it was an easy and leisurely drive over the 150 kilometres from Bunbury to Margaret River. We took the opportunity to potter along and enjoy some of the sights along the way.
Our first stop was to the Dolphin Discovery Centre along Koombaba Bay. Apparently, per 200 dolphins live in this bay and they often come into the shore to interact with people. Unfortunately, they were nowhere to be seen at the time that we were there, so we settled for some of the other interesting displays. Among them were a 360 degree projection of scenes with the dolphins underwater and a 3D TV movie. It was time to feed some of the octopus that were kept in tanks. The lids of these tanks had to be taped down, otherwise the octopus would escape. They are very smart creatures. The centre also had some very colourful displays of tropical fish.
We stopped for coffee at a little spot near Bussleton in the Tuart Forest. The Tuart is a variety of Eucalypt and is famous for its colour and use as a furniture timber. There only 30, or so, square kilometres of this tree left in the world as it very localised and was once cut ruthlessly for its timber.
At Bussleton, we stopped for some of our group to walk along the jetty. This is the longest jetty in the Southern Hemisphere and stretches almost 2 kilometres out into the water. Some of our group walked out to the end and others visited a local market, or walked into town.
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The highlight of our day was to see whales breaching off the shore at Bunker Bay near Cape Naturaliste. These certainly made up for the lack of dolphins at Bunbury.
After stopping at Canal Rocks, a very scenic area near Margaret River, we reached our motel where we are staying for the next three nights. We had a good dinner at the local pub who had set up a separate dining room for us and looked after us very well.
Oh that magnificent blue! What a contrast the the sands of the pinnacles.