Busselton Jetty
The longest jetty in the Southern Hemisphere is no exaggeration. This jetty is LONG. The nearly 4km walk up and back is something everyone should experience when visiting the South West. My aunties family, and nan (as of two weeks ago), both live in the beautiful town of Busselton and sometimes I wish I did too! Especially on days when we head down to the jetty.
The beach is just a short walk from the shops and that's where you'll find the beginning of the wooden walkway. We all ordered an ice-cream prior to the walk to help us with the exercise (I had an aussie pavlova soft serve with meringue and fresh strawberries, delish!). There's a small fee to walk along the jetty which helps preserve the heritage listed structure or for slightly more, you can pay to catch a solar-powered train! Surely it must be the only jetty in the world you can catch a train down?!
We went down to catch the sunset so we walked the length of the jetty at a very slow pace. My brother and I had balancing competitions on the train tracks in between asking fishermen if they'd caught anything. The jetty is covered with black stains that we later discovered are from all the squid that are caught on it. Dad kept casting his rod out with a squid jig attached but no luck for us this time!
As we were reaching the half-way point my aunty spotted something in the water not far from the jetty. When it came to the surface again we could tell it was a pod of dolphins! I think I screamed. I swear there's something so magical about dolphins. So naturally, I skipped as quickly as possible to where the dolphins surfaced and waited for them to return. We watched them for a good hour playing around the jetty and I managed to get my first dolphin drone shots! Apparently they've been hanging right around the jetty for weeks so your chances of spotting some are probably quite high.
At the very end of the jetty there is heaps to see and do including visiting one of only six underwater observatories in the world! You get to head about 8 metres underwater and view the sea life through the glass windows. I used to go snorkelling with my friend Bree's family at the Portsea pier in Victoria and the sea life around the jetty pylons was always incredible. I can only imagine what it would be like here where the jetty has been around for years! If you want to see what other experiences are available click here to visit the Jetty's website.
If you didn't feel like walking the jetty, the walking/riding paths along the foreshore go all the way from Busselton to Dunsborough! Near the jetty is the coolest adventure playground, an amphitheatre for live music, the cutest cafes/restaurants, plenty of places for picnics and an epic skatepark. To top it all off the biggest brewery is in the works right out the front of the jetty. That's where you'll find me!
