Bunbury W.A
 

We are heading off to Bunbury next week for a holiday.

Can anybody recommend accomodation and maybe a decent beach we can laze about on, and other places we could visit.

So far as accomodation goes, I have seen The Quest & The Great Western as the main places. Any thoughts appreciated.

BTW, we booked car rental thru bayswatercarrentals in Perth. Worked out at £18/day.

Ta,

CB

Re: Bunbury W.A
 

Hi,

We stayed a night in Bunbury when we were travelling - stayed in the Dolphin Retreat YHA, which may not be what you were looking for, but I recall it being nice enough.

Pay your $2 or whatever it is now to go to the Dolphin Discovery Centre - you can actually blag it for free, but it would be a little bit like ripping off a Granny! You get to stand knee deep in the water and watch real wild dolphins. Sadly there's not much interaction, but for $2 it was worth it - well, for me it was, but I love dolphins!!

Penguin Island is definitely worth a visit. Book tickets for the ferry in advance to save the queues. Take a picnic and swimming togs, snorkels etc. Definitely go into the fairy penguin centre and watch the injured ones being fed - too cute for words.

We also went to Australind - it has a very very small church and is quite pretty. Not a lot else though...

And there are wineries within easy driving too. And don't forget the Busselton jetty!

I shall stop now. It's a lovely area. When we moved on from there down to Margaret River we ground to a halt for a while because it was so nice!

Re: Bunbury W.A
 

We wanted to do a week in Bunbury when we were there earlier this year but could not get accommodation for love nor money so ended up renting a house for a week in Dunsborough which is further down and is really very lovely indeed :) Bunbury is beautiful, make sure you take a trip to Busselton too and take a walk up the jetty it's lovely, we saw dolphins swimming underneath the jetty, really beautiful :)

So sorry I can't help with the accommodation in Bunbury but I hope you have a really fab time, I'm very jealous :)

Re: Bunbury W.A
 

I was on the Jetty last week, bring a jumper or coat !
If you drive down to Dunsborough you can go on a whale watching tour, visit the lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste, take a trip to some of the many many wineries enyoy the surf at Yallingup or the calm of Eagle Bay.
Enjoy your trip.

Re: Bunbury W.A
 

I love this part of WA...we went to Busselton and Margaret River on one trip and Albany, Denmark (really recommend the Karri-mia resort) and Bunbury on the way back....ahhh :)

Re: Bunbury W.A
 

You could always stay with Bridie :D

PS - don't tell her I said so ;)

Re: Bunbury W.A
 

Guys,

Thanks for the tips.

Shall report back after our trip.

CB

Re: Bunbury W.A
 

Hello
Have a look at mysouthwest.com.au there's a few hotels listed on there for Bunbury. :)

Re: Bunbury W.A
 

Penguin Island is definitely worth a visit. Book tickets for the ferry in advance to save the queues. Take a picnic and swimming togs, snorkels etc. Definitely go into the fairy penguin centre and watch the injured ones being fed - too cute for words.

Penguin Island is not in Bunbury is it?

Re: Bunbury W.A
 

No, I think that's Rockingham

Re: Bunbury W.A
 

www.southwestlife.com.au is also an excellent website, with lots of information about the southwest area, accomodation, etc.

Re: Bunbury W.A
 

We stayed at Koombana Bay Chalets when we went to Bunbury. Just over the road from the beach and walk to the Dolphin Centre.

http://www.totaltravel.com.au/link.asp?fid=518586

Re: Bunbury W.A
 

we stayed at Fawlty Towers :D

Re: Bunbury W.A
 

Kombana bay is very nice! Bunbury is certainly very beautiful and so is Busselton. This was one of the places where we wanted to live but unfortunately finances wouldn't allow it :(

Enjoy and fill us in when you get back

Lindsey

Re: Bunbury W.A
 

I'm surprised to hear that they charge you $2 to have a look at the dolphins if they come in. I never had to pay but that's a few years ago.

Just to your information, they usually come towards the beach in the morning (Dolphin Discovery Centre at Koombana Bay). I would not recommend to go there in the afternoon because the sand on the beach gets very hot because of its high mineral content. You will see that hardly anybody is there then. The better alternative in the afternoon is the "backbeach" on the other side of Bunbury where the dolphins hang out in the afternoon and people come for a swim.

In my opinion the nicer beaches are in Busselton, white and wide.

Penguin Island is in Rockingham, much closer to Perth. It cost you quite a bit to get across the short distance with the ferrry and unless you are into small pengiuns, I would not recommend it (my personal opinion). If you are in Bunbury only for a week or so there are better places to visit.