SUNDAY 30 MAY     BUSSELTON

It was a really wet and windy day.

For the sake of getting out of the van, we drove to look at the sea pounding in along the Geographe Bay sea front. Then drove along as far as the wharf.

This jetty was quite a structure, and had an interesting history. It was originally intended to be less than 200 metres long, but due to sand drifts in Geographe Bay, kept being added to, over the years, until it reached 1.8kms! It was the longest timber-piled jetty in the southern hemisphere – there certainly was no shortage of good pile timber nearby!

The jetty’s use for shipping ended in 1972, after which it deteriorated until threatened with demolition. But some locals were determined to save it and transform it into a viable tourist attraction. It was repaired, a little train began to run out to the end of the jetty, and an under water observatory was planned for out at the end. A fire in 1999 – possibly from a cigarette butt – was a setback, but it was repaired, and the under water observatory opened at the end of last year.

With that history, I really wanted to walk out along the jetty and visit the Observatory. But today was not a good weather day to do so, and John was not feeling like it, so we just drove back to the van.

Passed the rest of the day by reading and sewing. John played on the computer.