when
sprinklerized came down south in january, we also stopped off for a walk on the Busselton Jetty.
it's the longest wooden structure in the southern hemisphere/longest jetty @ nearly 2km. it was built originally by pioneers to the region so their boats could moor to transport wood & supplies. It's so long because Geographe Bay is so shallow (well, for boats). it's been thru hell and back, poor jetty. fires & cyclones and various things that have attempted to destroy it. but a lot of money was spent building an information center & an underwater observatory so that at least helps to maintain the cost of it, if not do some improvements. the community is always raising funds for it.
i grew up on the farm just out of busselton (nearer dunsborough) so have spent quite a lot of time there. our school used to have a Beach Carnival (like an athletics carnival but WAY MORE FUN) there every year too.
anyways.
we waited whilst this group of kids psyched themselves up to jump. the girls took a LOT of talking into it, haha.
the water is deceptively gorgeous. one thing about swimming in geographe bay is the STINGERS. there's a small section just to the left of where these kids are jumping that's netted to keep out the stingers (small jellyfish), but it's pretty much guaranteed that if you swim outside the nets, you will get stung. fortunately, you can sorta see them coming. they're VERY painful, but you won't die or anything.
i like this pic - you can just see a scuba diver here. they dive & spend ages swimming around the jetty, then i guess they can either SWIM the 2km back to shore or climb up and WALK it. either way is pretty hellish - especially in 35deg+ summer heat.
UNFUN!
in parts it is pretty fucking rickety & sometimes various assholes like to LIGHT FIRES which results in BIG FUCKOFF HOLES like this one. idk, i guess it's about 10m to the water? less? not sure.
My favourite pic. total dyslexic vandal.
this was taken almost at the end, where the observatory is. obviously i couldn't access the end here, where some motherfucker lit a fire which destroyed this big patch.
yours truly.
it's even armed with video cams!
Just near the land end... a mini theme park called "The Nautical lady". been there for years. i learnt to roller skate there when i was like 4 or something.
and just FYI - inside my bag. lol. i love my red wallet.