Cape Naturaliste, which has a big National Park and a lighthouse. Again the $3 bite to walk up the path to the lighthouse, Could have taken the shot from the gate and not bothered. As a matter of interest, its about 100m along the path to the lighthouse, around the base, and back. There is a flagpole on the seaward side of the structure, but the view, such as it is, is of the scrub and Indian Ocean, and is obscured by the head-high saltbush and a very high chain-wire fence. Disappointing. I suppose I could have stumped up the $20 or whatever and had the guided tour inside, but one has to draw the line somewhere. Beside, the thing of interest to me was the clockwork mechanism used to turn the light from 1903 to 1970 something and that was on display in the shop. It had to be wound up by hand every 40 minutes during the hours of darkness.

Lighthouse. Cape Naturaliste, WA