Bliss….

Actually is Busselton!!

We have sailed round the bottom left hand corner of Australia (apols for the highly technical explanation!!) and are now travelling northwards towards Perth. Busselton is a thriving community, now called a city, on the edge of Geographe Bay (the French got here first and named it, but it wasn’t colonised until the British arrived later).

It has a 2 kilometre jetty with an underwater observatory at the end. A narrow gauge railway runs to the end or you can walk. The big beach huts on the jetty provide the ticket office and souvenir shops.
On a day of blue skies and not a cloud to be seen, we took a trip via Dunsborough to the 500,000-year old Ngilgi Cave, a subterranean world of stalactites, stalagmites, helicitite and shawl formations. An area steeped in Aboriginal culture. A trip for the active with the hundreds of steps and head ducking to avoid the overhangs!!

We then drove on to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, built in 1903, which became the last manned lighthouse in Western Australia.

We arrived back at Brusselton’s beautiful beach and shallow waters, ideal for swimming. The ship was anchored off shore, so we were tendered from and back to the ship using the survival craft (used to be called life boats)!!! It’s amazing how many people can be fitted in at any one time!!

This is a place that I would have like to see more of. We were impressed with the welcome that we received and the high level of organisation. We were surprised to hear that we were only their second cruise ship visit and most of the people we met were volunteers. Our guide for the trip informed us at the end, that it was the first time that she had done the job! She was excellent!!

They expect 4 more ships this year, which is welcome for the local economy. The Margaret River wineries and boutique breweries add interest to the trip itinerary.