Last day in Busselton

Monday 9 November


We had our quiet day yesterday, just enjoyed the day doing not much at all, what you might call a Dolittle Day. We just did a bit of washing, shopping and so on, had a bit of a drive around locally.

Today we have also been quiet, we have to pack later as we leave here tomorrow. We’re going to take the car back to Perth and exchange it for one with an intact windscreen.

We did, however, drive around Busselton a bit more. There is a new development with a marina and what they are selling as ‘canal frontage’ building blocks. It looks like Sylvania Waters or part of the Gold Coast, where all the blocks have a canal to park the boat and a road at the front for the vehicle. There are some pretty expensive-looking boats parked there, and the bridge over the entrance canal is high enough to let them pass under it as they go out for a sail. It looks as though it is reclaimed swamp land, very sandy soil, and I don’t think I’d like to live there, really.

A little bit further on we came to the locality of Wonnerup, and went to have a look at Wonnerup House, the original farm here. It was settled by an Englishman, George Layman, and was in the family until about 1972, and was bought by the National Trust a bit later. It’s a very interesting place, and the Trust have been able to obtain a lot of the original furniture and fittings so it’s a good representation of the times. There are two main buildings, one was the second house built there, the first was destroyed by fire, and the other is the later house built by the son of the original settler. The stables and blacksmith’s shop are also there, they have a lot of the original horse tack and tools as well.

One of the original George’s daughters carved a lot of the furniture, made of jarrah, and it looks beautiful. She did a great job of it, which must have taken her some time because jarrah is a very hard wood.

After dinner

We’ve started packing, just about all done now, ready to get away in the morning. We have to go to Perth and will probably come back south to around Collie.

We have had a good time in Busselton, and seen quite a lot of the area while we’ve been here. Now it’s on to the rest of the South-West!