We were expecting a wet start to the day but it was dry when we woke. The forecast was for rain later in the day and rain in the direction we were heading.
We were in no real rush to leave and departed the caravan park just after 9:15am for the expected three hour drive south.
We expected to make good time with a fair amount of the trip on freeways and that is what happened. We cruised between 90 & 100kph and managed excellent fuel consumption of 2 litres per 100k’s less than the trip average to date.
The land in this part of Australia is very green and there is a lot of surface water indicating a large volume of recent rainfall.
When we arrived at Bunbury we were aware of the sky to the west starting to darken. “He” decided that a setup in the rain was not an option so rather than spending time in Bunbury, we decided to carry-on to see if we could arrive in Busselton before the rain.
How wrong we were. About 25k’s short of Busselton we started to notice that every vehicle coming in the opposite direction had lights on. About 10k’s short of Busselton we hit a wall of water. We had to slow to continue but the extreme rain only lasted for a few kilometres. Associated with the rain was some light hail.
We arrived at the caravan park at 12:15pm. The extreme rain had reduced but it was very wet. Our initial reaction of the caravan park (Mandalay) was very positive as we were made very welcomed. We were escorted to our site and were assisted in getting the caravan into exactly the right position.
With the rain continuing, “He” quickly took off shoes and sox, put on a pair of shorts and a rain jacket and then spent 20 minutes outside disconnecting the car and going through the usual setup procedure we have done so often on this trip. Needless to say, the rain stopped almost at the same time that “He” finished the outside work. Effort 10 out of 10, judgement 1 out of 10!
After lunch we drove to the beach and took notice of the wild surf. We also visited the Busselton Jetty (almost 2k’s long) but decided not to venture to the end due to the chance of further rain. The weather conditions also ensured that the tram that normally runs along the jetty was not operating. We did stop of the adjacent visitor information centre and obtain maps and brochures for our stay in the area.
Our friends joined us later in the afternoon. We had our usual happy hour and then retired for the night with the intention of watching the Olympic Games telecast. The rain continued during the night.