Busselton

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Leaving Collie we headed to Donnybrook via Mumballup and Lowden stopping to experience the old ‘Mumby Pub’ on the way. What a beautiful run it was into Donnybrook down the Preston River Valley with some great looking river flats that looked like they could produce anything, but mostly we passed Orchards. Located on the banks of the Preston River, Donnybrook is surrounded by forests, rivers and rolling hills which support grazing, fruit and vegetable growing, olive groves, marron farming and wineries. Donnybrook was originally settled by 5 Irishmen in 1894. The area, like Collie, was originally founded on timber production with mills scattered throughout the forest. With the influx of miners during the gold rush of the late 1890’s, Donnybrook prospered. In about 1890 the Chapman Family imported an apple tree which produced fantastic green apples. This fruit was sold as Chapman’s until 1917 when the name was changed to Granny Smith, reflecting the true history of the apple. ‘Green gold’ had now hit Donnybrook and although today Pink Lady’s and Lady Williams are more popular apples, the good old Granny is still grown here alongside these eating apples. The lady Williams, a late red variety, originated as a chance seedling on Mr & Mrs A. Williams ‘ property about 10klms south of Donnybrook. Donnybrook is also famous for it’s sandstone. Sandstone has been mined in a number of quarries around the town since 1899. In Perth the GPO, St Mary’s Cathedral and the University of WA buildings have all been faced with Donnybrook stone. A clean, well presented town that seems to cater for all the needs of the surrounding agricultural industries and community, Donnybrook also had good coffee and loos for us Grey Nomads.



From Donnybrook it was a short hop across to Capel, a small town situated on the Capel River and almost halfway between Bunbury and Busselton on the Bussell highway. With few facilities, probably due to its proximity to two major towns, the extent of new houses being built mostly reflected its great location along the south west coastline. And then we arrived in Busselton, (Busso), with much anticipation as we would be picking Matt up in another 2 days from Perth Airport as he was competing in the West Australian Ironman race on Sunday week, a mere 3.8Klm swim (around the Busselton Jetty), followed by a 180KLm bike race and then a 42.2 Klm run (full marathon). First settled in 1834, Busselton is one of the oldest towns in Western Australia. It is situated on the shores of Geographe bay and the picturesque Vasse River. Sheltered from most prevailing winds, the bay is an aquatic playground with 30 klms of white sandy beaches and fantastic blue waters that attracts tourists in droves. Over the past three decades the traditional industries of timber, dairying, cattle and sheep have been joined by grape growing and winemaking. The Busselton Jetty is the longest timber jetty in the Southern Hemisphere and was built over a 95 year period, beginning in 1865, principally for the export of timber. Over 5000 ships have docked here over the working life of the jetty before the port closed in 1972. The jetty stretches 1.8 klm into the bay and is the centre of the WA Ironman swim.

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Photos

Mumballup
The Mumby Pub

Donnybrook
Home of the Granny Smith Apple

Busselton
This is a fantastic town and we are looking forward to the next few weeks here

Busselton Jetty
As you can see, prepartions for the WA Ironman are well under way. This event attracts contestants from all over the world. The swim leg starts here and goes around the jetty and down the other side back to the beach !