Monday, August 13, 2012, Bunbury and Busselton

---

Today is a very exciting day. First it is not raining and second Michael and I are playing golf.



Before golf, we ate again a Henry’s for breakfast. There food, breakfast in particular is so good. I ate a smaller portion today because the one I had yesterday was way too much. I think I am adding weight on this trip, yuck. Of course, had to have my flat white. After breakfast, Cindy’s Dad drove to his plant. On our way to the plant he took us along a seacoast route with beautiful views of the ocean and bay. We actually saw a large group of kangaroos in a field. Michael just loved that. We arrived at Cindy’s Dad plant and he did a quick drive by the new expansion they are almost done with. Good stuff.



After dropping off Cindy’s Dad, Michael and I heading to the Bunbury Golf Club to play nine holes. The minute we walked towards the pro shop we saw a few kangaroos in front of us. This was awesome. We checked in at the pro shop however the lady said we could not play because we had to wear slacks, we were wearing jeans. We immediately ran back to the apartment changed and returned to the golf course. Not too bad, we only wasted about 50 minutes.



We rented clubs, had to purchase balls and tees. The cost for the two of us, including rentals and balls/tees was $91. After a few photos we hit hole one. Not a good hole, however it did not matter because we wanted see kangaroos. The evening before there had been a storm so the course was full of leaves and small branches so the maintenance crew was on tractors cleaning the course. It wasn’t until hole 7 when finally saw three kangaroos. This was worth the $91 I spent here. Just to see Michael’s reaction on the course was priceless. Really awesome. Michael hit a ball fairly close to them since they were on the left side of the golf course. We took several photos, Michael took a video. What an increase. I played at this same course in 2000 and there were hundreds of kangaroos, not sure where they were today, however I suspect between the storm and the tractors on the course, this may have scared them.



After golf, we finished at 1145am, we quickly changed back into our jeans we drove to the coastal town of Busselton. The journey was about 45 minutes. This was first day drive by myself on the left side of the road. Think I did quite good. We arrived in Busselton about 1245pm and park at a restaurant called The Goose. The Goose was situated in front of a jetty which I will write about shortly. I attached a picture of Michael and I prior to lunch. The food was great (so far there has not been any bad food). Michael had a burger and I had a chicken salad and garlic bread.



Following lunch, we heading to the jetty. As little about this jetty. This jetty extends 1.8km (1 mile) over protected waters of the Geographe Bay. The jetty is the longest timber-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. The first jetty was built in 1865. It originally serviced over 5000 vessels, however the port and jetty closed in 1973. Along the way it was damaged by fires and Cyclone Alby in 1978. But in 2003 in reopened for tourist. It was refurnished in 2011. Michael and I walked the jetty instead taking the small train. It was very cold and windy, but worth the walk to see the different prospective of the jetty. I enclosed a few photos for your viewing. There was an underwater site, however we skipped this. Here a little more information on the jetty, http://www.busseltonjetty.com.au/.



After leaving the jetty we walked the shore line and grab an ice cream, despite how cold it was. The walking experience took about an hour. We had a really good time.



After leaving the jetty, we returned to Bunbury so we could shop for breakfast groceries. Breakfast was getting very expensive so I thought this would be a good idea. Cindy’s Dad needed PJ’s so we stopped at a familiar store, Target. Yes, they have Target in Australia. Could not believe it. The stores are a fraction of the US size, but still cool. We then shopped for food at Coles. Interesting observation when purchasing eggs, they sell them as cage or range feed. Very interesting; however it makes sense if this is a concern of yours. We ended up buying eggs, butter, oatmeal, milk, drinks and snacks for our day tours.



This evening we had another dinner with Cindy’s Dad managers. These managers had roles in the expansion and purchasing along with other roles. The individuals were super nice and very easy to talk too. There were also a few Japanese at dinner so I was able to converse with them about the wonder experience we had in March in Japan. Cindy’s Dad split Michael and I up this evening to allow us to mingle a little bit with the employees. We ate at Josephine’s across from the Lord Forest hotel. This is where I stayed last time I was in Australia.



We were back at the apartment by 930pm. Everyone went to bed, I stayed up because I had to start prepping for an online class I will start teaching Tuesday.



Tuesday we are going to travel south along the coast of Western Australia to Augusta and hopefully stop at a cave. Stay tune for my next blog.

---