Down South - Season 2
After a quick overnight stop in Mandurah, we were soon on our way to Bunbury. The weather gods were shining and we had a great run on a sweet little easterly. The forecast for the next few days was for strong southerlies, so we decided to spend a few days in Koombana Bay and have a bit of a poke around old Bunbury town.
Now, we must be honest here and say that Bunbury has never really excited us too much - perhaps because whenever we were there, we were usually down at the beach all day for a surf carnival. Nine times out of ten, it was stinking hot and dead flat; not ideal and a bit of a slog. Needless to say, we never really had the opportunity to explore further around town.
One of the great things about this lifestyle is not having a car and therefore we spend a lot of time walking around. This is good for the mind and body, but also gets you up close and personal with wherever you are visiting. We had two full days to explore Bunbury - by dinghy and by foot.
Koombana Bay is a sweet little anchorage - we anchor just adjacent to the yacht club and opposite a large beachfront area. This area is extremely busy with beach volleyball, swimmers, foilers and of course the bay has shipping traffic and yachts. We had a front row seat for Wednesday night twilight sailing, which saw twenty yachts taking on the course around the bay in 15 - 20 knots of southerly. Never really watched much yacht racing up close and whilst this was ‘social’ it got a bit hectic around the turning marks!
Plenty of walking - across to the marina area at the west end of the bay, up to the lookout where the old fuel tanks used to be then in and through the CBD. Plenty happening with a new brewery and lots of cafes and places to eat, as well as the usual assortment of shops selling flanno shirts. We came to understand why the mullet is so big in Bunbury - literally a barber on every other corner. Despite some goading, no haircut for Pete!
Over the course of our travels, we’ve become increasingly interested in the history of the places we visit. Bunbury is no exception. We highly recommend visiting the Bunbury Museum and Heritage Centre located on Arthur Street. This little museum has an array of information and displays detailing the colourful history of Bunbury and it’s surrounding areas. One story that captured our imagination was that of John Boyle O’Reilly and his escape, along with 6 other Irish convicts, from Fremantle Prison back in the 1870’s. We’d both just read The Catalpa Rescue by Peter Fitzsimons which provides a fascinating read on how the convicts were able to pull off one of ‘the most dramatic and successful prison breaks in Australian history.’ Amazing to think that neither of us had ever heard of this incredible story and it’s relevance to our local history. Do yourself a favour and read the book. You won’t be disappointed.
After our trip to the local museum, Nicky was keen for a dinghy mission around and into the Leschenault Inlet, the entrance to which was about two miles across Koombana Bay from our anchorage. After a short ride, we were making our way through the cut and then turned north. We soon spied some dolphin activity close to shore and were treated to our own little dolphin interaction. There were about six dolphins chasing fish up to the shallows. We were able to idle up in the dinghy, slap the water with our hands and they would come to the boat - close enough to almost touch. This went on for about half an hour. We then headed north for a few kilometres until we arrived at a small jetty, directly opposite the Australind townsite. A quick walk and explore was had before we trod carefully down the ‘guano white’ jetty back to the dinghy. A really beautiful area and one we had never really explored. The stench from the decaying guano, however, was next level!
The weather window was good, so we departed Bunbury on a nice easterly bound for Abbey, arriving some four or so hours later. It was nice to pull up to familiar territory with Queimarla on her mooring and a noticeable space where Blue Yonder (Nic and Julia) were usually parked, but now enjoying the riches of the Monte Bello islands. Our ever reliable friends, Mike and Lisa, had the bikes prepped and after a lift down to Dunsborough and some catch up time, we hit the saddle for one of many rides, this one back to Abbey and the boat.
We love Abbey. It’s really handy with Paul and Susie Willison and family living a few houses down from the beach. They kindly let us leave the bikes at their place which means they’re secure and we can grab them whenever we need them. The next two weeks was Coxswain course for Pete and family catch up time with Ian and Jen down for a ten day stay. Whilst Pete was hard at it, Nic was checking out the Westwinds Distillery, Margaret River Chocolate Factory and a few wineries along the way with her Mum and Dad. We managed to score a surf at Gallows with Greg and Liv Mickle and this was followed up with dinner at Deslyn and Craig’s place in Abbey, where we also got to catch up with Mr and Mrs Mick, aka Mick and Lorna. Long time family friends and always welcoming and generous.
We had a great catch up with our old Broome mates Roger and Lisa at the Kyle’s Camp block at Abbey. Roger and Lisa have been long time supporters of Kyle’s Camp during and post their Broome Camp School days and now Roger is devoting a lot of energy to setting up a respite camp on the bush block at Abbey. We had dinner under the stars, with a bit of possum action, and plenty of laughs about our Broome days.
After our time in Abbey, it was down to Quindalup and closer to the action. Lots of catch ups and time spent with friends - we must get better at getting the selfies with everyone but there were plenty of coffees, lunches, dinners, BBQ’s, rides, walks, a sail, and the odd surf with all of the crew. Familiar faces included Mike and Lisa, Michael and Ali, Kirsten, Sian and Keith, Karl and Alice (SV Eureka IV), Keith and Rox, Kristen and Paul, Matt and Ilze, Simon and Sonia…. ok did we miss anybody??
Highlight was a surf at Yalls with bustling Benny Annert…. sunny, light winds and 3 foot fun waves. Paid a visit to ‘the bin’ and Pete even channeled some IDS longboard style out at Yalls main break. Great day followed up with a great dinner with Mike and Lisa - who can never do enough for you - love hanging with them!
With the big birthday celebration looming in the big city, we headed back to Busselton for a quick stopover. There was one more catch up to be had - Pete had been trying to catch up with his cousin, Kim, who works fifo, and after failed attempts last season we decided to stay in Busselton an extra day to catch up. The weather was glorious and with the Queen Mary II anchored off the end of the jetty there was plenty happening. Pete took the dinghy into the beach to pick up Kim and they were approached by a friendly dolphin who spent the next ten minutes less than a metre away, eyeballing everyone and generally being friendly. Nicky was stuck on the boat and bummed on missing out!! A great catch up with Kim and then our thoughts were to the upcoming passages to Bunbury and Mandurah.