FluffyTheCampfireSlayer

PART 2

OK, so where was I?

Right, I’m gonna say a bit more about the areas that we liked the most with a view to settling; Safety Bay, Warnbro and Port Kennedy. What did we like about these places? Well for a start, they were clean and tidy. Some lovely new houses, no shabby efforts here that you seemed to find blighting other nice streets. Think Wisteria Lane and you’ll be on the right tracks! One thing that impressed us was little signs on some of the streets saying things like, ‘tidiest street winner 2004’ or ‘best kept gardens 2005’!! Nothing like taking a bit of pride in where you live eh! The beaches in these areas were literally minutes away and had a lovely wild and unspoilt feel, most of them backed by dunes and vegetation, giving a nice feeling of privacy!

Every five minutes we came across fantastic parks, both kiddies parks (closed in, clean and safe looking) and those of the kind where you find fountains and lakes etc……a lot of these had ‘free’ gas BBQ’s for public use. These too were clean enough to eat yer dinner off of!!!

Right, nuff ‘bout that – where did we go next? Well, we headed further south, bound for Mandurah, location of the Peel Inlet. Mandurah was very; very nice…we could almost see ourselves setting up home there. That was until we looked in a Real Estate Agents’ window and saw the prices. Think London Docklands – 2 bedroom apartment $1000000 +!!!!! Lovely all the same though! Also thought it was a bit far out if we managed to get jobs in Perth CBD. Another interesting point is that Mandurah is home to the other branch of Ciccerellos Chish n Fipps – the best I have tasted ever!!!

Would seem that Mandurah also has a bit of a nightlife!! We had a drink in a couple of bars and were amazed that Caroline wasn’t the only chick – and nope, not a pole in sight!!

Stayed the night in a campsite just to the East of the Town. Had our 1st Aussie BBQ that night – I did a sterling job even though I say so myself!! The Aussies on site were asking me to show them how it was done!! (I wish!!)

Awoke the next morning to find 2 ducks firmly camped up right by the rear door (kitchen door) of the camper – something told me they were wise to this game! Carried out my camperley duties and duly dealt out 2 slices of finest white bread! Obviously they were not impressed with my meagre offering and waddled off next door in search of a heartier breakfast! Fussy Baskets! What happened next though amazed us, several green parrots (or summit like that) descended to the van and started finishing off the ducks left overs. I’m sure that this is a normal sight in OZ, but to sit there and watch wild parrots scoffing bread left me speechless! Plenty of piccies of these to be uploaded soon!

Wildlife (& Caroline) fed, we packed up and hit the road, headed……..you guessed it, South! We decided to take the tourist route (incidentally these are clearly signposted as alternative routes to major roads and also advise you of their length so that you can calculate the extra time needed to do them!) The first town we hit upon was a cute wee place by the name of Australind. This town was situated on a beautiful peninsula called the Leschennault inlet that had been made a national park. Didn’t spend too much time here, just long enough to grab a Mrs. Mac’s pie – if it aint Mrs. Mac, take it back!!!

Next stop on the map was Bunbury….didn’t actually stop here but had a good drive around the town and checked out the harbour and a coupla beaches….all looked very nice. We had reverted into tourist mode by now as we felt that all these places were too far south of Perth for us to consider living in, so we were just enjoying what we saw instead of asking ourselves, ‘could we live here’.

The open road (and believe me, they are open!) beckoned, so off we went, destined for Bussleton. Stumbled upon the Jetty here. Those of you that have done the ‘experience’ will know what I mean when I say another change of pants was needed later on that afternoon!

The Bussleton Jetty Experience……firstly, the facts…this jetty has been around for donkeys years (yes, I’m a historian as well) measures 1.6KM’s from end to end and has a train that runs it’s length! It was built to allow cargo ships to dock in the shallow bay.

