Busselton & Margaret River

We’d had friends tell us about an Anglican Campground in Busselton that was very child-friendly so we decided to visit. Amazingly our ‘travelling grandparents’ Richard & Sharon,  that we’d met all the way back near Alice Springs and a few more stops along the journey, were there also. We were really happy to see them again after narrowly passing each other all the way since North WA. We also found another couple we’d been introduced to in Perth (our friends’ travelling grandies) AND Colleen & Dennis from Ballara (near Exmouth) where Mr J had had his fall. So Busselton was a very social affair with Colleen cooking morning tea (just as she’d done at Bullara) and a get-together every night around sunset where we watched dolphins cruising the bay. 

do we look young?

The kids and their travelling grandies :)

To say thank you to all of them for their helpfulness Kieren & I cooked a big roast dinner in the camp kitchen which was great fun! (Got to love a big commercial oven after 5 months!)  Richard also set up his massage chair so that all of us could have a neck & shoulder massage. Mr J thought it was particularly ticklish!

School work was done first thing in the morning so we could spend the day exploring. The campground table had the best view of the beach and was again a lovely classroom (although cold in the mornings).

During our stay in Busselton we did a lot of day trips through the coast & Margaret River area. The kids begged us to stay an extra night here just to have a “chill day”. Yay! We finally wore them out!

We stopped at Meelup Beach and watched whales & their calves play & spout out to sea. We visited the Lighthouse grounds at Cape Naturaliste & had a picnic lunch. Canal Rocks captivated the children with big waves rolling under the narrow walk bridge through the rocky natural-made ‘canals’. We watched surf breaks at Yellingup and saw lots of wildflowers & a big blue-tongue lizard. We visited Busselton town for a walk along the jetty, shop in the farmer’s market & play in the park.

We spent a great day at Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse in Augusta – where the Indian & Southern Oceans meet. Mr J was amazing conquering his fear of heights & climbing 173 steps to the top of the lighthouse and venturing out to the balcony to see the view!  So proud J! It was a truly magical day with lots of sunshine & no galeforce wind (very rare for this coast!)

Meeting of Indian & Southern Oceans

getting dizzy running down!

On the return trip we ventured underground into ‘Lake Cave’ along the Limestone coast. The beautiful stalactites & stalagmites were accentuated by the reflection of the water. There was even a ‘suspended table’ (of ‘tites’ & ‘mites’ joined together) with a weight of 5 tonne!

We also spent a day sampling the best Margaret River has to offer! We visited the Margaret River Dairy Company for cheese tastings, the Venison Company to sample ‘coat of arms’ chorizo (emu & kangaroo!), the Chocolate Factory, Cheeky Monkey Brewery (grounds were lovely but tastings were $16pp! no thanks), and a fantastic Silk factory where we watched caterpillars hatch. You may be wondering why we didn’t visit any wineries? Well, 4 children high on chocolate isn’t really something you take into boutique cellar doors. Maybe next time ;-) We stopped in Cowaramup for lunch and had to get a photo with some of the 30+ cow statues through the town. All in all a very yummy AND educational day!

Can you see the tiny silk worm on the leaf?

Glad Mr J read this sign...

My 4 dear crazies :-P