Busselton, Western Australia

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We had a rough start last night. I went to bed wearing Seabands. Sometime in the night we reached the end of Australia and turned right. I believe that took us out of the Bight and into the Indian Ocean. Whatever happened the seas calmed as we headed north. We had the sunrise over Australia out our window early this morning.

I was up before 6am. I don't know why. We weren't cleared off the coast of Busselton until almost 9am. They have a mile long wooden jetty here and we are at least that far away again. The tender takes 20 to 30 minutes. The water must be very shallow in this bay because for the first time we can look down from the ship and see bottom!

We meet for our excursion at 10am today. Pasted below is the description. We paid $259 each.

EXCURSION
WESTERN AUSTRALIA FOR FOODIES
Enjoy an insider’s look (and taste!) of Western Australia with an excursion full of tempting treats. Meet the vineyard owner and taste fine wines at Cape Naturaliste Vineyard; sample chocolates at Gabriel Chocolate Factory; and duck behind the scenes at Cowaramup Brewery for a brewer-guided tour, followed by lunch and beer tastings. 

DURATION
5½
New for 2019 - Pre-reservation of this Crystal Adventures excursion is recommended.

Depart the pier aboard your motor coach and travel to Cape Naturaliste Vineyard. Arriving after a journey of about 40 minutes, meet the vineyard owner for a behind-the-vineyards tour, a chance to discover what goes into crafting award-winning wines. Of course, you will sample various varieties.

Next, head to Gabriel Chocolate in Yallingup to meet the chocolatier and learn about all things chocolate. Gain insights into the chocolate-making process with a stroll through the factory, where some of the world’s finest raw cacao beans are used to make award-winning chocolate.

Sample some decadent confections before transferring to your final gourmand destination, Cowaramup Brewery. Join the head brewer for a talk and tour of this family owned, boutique brewery. Afterward, enjoy a late lunch, paired with a variety of beers.

Your appetite for an informative and tasty excursion satisfied, return to the pier with a journey of approximately 40 minutes.

Guests must be a minimum of 18 years of age in order to participate in the wine and beer tasting. As this excursion involves walking over uneven surfaces, it is not recommended for guests with walking difficulties. It is recommended that guests dress in casual clothing and wear flat, comfortable shoes. This excursion will operate in all weather conditions. The order of sights visited may vary.

The high here today is predicted to be 90 F. So I was glad to see no hat and sunscreen recommended today as hopefully that means we'll be in AC all day! What a difference a view hundred miles and a different ocean make to a climate.

We had a good tour today with the exception that Gabriel, the chocolatier, was a no show and so we wasted some time getting there and finding out that we'd get no tour. A disappointment as we'd really enjoyed our Honolulu bean to bar experience. The rest of the tour was good with only 10 in the small bus.

If we'd known about Busselton before arriving we probably wouldn't have booked a tour here at all. You tender in to the world's 2nd longest wooden jetty at about a mile. You can pay to ride a little train to the end and back or walk. At the end is an underwater observatory you can pay to enter. They even have helmut diving out there. The point is you could have easily filled a day and never even left the waterfront. Live and learn.

We sailed right at 6pm. The captain said we would easily make our appointment in the morning in Fremantle. He expects 2-4 foot seas so that sounds good. It will be hot again tomorrow. We have ferry tickets that we booked online to visit Rottnest Island. We have visited Fremantle twice before but never made it to Rottnest before so this will be new.

The Reflections on the bed tonight is about the 2nd segment ending tomorrow in Fremantle and the 3rd segment beginning. I am sure segment 2 was the shortest in time and distance of the 4 WC segments. It says we sailed 4443 nautical miles or 5109.45 land miles. On the 1st segment which was a week longer we traveled 6841 nm or 7867 land miles.

We have 7 days cruising the Indian Ocean when we leave Fremantle!

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