Dunsborough & Cape Naturaliste — Whale watching, Wraps and Wheels

7th October — Western Australia

Today we planned to head west from Busselton to Dunsborough, with the main objective of the day being to visit the Cape Naturaliste Headland in search of the migrating whales.

Coffee & Gluten-Free Goodness

First stop: coffee! We headed to Little Iris Café and weren’t disappointed — great coffee, a peaceful garden and food (including GF) that looked incredible coming out of the kitchen.

The kids had a play in a nearby park and we walked around the town to grab some food to go. Lauren needs to eat gluten free, which can sometimes be a challenge, but so far in WA it’s been a breeze. We’d spotted a Mano Wraps in Busselton, which are 100% GF using buckwheat flour, so we picked one up for Lauren.

Meanwhile, Jacob expanded his horizons and joined me for sushi from Sushi Sushi next to Woolworths — simple but spot on. Fuelled up and ready for the day, we hit the road towards Cape Naturaliste.

Cape Naturaliste & the Whale Trail

There’s a car park at the top of the headland with several walking trails. We picked the 2.4km Whale Trail — short enough for the kids, but with plenty of lookouts along the way. The sign suggested allowing an hour (not including stopping and gawping at whales!).

As we started down the track, we spotted our first spouts in the distance — a thrill every single time. We stopped regularly, getting glimpses of whales breaching and tail-slapping as we made our way to the timber lookout.

We stayed there for a good half hour, completely mesmerised as the whales cruised south towards Antarctica. It was an incredible experience and we felt lucky our visit to WA lined up with this natural spectacle. We’d already booked a whale-watching boat trip for Ella’s birthday later in the month, so this made us even more excited for that — and little did we know, there’d be another amazing whale encounter still to come later in the trip.

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Scooters, Skate Parks & Sunset Dinners

Our final stop of the day was a quick Facebook Marketplace pickup — two kids’ scooters for $50. We’ve done this on trips before; it’s a great way for the kids to burn off energy while we get a bit of quiet time (and maybe even plan the next day).

Naturally, the kids couldn’t wait to try them out, so we headed back to Busselton Skate Park. With dinner cooking in the van, we watched the sun dip behind the trees while the kids raced around on their new wheels.

Best day so far. 🐋🌅