The tour today was to a national park area between Bunbury and Margaret River. Even though we are overnighting at Margaret River from tomorrow night, a luncheon engagement tomorrow prevents us from properly exploring this area. Also, Adrienne has found some galleries she wants to visit.
Before we left Bunbury we wanted to record some interesting architecture we saw last night while wandering the streets. First there is the lighthouse and the Rotary Observatory on the northern outskirts of town. Then in town there is the Rose Hotel which features stained glass windows and a very large bay window arrangement on the first floor. Also the wrought iron balustrading is a pleasing feature. Across the road is an Art Deco style building. The ground level has been modernised to cater for modern commercialism, but the first floor retains the 1930s style.
Our first stop was Busselton, which is situated in the beautiful Geographe Bay. The attraction here was the underwater observatory on the Busselton Jetty. Unfortunately, due to a 13 month refurbishment project on the jetty, which is due for completion in July 2010, the observatory, listed as 8 metres deep, was not available.
After morning tea our stop was Cape Naturaliste lighthouse which is accessed through Dunsborough. This area is the easternmost area of Western Australia. The lighthouse was built in 1903. We were given an insight into the lives of the lighthouse keepers by the guide, who really knew the subject matter and was interested in it. She also gave us good technical information on how the lighthouse was designed to work and how it has been modernised to reduce reliance on labour. The last keeper retired from here in 1996.
The top of the lighthouse is 123 metres above sea level due to the cliff on which it stands being 90m above sea level.
After this tour it was time for lunch and we 'found' a restaurant in Bunker Bay, which is the next bay to the east of the lighthouse. The limestone for the lighthouse was quarried from this bay. See the photo of our table at the Bunker Beach Cafe. Beautiful. After lunch we visited the beach.
After lunch we went on a gallery hunt. The galleries proved to be difficult to find. Even though their common address was Yallingup, they were scattered on acreage through bush estates that are typical of this area. We did not buy anything from the galleries which were open.
This area is collectively known at Margaret River, made famous because of the wineries in the area. Besides the wineries, there are also olive groves, and it is one of these we are visiting tomorrow, owned by a friend from my days at James Cook University who was studying Engineering.
After this disappointment we returned to Bunbury via an afternoon tea stop at Busselton.
In all, it was a very enjoyable day.
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