Busselton (2 nights)

As we headed south from Perth we encountered some undesirable weather and our two nights at Busselton were very rainy, still no leaks in the tents so all good, but it does get damp!  The camp kitchen was a great place to hide and they had underfloor heating in the shower cubicles where you get dried and dressed.  The camp kitchens seem to be getting better the further south we go as they are needed in down here the winter, the one in Perth was good too.  The town centre of Busselton is really nice and there is a very long old jetty which you can walk on or catch a mini open sided train, given the weather we did neither.

the historic Busselton Jetty

We visited the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse with a tour from a young lady who knew her stuff.  Did you know that every lighthouse has its own flashing light sequence that makes it totally unique to any other lighthouse in the world.  Back in the days there were three keepers each going a 4 hour shift pumping the kerosene, winding the pulley weight back up once it got to the bottom and straining the mercury from the bearing to keep it clean.  Sounds like a hard and grotty job to me.  Of course once electricity came along the place could be run remotely.  

We also visited the Ngilgi Cave an amazing limestone system which has a heap of coloured LEDs all over the place, very cool and a great place to escape the rain!

Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse

Disco at the Ngilgi Cave

The entire area around the cape and down through the Margaret River area is heaven for wine lovers with wineries galore (Nichola and Anna – you would love it!).  Not being big wine connoisseurs we checked out Cheeky Monkeys brewery and cidery instead, big warm place with pizzas (Joe – not as good as the Brewery pizzas!).  I tried a selection of beers and their two ciders, the Kiwi Pilsner was the best!

before the tasting

after the tasting