Today marks the day that we reach the most south-westerly point in Australia, a place called Cape Leeuwin, named by Mathew Flinders in 1801. It is a place where, somewhat controversially, two great oceans – the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean – meet.

It appears all but Australia consider the Southern Ocean to actually begin along the 60th parallel south line of latitude, which is a very long way south of Australia. But let’s not spoil an opportunity to attract tourists to the cape.

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

Sitting close to the tip of the cape is Australia’s third largest lighthouse and the largest in Western Australia – Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. Standing at 39-metres tall, almost twice the height of Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, Cape Leeuwin’s lighthouse was built from locally quarried limestone and first lit in 1895. Like all other lighthouses around Australia, Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse wasn’t spared the march of ‘progress’ and it too became automated in 1982.

There is a small fee to access the grounds of the lighthouse or a tour of the lighthouse itself giving a grander view from the top deck and a great viewing point for the migrating whales, which pass close by. All proceeds go towards the maintenance and preservation of the lighthouse, cottages and supporting buildings. An onsite cafe serves tea, coffee and light meals with great views of the oceans.

Waterwheel

An unusual attraction in close proximity of the lighthouse is a waterwheel, though it’s not quite what you would expect. Built during the construction of the lighthouse, the waterwheel was powered by a natural freshwater spring and pumped water up to the construction team at the lighthouse for concrete and cement mixes saving transport costs in, what was at the time, a very remote location. Even the limestone was local being extracted from the nearby, and appropriately named, Quarry Bay.

Now, however, the calcium rich water has encased the wheel and much of the pumping mechanism in calcified lime. The water level has since dropped and now an electric pump is used to feed water along the trough to help preserve the timbers from drying and cracking.

It’s certainly an unusual sight but well worth the short stroll from the lighthouse car park even if it’s just to enjoy the views across the bay.

We have seen and walked along some impressive piers and jettys in various countries over the years but perhaps none more so than Busselton Jetty in Western Australia. At 1.84KM it is the longest timber-pile jetty anywhere south of the equator.

The initial jetty, just 176-metres long, was completed in 1865 and provided a much needed facility for ships to dock at a time when agriculture, tourism and the timber industry was booming. At that time there were no personal income taxes instead the government sourced revenue on imports and exports with the jetty no doubt soon paying for itself.

In 1872 at a cost of £88 the jetty had its first extension to enable larger ships that were finding Geographe Bay to shallow to dock. However, just three years later the extension proved insufficient and with silt building up in the bay another 144-metres were added, this time costing a more considerable £626. Silt continued to build and in 1884 another 229-metres were added. Then another 353-metres three years later and another forty in 1890. And we’re not done yet…

More, bigger

The increasing size of ships required deeper access and so more extensions were added: 130-metres in 1894, 150-metres in the following year and 261.6-metres the year after that. By 1907 the jetty had reached just short of 1.4KM. But, as you will have gathered by now, there was a trend developing and they still had not yet finished.

A rail line was added easing the transport of goods and replacing the existing horse and cart but it also introduced a new problem – fire. Embers from the steam powered engine often took hold on the timber deck requiring someone to follow behind the train stamping them out.

Then in 1911 an additional 603-metres was added. This, and two-months of dredging, allowed even larger ships to dock safely bringing in tourists to visit Western Australia’s first major tourist attraction – Ngilgi Caves, more of which to follow. Sea baths were also created to allow visitors to swim safely away from the ‘Sea Monsters’ and a pavilion for band concerts. Busselton was booming.

Finally one last addition of 16-metres in 1960 brought the jetty up to its current dimensions and the longest of its type in the Southern Hemisphere. But it was all too late to continue efficient operations as the larger port at Bunbury began to take business from the jetty and in 1972 it was closed to trade as a shipping port. Five thousand ships had used the jetty over its 100-years service and significantly helped the development of the South Western corner of Western Australia.

End of the line

Although the jetty’s port operation days were over it wasn’t the end of its working life. Though the state government had it in mind to be dismantled, the local community and Shire campaigned to take control of the jetty and develop it as a tourist attraction even proposing adding an underwater observatory. Nature, though, had other plans and on April the 4th 1978 cyclone Alby swept away 700-metres of the oldest section of the jetty. And there the jetty remained, isolated from the shore and gradually succumbing to the effects of the weather and sea.

