I took a detour to Busselton on my way from Margaret River to Walpole to join its Saturday morning Parkrun. The town was named after the Bussel family who relocated their in 1834 to take advantage of the superior farmland in the area.

Having chickened out of the Bunbury Parkrun the previous week (as it was raining) I made a special effort to detour north for the Geographe Bay Parkrun (www.parkrun.com.au/geographebay/). It is a straight out and back course along the bay starting near the Busselton Jetty. Although its started early at 8am, it was already pretty hot – nearly 30’C. I was happy with my time of just under 33min as it was my first Parkrun since last June. I hope to get a few more Parkruns in later on this trip.

Busselton is best known for its jetty. The initial wooden structure, on which building commenced in 1853, was only 176m long. It was built so that timber could be loaded onto ships in the shallow Geographe Bay. As ships got bigger, the jetty kept getting extending until the final extension in the 1960s took it 1.8km in length. The last commercial ship visited the jetty in 1971. It then fell into disrepair. Fire, cyclones and several failed restoration attempts meant that it was not opened to the public again until 2001.

At the end of the jetty is a underwater observatory that descends 8m below sea level.

After my quick visit to Busselton, I set off on another detour to Pendleton.