24 June 2013 - Bunbury Glade Caravan Park, Bunbury, Western Australia

This morning, we found the rain gone, although dark clouds hung about the skies, just teasing. The wind has yet to abate and perhaps it will be some days before the last of the storm is gone. We packed up and left our camp in Pinjarra, only regretting parts of the region left unvisited rather than those fellow campers we are not likely to ever see again. After picking up some fresh bread from the local supermarket, we headed off along the South Western Highway, following the southern edge of the Darling Scarp, travelling through delightful verdant pastoral lands. The dry stock eventually gave way to dairying, and we went on down alongside the railway which was surprisingly busy with trains pulling bulk minerals, presumably the bauxite from the mines we had visited yesterday.

Catching up with cousin Cy and Maria

At Waroona, we stopped and telephoned a cousin of mine whom I had not seen for about forty years. Cy answered the telephone and said that he and his fiancée were home and would love to have us call. Harvey lies less than thirty kilometres south so we were soon parked up outside their new home, new in that they have only been in it a matter of weeks. We spent a wonderful hour chatting with these lovely young people, twenty and more years younger than us with more in common with our children than ourselves, however there was a lot to catch up on and it was uncanny to catch glimpses of my older son in Cy’s mannerisms and attitudes. Given that my Kit is unlikely to remember ever having met Cy, it just goes to show that nature is often stronger than nature.

Cy came to Western Australia about twenty years ago and has spent most of those years working in the mining industry; tomorrow he flies back up to work in the Pilbara for another week of twelve and a half hour shifts. We were lucky to have caught him at home.

We managed to extract ourselves from the reunion just before midday, with hopes all round that we might catch up yet again before we leave the area entirely. He and Maria think nothing of jumping on their motorbikes and riding long distances, and since we travel so very slowly, there is every likelihood of this happening.

Harvey looked like a lovely rural town to see more of, with a population of 5,500 apparently with an Italian heritage. None of the guide books offer more of a light on this statement except that I did read that Harvey was the site of a World War II internment camp for German and Italian immigrants, as we have seen before. This camp also hosted 123 German POW seaman, more survivors of the HSK Kormoran and 818 Italian men. Perhaps it was these Italians that stayed about to change the nature of the town? I am sure it will be a lovely backdrop for their wedding planned for November.

We arrived in Bunbury early in the afternoon and Tomtom took us through to this caravan park via a maze of streets. Without a map we could only defer to his greater wisdom, however later when I was armed with a map, I could see I would have plotted a very different route. We chose this camp because it offers three nights for the price of two, thus costing $23.33 a day. No other camp can match this tariff and now we are set up on the wide grassy spaciousness, we are well satisfied with our choice.

Views from Marlston Hill

There was still time for a quick trip into the centre of the town; we headed across to the ocean shore and followed the road northward, noting the wild pounding surf on to the long sandy beach and the six ships far off shore waiting their turn for loading at the port.

We drove up to the Marlston Hill Lookout, the original lighthouse site used by the early whaling fleet as a vantage point for whale spotting. The Lion’s spiral lookout tower offers 360 degree views over the town, the wild coast, Koombana Bay and the Leschenault Inlet we have yet to explore. The strong wind hurried our departure after a very quick look all about.

Down the hill in the old railway station, we found the Information Centre where we were loaded up with brochures for this and that, activities to fill a week or two unless we are very clever with our planning. I will have to spend some time sifting through all the information I have, however we are happy to stay a while here if needs be.