Peppermint Delight

After four days in Perth it was time to hit the road, so after collecting a hire car, I pointed our vehicle south and navigated through the Perth suburbs until open countryside appeared. Our destination was the delightfully named Peppermint Grove Beach, a small beachside community 130 miles south of Perth located in Geographe Bay. With no need to rush I headed first towards the small city of Bunbury, a bustling place on the coast with lots of places to eat and drink. This part of South West Australia was first explored by the French. Geographe Bay is named after the ship that brought the first European explorers in 1803. Place names offer reminders of early French influence although it was British settlers (and later convicts) who finally established Bunbury -named after Lieutenant Henry William St. Pierre Bunbury. 

Bunbury had a busy shopping centre and lots of eateries so we chose a cafe called Serendipity.. .it seemed fortuitous! After lunch we started a 5.3 kilometre walk around the Leschenault Inlet, following a boardwalk through white mangroves and a 2500 year old eco system. It was very relaxing walking through an unusual wildlife area that information boards revealed was home to 70 bird species and of international importance.  

Our walk concluded it was time to stock up at a supermarket before making our way 20 miles or so further South to Peppermint Grove Beach. Driving through Tuart Forest (a type of eucalyptus), unique to this part of Australia, we saw hundreds of kangaroos in amongst the trees and close to the roadside. By late afternoon we found our beach house, built of limestone ,with beautiful circular windows that were set in reclaimed wheels and completed with unusual stained and leaded glazing. 

Hidden amongst the dunes and two minutes walk to the beach the house was a real hideaway. Almost as soon as the bags were unloaded we were unable to resist a walk through the dunes to the beach, noting that even this could be a hazardous activity in Australia! 

Mrs B. stuck to the middle of the path! The beach was stunning, white sand, gentle surf and almost deserted.

We watched the sun starting to set over the Indian Ocean before returning to our beach house, home for a couple of nights, and settled down to a quiet evening. With no TV,  wifi or even a radio we spent a relaxing evening reading and playing scrabble. 
Brilliant blue skies greeted us the next morning so after breakfast we went down to the beach again - to dip our toes in the water. With green winged parrots flying between the trees and an empty beach as far as the eye could see it seemed like paradise.  Reluctantly we left it to explore some of the surrounding area. The small town of Capel, 5 miles away, had a good cafe serving excellent coffee but other than that had nothing to detain us for long, so we headed back through the forest towards the seaside town of Busselton. I brought the car to a halt on route..as our road had taken us through a small hamlet called Ludlow! 

We crossed the Ludlow River..which looked suspiciously like a stream to me! 
Busselton was bustling..full of families enjoying the sun and sand. It also has the longest pier in the Southern hemisphere. At 1841 metres long (just over a mile) it was quite a sight stretching out into the Indian Ocean. 

There was an entry fee and we bought a combination ticket that gave admission to the pier, a return train journey along its length and entry to an underwater observatory that had been built at the end and that went 8 meters below sea level. The observatory gave views of an artificial reef and it was absorbing watching marine life through glass windows..oblivious to our presence. 

The day had flown by and we headed back to Peppermint Grove for our last evening in the beach house , once again spotting more kangaroos amongst the Tuart trees on our journey. There are more forests to come further South but before that we had to pack our bags once more as our next destination was to be Margaret River...home to some very fine wineries and some gourmet chocolate makers. Both Mrs B. and myself were looking forward to this..although our interests may be slightly different in terms of focus!