Coastal Life south of Perth

To stay in Bunbury as our last stop on the way back to Perth, was actually a good choice. Approximately 175 km south of the state capital, Perth, it's a port city with a natural harbour established in 1836. It became the main port for the SW region, especially after 1893, when the railway connected it to Perth. 

Old corner hotels-pubs to be found again (typical for Australia!), a great brewery (photo), where we had dinner (fish & chips and prawns), a lighthouse and a beach (where we enjoyed a beautiful sunset).

 

Next morning after breakfast we went for a walk, seeing murals and got to know about the importance of the fish tinning industry in town. After a visit to Bunbury's enormous farmers' market (a huge supermarket with local produce) we drove on towards Perth along the coast. 

Mandurah (photos above and below) was our first stop, a wealthy "florida-like" harbour town and favorite retirement location. Rockingham next, already in the metro area of Perth, with Cape Peron, a rocky beach where crabs were caught by divers (further below). Wouldn't there have been all the industrial installations in the background - part of the port of Freemantle - it would have been even nicer!

 

Drove through the industrial port area of Perth-Freemantle with huge grain silos and refineries around Freemantle and on to Perth. Busy traffic on a Friday afternoon, and, we were glad to get back to our "temporary home" - our friends' house - in the late afternoon. We had a wonderful evening, sitting in their garden and later enjoying a wonderful leg of lamb with all the fixings cooked from scratch.