A couple of hours drive south from Perth, lying on the shores of Geographe Bay, stands the beautiful seaside town of Busselton.
We spent three nights there, right on the seafront at the modern Hilton Garden Inn, after a relentless drive south from the big-city vibes and sweltering heat of Perth and Fremantle. There was little to distract us en route. An arid landscape of eucalypts and pines interspersed with wide open fields given over to cattle became just a little tedious after two-plus hours. Arriving in attractive and bustling Busselton was a great relief, not least because it wasn’t anywhere near as hot and sultry as Perth. The presence of a pool was welcome too.
The wider region has been home to the indigenous Wadandi people for thousands of years but the area was first settled by Europeans in the 1830s. The town became a significant port, a base for whalers from around the Pacific and the export of local timber. The town’s most famous feature was crucial to its economy – a jetty that burnt down, blew down and was restored several times over the years. It’s now central to its tourism infrastructure, a whopping 1.8km-long structure that stretches towards the horizon as one of the longest piers in the southern hemisphere.
A small tourist train runs its length but we chose to walk to the end, to the marine discovery centre that’s now housed there. There were no available tickets when we arrived so we walked all the way back again with little else in the way of distraction other than the truly fantastic views of the sandy beaches and the foreshore, dominated by Norfolk Island Pines. Walk completed, we even took a dip in the crystal clear waters of the not-too-cold sea.
The town itself is a pleasant enough place although rather quiet – it seems a lot of the action has migrated to the seafront over time. Perhaps it’s a lot busier in the school holidays. We did a tour of some of the modest historical buildings and, one evening, ate at the Busselton Pavilion, a modern shopping and eating complex in town. But, as we found, not many people stay out too late in Busselton, at least at the end of the summer season in early March.
My favourite late night spot was Shelter, a modern brewery and bar right by our hotel. We ate there, drank and watched the world go by. Opposite was The Goose, a restaurant where we ate one night and had breakfast every morning, overlooking the sea.
We drove out one day to the Ngilgi Cave close to Yallingup on the windier, wilder west coast. The visit began with a walk through the bush – the Ancient Lands Experience – which explored the geology of the region. The descent into the caves proved somewhat more challenging, with some precarious paths, steep sections and high levels of carbon dioxide that made it feel a lot more tiring than it should. But the drama of the caves made up for any of the difficulties, with a fabulous array of stalagtites, stalagmites and other colourful and magical rock formations on show. With few other tourists around, it was atmospheric and I loved it.
We then drove a few miles further north up to the tip of Cape Naturaliste, the exposed headland that was named by French explorers early in the 19th century. We were there to visit the lighthouse, which is now over 120 years old but still working automatically. It’s vital to shipping trying to avoid the treacherous reefs that lie beyond the cape.
A modest museum, which is housed in one of the old keeper’s cottages, provided background to the building and the human occupation. There were fascinating stories of shipwrecks and survivors as well as the difficult relationships that sometimes developed between the few residents forced to live so closely together and so remotely from civilisation.
A guide gave us more history and then took us up the lighthouse itself, which is fairly modest with just 59 steps from front door to its powerful light. Not that it needs to be any taller thanks to its position high up on the headland. The views from the top were truly wonderful, taking in the vast expanse of Indian Ocean and Geographe Bay and the green landscapes of the cape. But it was fearsomely windy up there and at times I feared being blown over the edge.
We drove back to Busselton through the towns along the shores of Geographe Bay. We stopped at pleasant Dunsborough for refreshments and some shopping and the next day made our way back to Perth. En route we stopped on the coast at Bunbury, for a short walk around a remnant of ancient mangroves and had a spot of lunch.
There’s no denying that the south-west of Western Australia is a great part of the world, at least when it’s not boiling hot, and I’m very glad we followed the recommendations of family and made Busselton our base.