We finally said all our goodbyes and it was 3 in the afternoon, we really should have stayed another night and left in the morning. But with the goodbyes said and the decision made we hit the road. The goal was to make it to a free camp site about 200kms away, we had estimated we would take approx 2.5 hours to get there and that would work in well with dinner and bed.
2.5 hours ha ha more like 4 hours and the further we travelled the hungrier the kids got, the more tired the kids got, the grumpier the mum got at the dad and well you can imagine being a fly on the wall inside this car. We came to a town perfect I thought we could get the kids some fish and chips for tea, but as the Nissan Patrol passed the main Street at what was far from the slow speed requested the arguments started again. Hungry and tired equals grumpy in this family, so with cranky faces and hungry tummies we all sat silent for what felt like hours, only to all start getting verbal again after another 30 mins. Thankfully we finally reached our rest point, it had been moved as the intersection had been changed and the signage hadn't been replaced. It was 8.45pm so much for 2.5hrs. Tea consisted of a sausage in bread, and apple and a muesli bar. We all fell into bed as soon as we had finished the last mouthful, waking at 9 the next morning, we really must have been tired. Then drove the next 45kms into Augusta. What a beautiful town, so worth the pain of the previous day. The water is a magnificent color and whales, I have never seen so many in my life.
We had a good look around, checked out the lighthouse and the surrounding coast before deciding to have a picnic lunch and move on up the road further. We came across the Jewel cave the 2nd largest cave system in the World 243km long. What an amazing place, a dry cave system so the pretty glittery effects you get from a wet cave system was missing but the enormity of the place was mind blowing. At one point inside the cave you could have stacked 10 buses on top of each other and then put 5 of them end to end. This gives you an idea of how big parts of that cave system where. The kids really loved this tour and asked heaps of questions.
After the tour we continued heading North. There where other cave systems to see, but we where afraid they would be a let down after seeing the Jewel. We found ourselves in Margret river a town we had heard so much about, people where always raving about it. Unfortunately we found that it was busy and lacked personality, so we decided to keep going as it was still early.
Finally around 3.30pm we found ourselves in Busselton, a quirky sea side town with an amazing beach and the largest jetty in the Southern hemisphere. The caravan park was on the foreshore and had an amazing playground for the kids just across the road. We quickly set up and set out to explore.
Unfortunately we where to late to catch the train that travels the length of the jetty, so we set upon a walk to the end. No where could we find the distance written anywhere we just new it was a LONG way.
As it turns out it is almost 2kms long 1841 metres. Construction began in 1853 after being approved for shipping. The length came about as a necessity as moving sands made the waters of Geograph bay to shallow and in 1960 the jetty made its length as it stands today. The last commercial ship visited the port in October 1971.
Over the eighties and nineties 15 million dollars had been invested in restoration and then in 1999 a fire burnt a 65 metre section down to the water line. The cost of repairs was $900,000. I'm so glad it had been restored giving us the opportunity to enjoy its magic.
When we finally reached the end the kids had chatted with every fisherman along the way and inspected their catch. The night lights came on and added to the beauty. Alex and Luke somehow still had enough energy to run back the almost 2kms whilst Jarrod enjoyed a more leisurely stroll with John and I. Tomorrow we will be heading up to Perth and Fremantle. Sad really as I would have loved more time here, although the possums dancing on the caravan roof at night are something I wont miss.
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