Busselton and Margaret River.

I'm glad to report that we're home safe and sound from our sojourn down South. Betsy (the generic name given to all the vehicles we've ever owned) did us proud and got the six of us and an unfeasably large amount of luggage to and from Busselton, approximately 200 kms away.

We set off after school / work last Friday and within the first half an hour had seen a sight I'd rather not see too often. A large bush fire was blazing high not far from the freeway.

The picture was taken from our moving car and doesn't really do it justice but it was an amazing and scary sight. As usual the boys brought some light relief. Ru made some comment about how great it looked.
Alfie replied " No, bushfires are dangerous. Do you want to die Ru?" 
Ru "No"
Alfie "Well then never walk into a bushfire"
Good advice from an older brother it would be fair to say, but it did make us all chuckle to hear the pair of them.

Saturday we stayed around Busselton as we'd started the day fairly lazily. Off to the jetty. Not just any old jetty it has to be said. It's 1.3km long and you can get a little tourist train to the end of it, where there is an underwater observatory.

The view as we set off. That's the far end of the jetty in the distance!

The train ride was really cold but it was well worth it as the view en route and the observatory when we got there were amazing. There were so many fish around and corals too- and all in the open sea, rather than an aquarium. I guess it's the closest you'll get to diving without getting wet. Really incredible.

 At the very furthest point sat dozens of birds, especially gulls and cormorant, all waiting for their next meal. As you can see from the pictures there were plenty of fish in there for the taking when they got a bit peckish!

Hard to see, but atop every post was a bird.

And then at the landward end, next to the ice cream shop, was an old lighthouse which has imaginatively been turned into a helter skelter slide. As it's now off season it was closed so I didn't have to bravely accompany the children on a trip to the top, but it was a lovely sight.

 

In the evening we went for a stroll around the holiday park where we were staying, and down to the beach to watch the sunset. First we met some ducks who had made their home on the outdoor pool.....

 The ducks ( we'll meet them again later )

The sunset was beautiful, as was the beach......

 .....and the boys just couldn't resist going for a paddle...........

...................which turned into a full blown running race...................

.......which, because they are boys, soon turned into a " lets just get wet" competition.....
..

By the time we were leaving they were drenched and getting cold, so they came back and made full use of the spa bath in the lodge where we were staying.

Sunday morning we woke up and went to pull the curtains, only to find that the ducks are very much part of the landscape where we stayed! They hovered around obviously hoping to be fed, but as Dad had read a sign asking people not to, we just took advantage of them for a photo opportunity.

For the rest of Sunday we went further afield and visited a variety of attractions, most of which involved food. The first did not, being a fascinating and stunning cave. I was keen to explore but rather worried that the boys would find it creepy and scream blue murder to be let out. Thankfully they loved clambering around the paths and tunnels and were delighted by the crystals and stalactite/ stalacmite formations. We must have spent about an hour and a half down there in all.

Next stop was the Margaret River chocolate factory where you can watch them through a window making all sorts of yummy delights. We had a coffee and bought some provisions from the shop, just to keep us going you understand.
 Onwards we drove to Bootleg Brewery,  an oasis of beer in a region famed for its wine!  They cater very well for the kids with a big playground and so we sampled a variety of ales, the childeren played, and ultimately we decided to stay for lunch.

Having sampled both chocolate and beer, we rounded things off nicely with a brief stop at a cheese factory and came away with a large tub of delicious feta marinated in chili and herbs. Mouth watering stuff.

Monday we rather wasted by just going for coffee in Busselton, stopping in Bunbury for lunch and coming back home in time for dinner (starting to sound like there's a theme developing).

Sad to say we managed to miss all the wineries completely, but that's just an excuse for another trip to a beautiful region some time soon.