Busselton is a coastal city on the south western tip of Australia know for its calm waters, beautiful beaches, open landscape, active and retired lifestyle, friendly people, extensive hiking & biking trails, caves, the longest pier in the southern hemisphere… well… you get the point. It’s Australia.

We arrived at sunrise in the calm waters of the bay and anchored about 15 minutes tendering to the pier. Had we been dropped off at the end of the pier, closer to Serenity, the walk would have been 1.8k (think of walking three long par 5’s, while straddling a rail track for a tram that was not in service that day. As beautiful of a walk that would have been, I’d rather take the picture.

The landscape in the SW region is very dry with rolling hills and hardwoods–– similar to the central Ocala region of FL and the South Western US combined– a landscape we both love.

There is something calming and pure about the landscape here. It seems civilized–I know, a weird word to describe a landscape, but it is the feeling one gets driving through it. Just add an ocean to the backdrop and you have Busselton.

The main objective of our excursion today was spelunking the Ngilgi Cave, previously known as Yallingup Cave.

The best time to visit this cave is in the morning after the night has replenished caverns with fresh air.

We understand that by the end of the day during the height of tourist season, you are now breathing in the air that everyone else did earlier.

After 700 steps of spelunking, we traveled to the Cape Naturaliste to see a working lighthouse. The homes in this area of Busselton are modern, modest and quite expensive. Busselton is where Australians retire, or hike or bike on some really longs trails (1,000+ km) from Perth to Albany, making Busselton a midpoint to go north or south. There are so many trails in this area and for every level of hiker. The trails are from .05 k to thousands. I would say that two out of three vehicles in this area are Toyota 4×4 trucks, equipped with lighting arrays, canoes, roof racks stacked with external water and fuel cans, tents, surfboards, etc. I longed for our TACO, sitting in the garage at home. It should be here to join the mob of TACOs.

As lighthouses go, the lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste is squat and sturdy; rather cute for a lighthouse. The kind that make great Christmas ornaments. There is a plaque at the overlook point indicating that this is the windiest place in SW Australia, which then explains the squat sturdy lighthouse.

Thankfully it was not very windy today. There are so many beaches in this area you can find one all to your own and never see another soul. The waters are so crystal clear and I understand there is an underwater sculpture tour along the Busselton Pier. We skipped that one (was not offered, did not know about it until I arrived in Busselton) but we found the Shelter Brewery instead.

Okay, okay… I’m getting to it… Here is the dress……