Well another windy day in WA (surely short for Windy Always!?) greeted us as we said our goodbyes to Perth and headed south. We had found out about a campsite on the western side of Busselton, from Luke and Megan, which was meant to be very nice. After missing the very small turnoff first time past, we cruised into a very low key campground. Now what it lacked in flash facilities it more than made up with friendly management and one of the best water front views and aspects we have found this year. Facing north into Geographe Bay with a beautiful stretch of clean sand it was a welcome change from the big city views of Perth. Being run as a low profit set up by the Anglican Church it is not on any of the main tourist info sheets and therefore we only had a handful of people to share the place with. A quick text to Luke and Megan was shot off to confirm it was a good as they had been told. Being set up and enjoying a warm sunny day on the beach with barely a whisper of a breeze was only the start of our enjoyable stay in this very pretty part of WA.

Being good tourists we were packed up and into Busselton early the next day to see if the rest of the town was as nice and peaceful as our little campground. A drive down to the waterfront precinct is always a good place to start and our walk ended with a stroll out along the jetty to the underwater aquarium. Built like a large concrete fish tank, but in reverse, it allows you to walk down below the water and observe the underwater action via a few large Perspex windows. A short talk from a guide and we were looking out at large schools of fish. Not huge fish but plenty of them. The girls were rapt with the octopus creeping along one of the windows. Back on the surface and we were just in time to catch the running of the Melbourne Cup with a few other interested parties listening on. A train ride back to the beach was the end of our jetty journey. At nearly 2km long I was glad for the ride back! The jetty restoration is still ongoing and it is a very popular spot with the fisho's as well. None of this work is for free though so don't expect to get off the jetty without putting your hand in your pocket!?

Back at camp we found Luke and Megan had arrived with their girls Kristy and Laura as well as friends of theirs from Brisbane, Ben and Donna, and their two kids, Will and Allie. That was the last we saw of the girls that arvo except for the usual cries of "muuuuuuum.....can you......" you always get from groups of kids. A few beers and we all were certain we were in one of the best spots we had seen in WA. Our next day saw us loaded up for the day and headed further west for a look at the country between us and the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse. Getting out to the point we made a couple of stops in some very serene little beaches and even were able to watch whales pass along the coast. Meelup beach was a quiet little beach with plenty of picnic tables and grassed areas. Chased out of there by a bus full of high school kids we made it to the lighthouse.

Walking around the lighthouse we were able to see the difference in weather conditions between the more sheltered waters of Geographe Bay and the open water of the Indian Ocean. With predominate SW winds our little camp ground was a real sheltered oasis. While we were chased around a little bit by midges ( well the place had to have something wrong didn't it!?) we enjoyed our picnic lunch and a swim in the crystal clear waters of Eagle bay. Poking our way back along the coast drive we called into many of the little areas before getting back to camp.

With all the kids once again reunited we all gathered on the water front and shared our stories from the day. Luke had unloaded his tinnie and Ben and I loaded ourselves in and we all headed out into the "mill pond" flat water for a quick fish and look around. The water really was crystal clear, however with the recent spate of shark attacks none of us was to keen to dive down and find out how deep it really was!

Over a couple of afternoons we tried the waters and came away with a few large King George whiting. Luke ensured we all got a top feed of sand crab when he met his "long lost dad" on the beach and the bloke offered us the use of his pots as long as we baited em up. He even leant us his custom made electric crab steamer! Too easy!? Being dilly style drop pots we checked them regularly and in a couple of days had a fair wedge of crab ready to cook up. Catching a few fish in between beers and running the kids around for boat rides made for a couple of fun afternoons on the beach.

Our luck with the weather came to an end when the cloud closed in late one arvo and we got rain that night and on and off for the next few days. Not constant, and not large downpours, and definitely not enough to stop us enjoying ourselves. Heading off in the car we decided to travel down towards Augusta and the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, WA's south west tip. We explored along the coast and into some very beautiful areas of coastline. From wind and wave blasted rock we made our way into Boranup NP, home of some very large and impressive Karri trees, a huge breed of eucalypt. We turned off the main road and wound our way through the forest chock a block full of these large trees. They really are impressive. The girls seemed to be taking it all in and Charli really came alive when we found a large dead tiger snake on the side of the gravel road!

Moving south through some worsening weather we called in to see Hamelin Bay before heading on to Augusta. By the time we pulled up at the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse the rain was upon us. Once again the two extremes in sea conditions could be easily seen with the rain falling on both the calm waters of Flinders Bay and to the west the rough and heavy looking Southern Ocean. Opting to stay in the car it was Kylz who braved the squalls to capture the moment for us. Back in Augusta we found an excellent little bakery/cafe to shelter in and enjoy lunch out of the weather. The drive back through Margret River was spoilt by constant rain and we were both glad to arrive back home to our camp.

Planning our next leg to take us towards the timber town of Pemberton we were hoping for the weather to ease in our favour. With patchy rain and some wind we had ourselves packed and ready to move further into the south of WA. We said our good-byes to Luke and Megan, Ben and Donna and managed to load the girls into the car. With Luke and Megan having another couple of days in Busselton we thought that may have been the last we would see of them on the road. As it turns out it really is a small world after all.