Tuesday was a relaxing day – we didn’t do much more than sit by the pool, walk by the ocean and enjoy the weather.

While Les and John were barbecuing the steaks, they saw a possum. They called for Karen and I to come down and see it, but it had disappeared into the trees and all we could see was the movement as it went from branch to branch. Maybe we’ll spot it again.

Today (Wednesday), we went to the Busselton Jetty and Underwater Observatory. The jetty is 1.8 km long and used to be used for freighters but now it is only for recreation. You can fish off the jetty and walk on it even if you are not going to the observatory. We got there just after it opened and took the first “train” out to the end for the tour of the Observatory. It was a beautifully sunny day and the colour of the ocean was fantastic. We had 40 minutes to roam around the underwater observatory and the guide was good at pointing out different fish and telling everyone about the jetty.

After the tour was over and we went outside, we were surprised by how warm it already was at 10 a.m. (it was over 30 Celsius today). We brought a picnic lunch with us and thought we would eat it in the Tuart National Forest as there were 3 separate picnic areas shown on the map. When we got to the first one, there was a sign warning of high mosquito concentrations and also warning of Ross River Virus. I got out to take a photo and was immediately welcomed by a cloud of mozzies (as mosquitos are called here). Back into the car quickly and a change of plans! We’ll go to the beach to eat – well, we got there and it was also inhabited by mosquitos so we stopped for a few photos (John and Les were trying to get a photo of a stingray that was in the shallows but it was camera shy).

While we have been driving around, we have noticed that people here use solar power a lot – houses have large solar panels and even solar hot water tanks.

We headed back to Busselton and found a shaded park beside a small river. We ate our lunch to the sound of chatter from the seagulls and the watching eyes of a Corella (a type of Cockatoo). There were many more Corellas in the tree but they seemed to be looking the other way. After that nice break, we headed back towards the condo to find a grocery store and then back to the condo. Not a long day but tiring….

Oh – the hazelnut liqeur is fantastic over ice cream!

Not sure what is on the agenda for Thursday – maybe a little shopping for souvenirs or a visit to another winery.