from Bunbury

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We'd heard bad weather was expected in Perth and surrounds so we bunkered down another day in Margaret River - very glad we did as they had a mini tornado in Bunbury with quite a bit of damage. We were tossed a bit and had some heavy showers but stayed dry. We took advantage of a window of sunshine in the afternoon and drove into town for a bit of relief from cabin fever before it all began again.

Yesterday we left Margaret River and once more had a pretty drive through farmland and vineyards till we came to Busselton. It's such a pretty beachside town but we'd no sooner arrived than it started pouring once more. We drove to the famous jetty and had lunch overlooking it and the beach - not the best view when the water's pewter and the wind is whipping it up. We drove up and down the town and were disappointed the weather was too awful to venture out. Still, we got a good look and decided it would be lovely in summer.

On then to Bunbury. Apart from leaves strewn in gutters, there wasn't a lot of evidence of the bad storm the day before - I think the SES had worked overtime to get the city working again. My first stop was to the Telstra shop to buy a new wireless aerial as mine had broken. After handing over an arm and a leg (Doug can't say 'Telstra' without prefixing it with an expletive!), and having the boy there install it on my laptop, we drove around the area, including to a lookout that showed the whole area. Today we'll explore it further, but what we saw showed a small neat city with nice beaches, even looking at them through occasional showers! We had another night being tossed by the wind but it seems to have settled down at last this morning.

We'll have another look at Bunbury this morning and then head for Perth for a couple of days. We did these southern parts first so we'd have lots of time in the warmer northern parts of the country. As such, we can't complain too much about winter weather, but we can't wait to get to somewhere warm ... and dry!

Update: The day has dawned and it's sunny and beautiful. Now we'll see Bunbury in the sunshine!

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Photos

Busselton jetty
No looking its best in the rain.

Bunbury lighthouse
Checkered!