Day 93: Perth to Margaret River

We awoke to a lovely fine day. It was a bit windy but this meant there was no dew so we could pack up with everything being dry (grass, awning, etc.).

We decided that we would not drive down the coast road - we are beached out! Instead we drove inland which was a good decision - the countryside was beautiful and green.

We drove the 270km to Margaret River and along the way we stopped at a Rotary Park at Bunbury for morning tea and at Busselton to have lunch and also go out on the Busselton Jetty. We went into a restaurant near the jetty to have lunch, sat down, looked at the menus, then got up and walked out - we were looking for a light, cheap lunch - here the soup cost $20 and a burger $29. We ended up getting a chicken sanger next door and a cuppa for $10.

The Busselton Jetty is the longest in the southern hemisphere - almost 2 kilometres. We did not walk out but decided to catch the $10 train. It was a good trip - similar to the jetty at Carnarvon but twice as long!!!!

We arrived in Margaret River at around 3pm and went to the Top Tourist Van Park but despite its four stars, it did not look very good and did not have two site left anyway. We then checked the RACQ booklet which has every van park in Australia listed - soon after we were set up in a terrific van park (Margaret River Tourist Park) which was only $28 a night (school holidays) and walking distance to town.

LESSON - If travelling, don't rely soley on 'Top Tourist' and 'Big 4' caravan parks - a lot of other good & cheaper parks can be identified through the RACQ magazine..........

Another thing we all found funny was the incredible number of places between Perth and Margaret River which have the letters 'up' at the ned of their names, eg - Coolup, Dandalup, Cowaramup, Yallingup, Boyanup, Myalup, Binningup, etc. We saw at least 50 on the way today. We googled it and found that 'up' is an aboriginal term meaning 'place of'..........