However, this was a jetty that had no intention of coming to an end and a survey of the community by the Shire received a 90% response in favour of preserving the jetty and resulting in a $500,000 kickstart fund being allocated as well as the formation of the Busselton Jetty Preservation Committee. Funds raised and the injection of the promised money from the Shire allowed the first part of the major restoration to start at a cost of $660,000.

In 1995 a small train was re-introduced using the original rails and charging a fee to take people to the end of the jetty and back. It additionally allowed the mobility impaired to enjoy the views and fresh air along with the fishing, swimming and sporting events already popular. Diving also became popular and the jetty has become one of Australia’s top ten dive sites.

Fire!!

In 1999 a huge fire took hold and destroyed a 70-metre section of the jetty. Only cutting through sections of the timber deck with chainsaws halted the flames. The fire was believed to have been started by a carelessly discarded cigarette. In order to help raise funds sufficient for significant incidents like this an underwater observatory was created and put in place at the end of the jetty. In the first 6-months from December 2003, 60,000 people took the opportunity to view some of the 300 marine species that call Geographe Bay home.

In 2009, the Western Australia State Government donated $24-million for the complete restoration of the jetty to return it to an ‘as new’ condition, which included replacing the remaining fire prone timber deck with cast concrete panels. And on the 6th of February 2011 with thousands of people attending, Busselton Jetty was re-opened.

But wait, there’s more

Not content, plans are now underway to add a giant glasshouse on the last section of the jetty with a cafe and sunset bar. It will be lit at night providing a warm glow and highlighting the enormous length of this much loved piece of historic architecture.

And finally…

Interestingly, and perhaps to encourage youngsters to make the full walk to the end of the jetty, a number of plaques along the way pose a series of questions about the jetty with each subsequent plaque holding the answer and presenting the next question. We have seen similar with roadside signs on some remote highways to help alleviate the boredom of long journeys. Quite educational too.

We thoroughly enjoyed our walk along the jetty and wandering around the excellent work that has taken place on the foreshore with new parking facilities, landscaping, eateries and the best children’s adventure playground we’ve seen anywhere with a huge listing ship, a giant squid and a whale swimming through the wake of the ship.

Busselton in a fast growing town and absolutely worth a visit on your West Coast trip. So much so we extended our stay.

Twenty minutes south of our current camp at Mandurah (WA) and sitting in a salty lake within Yalgorup National Park are some of the oldest continuous living creatures on earth.

Up to 120-metres in width and extending for 15KM along the shoreline, the Thrombolites of Lake Clifton are believed to be at least 2,000-years old and the largest known formation south of the equator. Resembling large boulders sitting in shallow water it would be easy to dismiss them as just an unusual group of rocks, however, these rocks are alive.

Growing at less than 1mm each year the Thrombolites are built by microbes, which extract energy from the sun through photosynthesis and in the process create oxygen and calcium carbonate – more commonly known as limestone, which is responsible for the visible mounds we see today.

Thrombolites or Stromatolites

If you have been following our adventures you may remember the similar living rock formations we saw at Hamelin Pool near Shark Bay. Though they look the same and form in similar conditions, Thrombolites are built from small, rounded clusters that grow into a common mound structure whereas Stromatolites develop in circular but flat layers. Both, however, are known from fossil records to be the earliest forms of life on the planet around 350-million years ago. And both are believed to have been the majority source of oxygen that allowed more complex life to develop.

Thrombolites and Stromatolites continue to produce oxygen and as such are highly protected and listed as critically endangered species.

Buzzzzzzzz

We visited Lake Clifton in early November and had the unpleasant experience of walking through clouds of buzzing and biting mosquitoes. The best time to visit is during the summer months when the water level has dropped a little partially exposing the Thrombolites above the surface of the lake. A jetty provides a good viewing platform and helps protect the Thrombolites from careless feet.

Lake Clifton and the Thrombolites can be reached via the Old Coast Road and then following either Mount John Road or Clifton Downs Road. A small car park and information board is just 50-metres from the boardwalk.

Just remember to take plenty of insect repellent!