On our last trip three years ago, by the time we got to Perth it was getting too cold to go any further south, so we headed straight across to the Nullarbor and back home. The idea of going later this time was so it would be warm enough to check out all the places south of Perth. Now we had done this area before, but about twelve years ago on our first ever motorhome experience in a rented Toyota Hi-ace with the kids. Seeing how much things had changed was one of the major questions on our minds. So for each town I will present our initial impressions back then, and how we found them now.

Mandurah - This is the first beach town south of Perth and when we first saw it we were very taken by it. It had a large inlet / estuary like a lake, and the whole town was situated around this with cafés, restaurants, ice cream shops etc. At one end there was a marina for all the fancy yachts, and in another section man-made estuaries had been built for the million dollar homes with private jetties to park their yachts in their back yards.

People had told us that Mandurah had become over developed and was not nice anymore. What we found was that every square inch from Perth to Mandurah had become over developed, with new housing estates being subdivided and built every few kilometres, each with a small shopping centre and names like 'Secret Harbour.' Mandurah itself was not very different, and we were still very taken by it.

Bunbury - Our initial impression of Bunbury was hot, smelly, full of flies and full of bogans. Although it is situated on the coast there was virtually no use being made of the waterfront. The town centre was one or two blocks back and was steadily patrolled by hoons in hotted up cars. The only thing on the waterfront was the 'Dolphin Experience Centre' where you could pay to see the dolphins, if they deemed to come in. We hung around half a day, none came, and we moved on. We had seen dolphins in Mandurah, with no fanfare.

This time we were pleasantly surprised. Bunbury had developed a lot in twelve years. We first noticed that by the amount of businesses advertising on local TV stations all over WA. So many of them were based in Bunbury. The town itself also looked much cleaner and neater; flies were no longer a problem. And they had started to make use of their waterfront. There were various hotels, holiday apartments and restaurants opening onto the beach, with the area between town and the 'Dolphin Centre' in the process of being developed into a water park and various other facilities. Much more pleasant spot.

Busselton - This was a beautiful little beach town with the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere - 1.8 kms long. At the end of this jetty currents from the north brought warm water down and they had formed a coral reef attached to the pylons of the jetty. An upside down 'tower' had been built around these pylons but under the sea, with large windows so the corals and fish could be viewed from the comfort of a dry building. It was quite fascinating. The beach was also lovely with white sand and clear turquoise waters.

On this trip we found Busselton just as beautiful. By pure co-incidence we arrived the day before the Busselton Jetty Festival, commemorating 30 years since the towns people got together to save the jetty after it was almost destroyed by a cyclone. There were big festivities on the foreshore with local bands, sausage sizzles, demonstrations by rescue services etc. And it was free to walk the jetty, although you still had to pay to take the train and go down the observatory. But it was a bit of fun, and the next day there was a beer tasting festival, and some music on the beach at the local pubs.

We stayed in Busselton for a week as we had a time share apartment there, a bit of a break from the van. So we used this time to explore the surrounding area as well.

Margaret River - This is, of course, winery country, but also breweries, and cheese and chocolate factories. A lot like the Yarra Valley, but with hundreds of wineries. We decided to take a winery tour so we could taste everything without worrying about driving, and have a local choose where we should go. The tour was great - we went to five wineries, a brewery, a cheese place and a chocolate place. We were all very full and quite merry by the end of it.

GeorgeY's Bit

Madurah has managed to grow in size without losing the cute, neat appeal it had. The boardwalk is now longer, spanning bridges and crossing over to islands. There is a cultural precinct with cinemas and theatres where musical productions and operas are advertised. The old bridge is replaced with a bigger, higher one yet part of the old is kept for the locals to use for fishing with stairs access. Dolphin cruises were run by many operators - we picked one to suit our schedule. The PA was undecipherable and the commentator hummed rather spoke. Started to chat with German tourists about travel plans and things to see and do, then spotted the first dolphin. The PA stopped and everyone turned Japanese, cameras and phones were fully utilised to capture the closest best shot. It was click, click for an hour.

Bumbury is nicer, cleaner and fresher, but still not like Madurah. It is developing its foreshore on an industrial scale with big hotel complexes like Accor, Mantra and Sebel . It is setting itself to become the Gold Coast of Perth. Still, better big than shabby.

Busselton is named after the Bussel family that lived on the Bussel Highway. The town is an extension of the longest jetty so it is perpendicular to the beach. The one and only bistro near the beach now has a rival freshly built on the other side of the Jetty. The two caravan parks on Marine Parade are unchanged. New development is in progress. Enjoyed the Jetty Festival, and the local breweries showcase. Then traffic barriers appeared and the Iron Man competition was the Big Weekend event, with marquees popping up in main street selling sport shirts and lycra suits for $$$$ and mega protein shakes powders with borderline steroids. By Thursday cyclists started clogging the roads. We happily left Friday morning.

Margaret River tour was good, sampled wine and bought souvenirs. I cannot remember what we bought but that is why it is called souvenirs. There was a 40% off wine special if you buy 12 bottles, so we struck a deal with fellow tourers and got 6 each for a bargain.