Busselton...

On our drive from Bunbury to Margaret River, our first stop was at Busselton...another gorgeous town on the west coast of Western Australia. 

DH had read about a little train that runs on the rather large jetty at Busselton. So after finding a park for the car,  that's where we headed. 

'Extending 1.8 km over the protected waters of Geographe Bay, the heritage listed jetty is the longest timber-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere....Construction...began in 1865, beginning as a mere 161 metres...Extensions were added over the next 90 years creating the remarkable 1.8 km length.'

This port was closed in 1973 and then of course government funded maintenance ceased. For many years it was hard work and private funding worked to restore the jetty and build the aquarium and other structures on the jetty. Eventually funding was received by the Western Australian state government. 

http://www.busseltonjetty.com.au/the-jetty/about-the-jetty/

Donations for the upkeep are still gratefully received...loved this pelican sculpture.

Tourists pay to walk on the jetty but we had decided to 'splash out' and buy tickets for the ride on the little train.

It was a cold day so the plastic blinds were down on the front and left side of each carriage...

The train goes very slowly...thank goodness! 

The jetty curves...

Every now and then we passed areas that must have been side moorings perhaps...

Here we are at the point where the train stops...there's more jetty after that building and we were given about 20 minutes to check out the end of the jetty...

We took some photos...wasn't it bleak looking out here? And yet it had been sunny at the other end of the jetty.

These photos were taken on the other side of the shop and aquarium.

Looking back to Busselton seafront...

We watched the little train 'engine' change ends ready for the return journey...😉

Facing out to sea...

DH was still taking photos...

But it was time to take a seat for the ride back to shore. It was lots of fun and so much history!