The traveling manatees by Nancy French: Margaret River and Whale Watching in Geographe Bay

Passing winery after winery along our drive into Margaret River, it was difficult to decide where to stop. Wines from this area are considered some of the best in the world, but being unfamiliar with the names, we pulled into the places with the nicest gardens or the most intriguing name. Many offered a gourmet restaurant onsite as well. After maxing out on wine tasting (yes, that is possible, even for Alan), and due to rain and chilly weather, we did some sightseeing through town.

Waking to warm weather and sunny skies, we decided to take advantage of a whale watching tour offered in Dunsborough on our route back to Fremantle. Boarding the boat in Geographe Bay, we were spotting whales within a mile of shore just a few minutes later. Over the next hour, we saw so many whales that we lost count. Seeing multiple mom and calf Humpback Whale pairs, we shot a couple hundred pictures. Unfortunately, we usually snapped about 1/30^th of a second after the whales had taken another dive, but we managed to get a few pictures of something other than water. But, it was exciting to see the whales in action, many of them within 100 feet or so of the boat.

Dunsborough is a town of around 25, 000 with multiple nice shops and restaurants lining the main street but a more impressive waterfront area overlooking the Bay. A wide, paved trail runs along the water for bikes and pedestrians. We decided, in our brief overview, that this would be a perfect place to live in Australia.

Busselton Jetty was our next stop. This is the

longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere at just over one mile long. The jetty even offers a train that runs on the hour. An observatory is located at the end of the jetty that takes visitors 26 feet down to see the marine life under the jetty.

Arriving back in Fremantle, we prepared for traveling back across the continent to Sydney and then on to Nelson, New Zealand.