2006 Bunbury - Day 3-5

The time certainly flew by there, so I'll recap on the rest:

Day 3 - Eaton, Pelican Point, Australind, Concert

I spent the day walking around the northern suburbs of Bunbury - in fact, I managed to walk right past the end then right back in again. Between gorgeously cute baby ducks, forests of rooftop TV antennae (they seem to be in fashion in Bunbury), long walks around obscurely distant "rural residential" estates which look nice enough, and less rural estates most likely designed by someone after a night of bad drugs (think of a bad theme party with a $350,000 hangover), I got in about 6 hours of walking. Also managed to pick up some info for Harvey the next day, including a walking trail map. I also saw the area that got hit by the tornado back in August, including the Settlers' Hall, a small community centre that had first fallen victim to the weather, then to vandals. Unfortunately I missed the bus back (he was early by 4 minutes!) and had to get a $23 cab back from Australind.

I then went to the Birds of Tokyo gig at Prince of Wales Hotel. BoT didn't just play their oldies but also previewed their new material due in February. Now I had planned to leave early, as I wanted to go up to Yarloop and Harvey the next day, but the concert went to midnight and I then ended up staying behind and chatting to members of the band and of Loose Unit, the support act. Fantastic guys (not to mention high quality music) - I'll definitely be going to any shows either band do in the future.

Day 4 - Harvey (not Yarloop)

Waking up rather, um, out of sorts at 9:30am, I felt more like drinking Diet Coke and eating some of my food than going anywhere, but eventually worked up the energy to walk to the train station via East Bunbury, where I saw some more historic parts of the old town, including a general store just 1km from the Bunbury Centrepoint complex (how cute!). I then got the train to Harvey (it's a very well-written page... by me), but after walking just 2km was really feeling the draining effect of the humid weather, so settled for:

* a bag of mandarins from a local farmer
* a walk around the just-closed Stirling Cottage
* ridiculously cheap baby peas and chocolate from one of the town's two IGAs (they're right across the road from each other - odd)
* a Yarloop Special at Anchovies Pizza (comes highly recommended!) They also sell gourmet icecream.
* chatting to some local Maori girls at the train station.

I then ended up spending my 40 minute train journey playing peekaboo with a small child on the seat in front, and then got a cab back to the backpackers.

Day 5 - The End

I am coming back to Bunbury - unexpectedly good place with excellent budget accommodation. So much to see down here that noone knows about, not even the local tourist agency. I haven't got to see the dolphins yet, but they'll be here when I come back.

I went up the "milk carton", more properly known as the Bunbury Tower, only to find I couldn't get a photo of Bunbury from it! I settled for one of Marlston Hill and a couple of Koombana Bay then went shopping and wandering. I ended up at the local library where I read some local history, before returning to the backpackers. It's amazing how tourists are just given no information at all, I guess I'm lucky in that I seem to be naturally able to explore such places and bring out the best in them (apart from maybe Queenstown in Tasmania) without need for much guidance.

The train journey home was uneventful, it was surreal being in Bunbury City at 2pm and being at my front door at 5:40, having only used public transport to get home - living in Perth one gets so used to flying.

So... that's it for another few months until the travel bug bites again.