Exploring Busselton and Margaret River

Every once in a while, I have a work trip to Perth. It’s a bit of a hike, but there’s a lot of interesting things to see in Western Australia. The only problem is that it’s on the other side of a very large country. For comparison sake, it’s like flying from New York to Los Angeles. So if you have to be there back to back weeks, you may as wekk stay the weekend and explore the area, specifically, Busselton and Margaret River.

We stayed at the Yelverton Brook Lodge, which is located about half way between Busselton and Margaret River. The one bedroom cottage was set amidst a forest teeming with wildlife. As soon as we drove up, a mob of kangaroos came hopping down the dirt driveway, and after dark they were joined by brushtail possums and a woylie (also known as a brush-tailed bettong).

Bussleton Jetty is an interesting dive. At almost 2km (1.2 miles), it is the longest wooden jetty in the world. There’s a 90 person train that runs to the end, so after depositing our gear in one of the train cars, we walked about 15 minutes to the dive platform. The entry is a giant stride (a bit higher than I was used to with boats), and the exit is via a very steep steel ladder. The dive lasted over an hour at a depth of no more than 7 meters (~23 feet). Even though it was the peak of summer, the water was only 22c (71f), so a 5mm suit was a necessity.

We also took a day to drive around Margaret River. You could spend several long weekends exploring the wineries in this area, and the beaches are breathtaking (though come with lots of warnings!)