We thought it might be a nice idea to walk to the end of the jetty and enjoy the ‘Underwater Experience’, basically a staircase descending into the depths with windows all around, so paid our money and took our chances. Stepping onto the jetty, the first thing you notice is just how goddamn narrow the thing is, approx 4ft at this point, the second thing you notice is that there is only a railing on one side. The next thing that hits you is that it is made of creaking, rotten timber with bloody great holes in it and it moves when you step on it!!! Probably the most worrying aspect would have to have been the train that runs up and down it, shaking the timbers approx 1ft side to side as it goes. I could have sworn I was going to die!! I can heartily recommend a visit here; just choose a less blustery day than we did! Oh, and look out for the scaredy cats that won’t move and force you to balance on the edge with no railing in a force 10 gale, just to get past them!!! It was very funny…….two people walking toward each other, neither moving, a battle of the wills, trying to force the other to do the walk of death on the edge!! Ha! The underwater bit at the end was fun, bit murky though so not much to report here.

The walk back in made it all worthwhile when we were accompanied all the way in by a school of about 5-6 dolphins. After snapping about 300 photos of them I managed to get about 2 showing a bit of fin!!! Ever tried platting snot? Gave us a nice warm belly feeling and we went and had an ice cream to top it all off!!

It was getting on a bit by now, so we ‘hit the bitch’ (bitumen) and headed for our final destination of the day, Margaret River. The weather had started to close in by this stage with the forecast showing a couple of day’s heavy rain due. Heading up toward the campsite, we passed a gorgeous looking Motel and thought……..’Oh yes!’

If anyone ever visits Margaret River, I can 250% thoroughly recommend ‘Vintages Motel’!!! Cost $105 bucks a night for a double ensuite…cheap as chips. This really was possibly the friendliest, cleanest, nicest, friendliest, cleanest, modernist, tidiest, thought of everything – ist, hotel I have ever had the pleasure to visit! The owners were lovely, literally couldn’t do enough!! http://www.westnet.com.au/vintages look em up! T’was so nice, we booked for a 2nd night!! Huh! Some campers we were!!

Righty folks, struggling with this now…….been a long day and footy to watch, so will write more soon…..

wafc

Great post again fluffy, will look forward to seeing your pics once you've uploaded them.

FluffyTheCampfireSlayer

Thanx wafc...

Pics will be up at the w/end...no Broadband here so internet cafe req'd!

mindblower

Bloody excellent post -jealous..

Cheers

soonbethere

Sent you some karma, great post, can't wait!!! thanks

Clippy

Great post again

When we were on the jetty last week they told us the train didn't run anymore was a lovely calm day when we went and the observatory was ace, clear as a bell. We were lucky, she said it's the first time they've been open at that time of year as normally the storms make the water too murky. We saw dolphins there too - so bizarre

john_w

Thanks for another great post, bringing back some great memories

mark 'n' joe

Great post. Look forward to the next installment.

Joex

Tiawamutu

Excellent post!

Sounds like you had a fab time

Can't wait to see the photos

Mrs JFW

Love the post can't wait for the piccies!

carolwilk34

fantastic post but don't go on too much about Port K etc cos everyone will want to go there!!!!

House prices are just about affordable just now. LOL

little bear

wicked 2nd part, was slightly concerned :scared: when you said you hit the bitch- thought maybe you'd gone in for a bit of beat yer wife!!! good job you explained.

looking forward to piccies

little bear x

gary stewart

Read your post are you thinking of going to Port K ,if so when?

Julie & Gaz

mick69

Great post Fluffy. Really enjoyed reading it. Looking forward to next episode and pics....
Lynne

teza

Working at a restaurant by the jetty I can confirm this, train does work but due to the damage done to the jetty by several storms and couple of major arsonists, the jetty can no longer be considered safe enough to carry the train. Constant political battle going on as to who will fix it etc. Train has not been used for 17 months now... and that shows in the figures on jetty visits. But I do agree, fantastic spot, the longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere, well worth visiting. I hope you enjoyed some wineries, chocolate factory, cheese factory and the caves as well on your way to the Marg River. Point noting though, if travelling to Marg, never take the bypass, may be faster (at times) but nothing to see. Go through Dunsborough and Yallingup, taking the Caves Road (beautiful to say the least) and visit Prevelly Beach to take some great photos!
Tez