To Capel:

Our next stop was Donnybrook which is famous for its apples and is home of the pink lady apples. We drove past
acres and acres of apple orchards some of which were in flower. Donnybrook is a lovely town in which apples play an important part. There is a very large child’s playground with the apple theme. Even the street lights are in the shape of apples.



There was a lovely wildflower garden to represent the aboriginal dreaming story about the rain serpent as well as a riverside walk. We stayed the transit park which was near the local sports oval. It was very neat and tidy but the midges were out in force so we couldn’t sit outside.


After leaving Donnybrook we visited a cidery and old goldmine. The cidery has won awards for their cider. It was in a beautiful setting in the green hills and the trees were in blossom. We climbed up the old gold mine tower for an excellent view of the countryside. We enjoyed a taste of some of the cider and apple juice which was delicious.

Our next camp was called Ironside Falls. There was no water in the falls but in some small patches in the rocks. There was a lot of iron in the rock evident in the rusty colour. There are still lots of wild flowers in the bush and I was very excited to see red and green kangaroo paw in the wild.

My niece and her husband and son live at Capel which is a small town half way between Bunbury and Busselton and close to the Ironside Falls. They generously offered us to park our van in their yard so we could do daytrips from there.

After settling in we decided to went to Cape Naturaliste which is on the northern tip of the “knob” that juts out at the bottom of WA. There is an important lighthouse on the point and a large national park. Beautiful beaches spread all along this coastline and some wonderful wildflowers were showing their colours in this coastal vegetation.

We stopped at a Meelup Beach which was a beautiful little beach with brilliant blue water and a lovely relaxing atmosphere. It was a warm day and quite a few people
were swimming. We walked out to a rocky point through a winding track with lots of wildflowers including a lovely pink bush. As we made our way down to the rocks we saw two seals basking in the sun.

Our next stop was the lighthouse which sits nearly on the tip and shines out 25 klms to warn the passing ships of this dangerous coastline. I went on a tour of the lighthouse which was built in 1902 and was bought out from England in kit form. The light was originally fuelled by whale oil, then kerosene until electricity was used. It was manned up until 1978. There were three lighthouse keepers who worked four hour shifts as they had to keep running up and down the stairs to wind up the pendulum that turned the light. I climbed right up to the top of the lighthouse for an excellent view of the coastline on both sides of the peninsula. There were about six whales frolicking and splashing on their way back down south.
We spent some time in a very interesting museum in the lighthouse keeper’s house which explained all about the importance of the lighthouse both now and years ago.


There are lots of walks around the lighthouse which is in the national park. You can actually walk from Cape to Cape (this walk takes about 7 days) along the coast which has all been preserved as national park. I am, as usual, amazed by the abundance of wildflowers in the area and delighted by all the vegetation.

We then went on to Yallingup which is a beachside town with lots of very modern houses. Apart from these the area is not commercialised- no coffee shops or restaurants. At last we are seeing some waves by the sea. There is good surfing along this section of the coastline.



Our last stop for the day was Canal Rocks so called because the rocks have been so weathered over millions of years by the sea that lots of canals have been formed through them. There is a board walk which takes you right across one of these “canals” for a good view of the water rushing in and out. The water is very clear and the area is a popular dive spot.
After a great day we headed back to Capel.
The next day was Bathurst Car Race so the boys watched that all day. It was a catch up with rellie’s day for me with all Tracy’s family and their families and friends came over for the day. It was cold and raining so it was a good day to be inside.

On Monday Brian and I went to Busselton for some sightseeing. It is home to a huge jetty which is the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere but we were quite disappointed that it was closed for an upgrade. There is an underwater observatory right at the end of it which would have been amazing. Oh well next time!! A museum told us of the history of the jetty which was a great attraction in years gone by. When it was badly destroyed by a cyclone it was going to be demolished but the locals protested and the jetty was restored only to be badly burnt in a devastating fire. Once again it was repaired by volunteers and has been a great asset to Busselton as well as preserving some important history.