#rndtheworldn44 - Day 21 - Around Margaret River

Wow.  Day 21.  On December 11, we were nearly half done with our trip.  This day would be the last day of our long drive along the southwestern coast of Australia.  We were attracted to Margaret River because of all the tourist materials touting its attractions, and the fact that so many wineries are located in the region.

However, once we arrived in Margaret River, we realized that it is just an upscale tourist town, with the usual restaurants, art stores, antique shops, and so on.  We decided we needed some help, so we visited the Tourist Information Office just after having breakfast in the center of town.  We found that most of the locations and attractions that interested us were north on the peninsula that ends in Cape Naturaliste on the Indian Ocean.  So...hopped in the car we did and started the first part of our drive to Cape Naturaliste and Busselton, on our way toward Fremantle.

Our first stop was Canal Rocks, an ancient and unusual rock formation extending from a peninsula south of Cape Naturaliste on the Indian Ocean. 

These massive banks of granitic gneiss have eroded along a dead-straight line running north – south, forming the striking “canal” feature:

Several smaller canals cross perpendicular to the main canal.  In wild and stormy weather, massive waves smash against the rocks and churn through the canals. It’s a spectacular sight to see, even when the weather is calm:

You can even walk across a wooden bridge over the turbulent white water to an island of more orange granite on the other side of the first canal:

The rocks form a natural jetty that shelters a nearby cove where the waters are crystal clear and a beautiful green:

From Canal Rocks, our next stop was the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse.  Together with the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse to the south, it has served since 1850 as protection against wrecks of seagoing ships on their way to Perth.

 At least 12 ships have come to grief in the strong currents and dangerous reefs which lie off Cape Naturaliste's sharp point.  Three American whalers were wrecked on the south west coast of Western Australia in 1840.  The lighthouse's original predecessor was known as 'The Tub' - it was a barrel on top of a 30 foot pole in Busselton which marked the best landing place for passengers and stores.  Later a lantern hung from the top of the pole so it could be seen at night.  In 1873, this was replaced by a wooden structure called 'The Lighthouse'. However, Busselton, where the original lighthouse was located, was too far to protect against shipwrecks on the point.  The Cape Naturaliste tower, positioned on a 300 foot high bluff overlooking Geographe Bay, was constructed in 1903 from local limestone, quarried about one mile from the lighthouse.  In 1978, the light was converted to automatic operation and the keepers were reduced from three to one.

After the lighthouse, it was on to Busselton,

Busselton is home to the longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere, stretching almost 1.5 miles out to sea. Construction of the jetty began in 1853 and was continually extended until the 1960s, when it reached its current length. It was closed to shipping in 1972, and maintenance was discontinued for a time. Following major cyclone damage in 1978 and a fire in 1999, it was restored and improved. Since 2003, the jetty has offered visitors a tourist train ride, an underwater observatory, and an interpretive center.

Our ultimate goal on the jetty was to tour the underwater observatory, which descends to the floor of Geographe Bay and has windows at each level permitting visitors to look at sea life as it has developed on this artificial reef:

Outside the underwater observatory, the jetty deck has been improved with tilework illustrating breeds of whale common to this region of the Indian Ocean --

-- and a signpost showing the direction to major cities in Australia and nearby continents:

We made our way to the end of the jetty on a cute little tourist train, which passed innumerable locals trying their luck at fishing or enjoying a day of swimming in the bay:

Here's a short video giving you the idea of the train ride:

When we finished our tour of the underwater observatory, we had a choice between waiting 15 minutes for the return train ride, or walking back the 1.5 miles to shore.  We took a look at the jetty stretching all that way back to the Port of Busselton --

-- and we decided, "What the heck!  Let's walk!"  That sounded especially appealing, knowing that we still had 2 hours of driving to get back up the coast to Fremantle, and our preparations for flying, first from Perth to Bangkok, and then from Bangkok to Yangon, to start our holiday visit with Matt, Weina and William.