Bunbury & surrounds

We left Lane Poole & headed into Bunbury. There were a couple of Parks & Wildlife campgrounds nearby that we were going to try, but the weather was still rainy & there was a strong wind warning forecast for the next day & I was also still sick with the flu & decided a hot shower was needed so we booked into a caravan park for 3 nights. Well the showers were terrible, easily the worst of the whole trip & at $38 a night it was a rip off. We weren't really impressed with Bunbury that afternoon as we had a quick look around. The dreary weather didn't help. We just hoped there would be enough to do in the surrounding area for a couple of days. That night on dark we had some really heavy rain & bad winds that shook the tent all night.

On day 2 it was still windy but the rain had cleared for now. We decide the check out the campground that we wanted to stay at just out of town called Belvidere. It is on an inlet & looked really good, they even supplied firewood. The area had a interesting history before coming a reserve it was pretty much a hippy camp for alternate lifestyles until it was shut down & turned into a reserve. Most of the buildings have been domolished but there are a few relics to look at. 

Inlet

On the inlet side that the camping area is on there is a great day use area & we saw more black swans than we have ever seen in one place before. We then drove around to the beach side. To be honest it wasn't that great of a beach compared to the rest of the WA coast but it did look like it had a couple of good fishing spots.

Belvidere beach

 We then went further a field to check out Martins Tank campground in the Yalgorup National Park. The drive in was very pretty with lots of grass trees & we saw lots of blue tongue lizards as well. The camping area here is on a lake, & looked okay but not great. Both camping areas were $7.50 per adult per night, pit toilets & numbered sites. On the way back to Bunbury we found a great brewery called the Old Coast Brewery that did some great beers at a great location, so had some lunch out there.  Back to Bunbury for another crappy shower, at least it had stopped raining though....

Yalgorup NP

Brewery

The next day we had a drive along Ocean Drive in Bunbury were all the flash houses overlooking the beach are. This is actually a much nicer part of Bunbury. 

Bunbury beach

After that we had booked to get out tyres aligned & balanced & while we waited wandered amongst the shops nearby. We then decided to go for a drive out towards Donnybrook. On the way we called into a winery called the Bonking Frog, we had a chat to the lovely owner & bought a couple of bottles, our first wine purchases. We then headed to Donnybrook & bought some lovely fresh apples & avocados. Just out of town we saw there was an apple cider place with a cellar door. Wow, what a spot, they had a great cellar door overlooking a huge apple orchard & dam. Unfortunately the cider wasn't very nice, we tried the tasting tray & only liked an apple & ginger one, that they didn't actually sell at the cellar door. This place has huge potential & was actually for sale. It definitely got us thinking, if only we could do something like this in central QLD. 

At the cider factory

Next up we went to a winery called Oakway Estate that also did lunch & we had some lovely wine & a great pizza overlooking the vineyard. We had a long chat to the owner about his operation, as he also had beef cattle & a wood plantation. A very interesting afternoon. By this time we had to head back to Bunbury. 

If you are looking for a decent sized town to resupply or grab something you need Bunbury is a good option. Apparently the big attraction for the grey nomads is the golf courses. There is plenty to do around in the area though if you are willing to drive. Definetly have a look at Belvidere if you want some cheaper camping, it is only about 10 minutes from Bunbury. The distances are so tiny down this way, the wineries around the area are definitely worth a trip to. But it was time for us to get back in the bush.