Many years ago we had several wonderful holidays when we rented an old holiday house (similar to the one shown below) right on the shore, with our 3 eldest granddaughters and on one occasion I holidayed there with my daughter-in-law and her 2 year old daughter. All were fun times.
In those days Dunsborough was a much less sophisticated town but since that time it has developed and become much more affluent. It is very popular with 'schoolies' each year as is Rottnest Island.
MOH and I camped at the Mandalay Caravan Park several times (our tent was similar to this one):
and and on one occasion stayed in one of their comfortable chalets:
Dunsborough is named after the nearby Dunn Bay, which was named after Captain Richard Dalling Dunn under whom Governor James Stirling had served in the "Hibernia" and the "Armide" in 1810-11. Land for a townsite was set aside in the late 1830s, and there is a recorded whale fishery at "Dunsbro" in 1850. When the town first appeared on a map in 1839 it was spelt "Dunnsbro" but the extra "n" seems to have disappeared by 1850, and the spelling of "bro" amended to "borough" when the name was gazetted in 1879.
There are many sights to be seen around Dunsborough and places of interest to visit. There are walk trails through the beautiful countryside and accommodation of all types is available.
Unfortunately I was unable to find many photographs of the area but I managed a few so will share them here: (thanks to the westernaustralia-travellersguide.com and Australian Explorer)
Castle Rock:
Fishing off the rocks:
A scenic stroll along the ocean front:
The Meelup trail has a lot to offer:
Cape Naturaliste lighthouse, only 13km from Dunsborough:
The lightbouse received an award of excellence recently:
When you round the corner from the lighthouse there are are beautiful views of the western coastline of W.A:
I know we will not holiday at Dunsborough again but it has so many happy memories of the holidays we had there over the years. Our granddaughters still often talk about the great times they enjoyed holidaying with us all those years ago.
I should perhaps mention that the Mandalay caravan park is on the road between Busselton and Dunsborough so quite handy to both towns.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a beautiful place. I have never stayed in a tent that big. It looks quite grand to the one I had many moons ago. Probably the reason it was a fleeting experience, lol. That and the fact that a sheep tried to get in with us one day and some bright spark put a bunch of gorse bushes into my sleeping bag as a joke.
ReplyDeleteIt is a very beautiful place.
ReplyDeleteThe tent was an 8-an size which was ideal if camping for two weeks as you then had the cooking/eating area and the bedroom section separately. Unfortunately my arthritis got so bad I just couldn't contemplate camping any more. Now we are both too old. We kept the tents for some years but last year they went out on our verge collection and were snapped up very quickly. We can only hope some others will have as much fun camping as we did.
That was a really nice tent you used....when we camped with our daughter we used two nylon back packer tents. Not very luxurious.
ReplyDeleteThis was our big tent. We also had a little two-man tent if we were only staying overnight or for a couple of days. I was never terribly happy having to use the ablution block and toilets. Guess that's just me!! A private person.
DeleteA beautiful spot. Another beautiful spot.
ReplyDeleteI have no fond memories of camping. My father was an amateur gemnologist so we camped beside disused mines so he could poke through the slag heaps. Not fun. No other families - and if another arrived he moved us on...
Our south-west has many beautiful spots and I am so grateful for all these lovely photographs I am finding.
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't sound as though it was a lot of fun at all but the gemnologist part would have been fun if he'd allowed you to take part in the exploration. I wonder were any really good gemstones found?
Wow, looks beautiful. I love those memories of family holidays, they're certainly something to be cherished. x
ReplyDeleteYes it is a lovely restful place (when the schoolies aren't there). Aren't memories so wonderful? It's nice at times to just sit back quietly, close your eyes and let your mind drift back over the years (and I've a lot of years to drift back over!!).
DeleteI LOVE the rocks! I'm not a camper, so I would never have a tent, but I wouldn't mind a holiday in one of those chalets.
ReplyDeleteThose chalets are very comfy so I am sure you would enjoy it there. Mandalay is a particularly good c.park and they also have posh double storey places overlooking the ocean.
ReplyDeleteI was never a camping person either but when I eventually tried it I must admit I enjoyed the challenge (just not the communal ablution blocks).