Busselton - Meelup Beach - Busselton - on Day 5

Meelup Beach

Friday 25 November 1977. The day was sunny and mild with a light southerly. I had slept without waking for about 10 hours (I can’t do that any more!) and felt heaps better. I had ordered my breakfast for 8 am - this was 1977, they still brought brekky up on a tray to your room. A knock on the door woke me up and I got up and got the tray from the floor outside the door. This was also the time before I started buying cakes and pies the day before to have breakfast in bed, saving time, energy and money. I think I started doing that in 1987.

Having decided what to do with the day I went down and booked my room for another night. They said, sure, no problem. I left most of my stuff in the room and just took essentials in the back pack.

This was the day to achieve my objective, Meelup Beach. I found my way to the Bussell Highway and set off for Dunsborough. The road was flat and the wind was not a problem. At that time Busselton had not spread so far along the shore in both directions, and the Vasse Store near the junction with Caves Road still marked a distinct locality. It is still there but has been modernised and absorbed into Greater Busselton.

I reached Dunsborough, which in those days was a small village with a famous bakery, a petrol station, a couple of other shops and no hotel or motel. I had a snack from the bakery then consulted my inadequate maps and some local signs to find my way to Meelup. There was a steep climb up the rough little road as it was then, Naturaliste Terrace, which just ran straight from Caves Road, through what there was of Dunsborough and on to the Cape. I never actually went all the way to the Cape until 2000!

About 4km from Dunsborough I found the turn-off and the sign saying Meelup Beach Road. I had a downhill run, then a climb, then a steep curving downhill run to the beach. It was enchanting. The forest came right down to the water’s edge and there was just a bit of lawn and a small car park and a green-painted brick ablutions block.

The beach faces north-east so it was sheltered from the prevailing southerlies, it was in a bay so that it was not at all rough. The water was amazingly clear. I had a delightful swim and lay around for a while afterwards.

I was a bit worried about getting back up the curving hill that had brought me to the beach. I worried more about such things in those days and my heavy old bike had only a three-speed hub gear and the easiest gear was not all that easy. Also I was well out of the zone of the comfortable and familiar. The day was warm and I got a bit hot and bothered as I trudged up the hill, being unable to pedal. Eventually I got to the top and was able to ride downhill for a while, welcoming the breeze that was starting to freshen from the south-west. Then I had to struggle uphill towards the junction with Naturaliste Terrace.

At last I was able to turn and run easily downhill to Dunsborough. The breeze was at my back as I went straight through and turned for Busselton.

It was about 3 pm by now and the road was cheerful with school buses and other traffic. I had had a nice day and I felt good.

I reached Queen Street and turned north, then into Marine Terrace to the Hotel.

I had another swim at the beach, then a hot shower and a change of clothes. Now it was time to look for somewhere to eat. I don’t know how I became aware of the Golden Barn, I must have just happened upon it. I had a lovely dinner and the ambience of the place was great, lots of young people having parties.

After that it was time to take the walk on the jetty. I walked straight up Queen Street and onto the jetty. The night was cool, with clouds and brief showers coming across the bay. My walk went on and on. The jetty was in better repair in those days and I could get right to the end. I passed the junction with the railway jetty, which came in at an angle, and the jetty became wider and stronger now that the railway track was there. It was obviously long disused, rusty with decayed sleepers and broken sections. A shower swept across just as I passed a strange little shelter with hooks, obviously something to do with the railway in years past. As I walked further out into the bay I could see the lights of Dunsborough to the West, Capel to the north-east and, further north, a bigger distant glow from Bunbury. Way up to the north I fancied I could see the huge glow from the Perth metropolitan area. To the west also, the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse swept its beam around at regular intervals.

I came to the end of the jetty. It was a wide area partly fenced, I say partly because some of it had broken, and it was quite dark now so I had to be careful. There was clunking from some loose timbers. The light was on a small tower on top of a raised platform, which could be reached by a ladder. The light went on and off with a loud clicking. I climbed the ladder and the light was very bright at close range, so I couldn’t se anything. I carefully came down again and walked in a leisurely way back to the mainland. I had the cool wind in my face now.

Charles A Pierce