Bunbury Foreshore (Image Tourism WA)
Julia D’Orazio detours to Bunbury, WA, and discovers a lot has changed in the 10 years since she last visited the state’s second largest city. From colourful street art and close-up dolphin encounters to waterfront dining and lookouts with views to white sandy beaches, there’s now plenty to tempt travellers to linger longer.
I have a confession: I usually bypass Bunbury. My usual trips ‘down south’ from Perth never seem to stop in at this major Western Australian city. Instead, my GPS is firmly fixed on its smaller regional town rivals: Busselton, Dunsborough and Margaret River.
It’s never been easier to skip Bunbury, thanks to the recent opening of the new Wilman Wadandi Highway, evading the city altogether. But this time around, I decided to actively seek it out. It’s been years — if not a decade plus — since I last stayed in Bunbury, 168km south of Perth. Unsurprisingly, things have changed: colourful murals on walls, exciting eateries and bars have popped up across the city like mushrooms, and one of its main caravan parks has been refreshed. Some things have remained the same: historic buildings, visiting dolphins, and highlighting its main charms.
With only 48 hours, I used Discovery Parks – Bunbury Foreshore caravan park as a jump point to my rediscovery — a convenient base to explore the heart of Bunbury on foot.
Bunbury’s high times
I started my midweek getaway literally getting on top of Bunbury’s changes with a visit to the Marlston Hill Lookout. The space-age, UFO-looking monument looms large on the original site of the Bunbury Lighthouse in the centre of town. The top of its caged spiralling staircase provides epic panoramic views of ‘The City of Three Waters’, uniting Koombana Bay, illustrious for a wild bottlenose population (more on that later); Leschenault Inlet, a recreational hub for fishing, crabbing (blue manna), SUPing, boating — you name it; Bunbury Casuarina Boat Harbour, the city’s busiest shore; and the western outlier, Geographe Bay.
Marlston Hill Lookout
Views across Leschenault Inlet
Beyond blues, there are a few pointed landmarks that stand out. Bunbury’s iconic 25-metre-high Bunbury Lighthouse stands as a checkered beacon; its black and white squares are an artful addition to Casuarina Point Beach (Geographe Bay). The city’s other sticking point is Bunbury Tower. Standing 11 storeys tall, the 1980s-built ‘skyscraper’ is the tallest building in regional WA. Its postmodernism angled triangular roof is hardly an architectural wonder of the south, yet it stands as an icon of a thriving regional city.
The checkered Bunbury Lighthouse
In Bunbury’s southern outskirts is Maidens Reserve, 6km south of the centre. It, too, is a place of panoramas with two lookouts — one 45m (wheelchair accessible), the other 67m — overlooking the city and ocean.
I’ll get back down to earth now…
Greeted by the laughing kind
I was back on land, but not for long. Opposite Discovery Parks – Bunbury Foreshore is one of the city’s main attractions, the Bunbury Dolphin Discovery Centre. The state-of-the-art centre entrance — a yellow wall surrounded by a towering wave-like art sculpture — is striking, located along Koombana Bay Foreshore, overlooking Koombana Beach’s protected waters.
The city’s wooing of the wild (and friendly) flippers dates to the 1960s when local resident Evelyn Smith started feeding dolphins from a small jetty in Leschenault Inlet. After she passed away, locals continued to feed the clued-on dolphins from the surrounding area, eventually forming the Bunbury Dolphin Trust. In 1989, a specialist was hired to study the dolphins in Koombana Bay. This led to the development of the city’s Interaction Zone and the not-for-profit Dolphin Discovery Centre in the 1990s, working together to educate and protect the dolphins in the city’s waterways.
Leschenault Inlet is a hub for aquatic activities
In the warmer months, the most common sighting of dolphins occurs between 8am–12noon. At 10am, and I didn’t have to scan the coast for too long to see a dorsal fin slowly cutting through water. It was swimming closely in front of a small crowd of onlookers knee-deep in the water, interactions overseen by a dolphin volunteer. Plenty of red-shirted volunteers were around, easily spotted in the centre and coast, readily available to educate marine life enthusiasts about the city’s star residents.
To extend showtime, I hopped onboard the Dolphin Eco-Cruise to observe the dolphins in their natural habitat, far from Bunbury’s golden shores. The 90-minute small vessel cruise explores Koombana Bay and nearby channels, and I saw a small fraction of the 100-plus dolphins that call the city’s waters home.
Heading out on the Bunbury Eco-Cruise
It was a brilliant day: clear blue skies, calm waters, no wind. Young families made up the majority onboard, the squeals of delight from youngsters endearing. Within 20 minutes, we saw our first pod of dolphins, their slender grey bodies riding small waves, fooling around our boat. The cute factor intensified with the sighting of a mother and baby dolphin, both in our sights for almost half the cruise. The captain delivered dolphin facts in between coos and photo ops. What a relaxing, scenic way to start the day.
Diving deeper into Bunbury’s marine life
My enthusiasm for Bunbury’s marine life magnified at Dolphin Discovery Centre’s Marine Discovery and Interpretive Centre. It had been a while since I went into a venue like it, one of a few in Western Australia. The centre’s walls teem with marine life displays — aquariums and information panels — vividly showcasing Bunbury’s coastal environments and beyond. It also provides commentary on the region’s Indigenous, colonial and marine history.
Aquarium at Bunbury Dolphin Discovery Centre
At the centre’s core is a 360-degree ‘Offshore reef tank with shark and friends’. Fish zigzagged across each other, doing laps around a small, colourful pyramid of coral. A small reef shark slept along the sand bed, half obscured from view. It was a fascinating watch, although I was most besotted with the stingray lurking at the tank’s bottom, swimming clockwise. Time and time again, it raised its body against the looking glass, showing off its white belly. The ray’s mouth and gills were highly animated, alien-like.
There are four public feedings in the centre daily: two in the main tank and surrounding tropical tanks. The other two are in separate octopus and baby rescue loggerhead turtle enclosures.
I timed my visit well, first seeing 15 small turtles no bigger than a small kitchen pan do the rounds in a small pool — a far cry from their bigger home in Ningaloo Reef from where they were rescued. The centre works closely with the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions to assist with rehabilitating stranded baby loggerhead sea turtles, eventually returning the threatened species to warmer waters some 1000km north near Exmouth.
I next ventured to the octopus tank. It featured two separated multi-tasking arms baited with fish at the end of a long stick, tempting each octopus to fully appear from their rocky homes. As an avid diver, I found it a thrill to see the elusive creatures in full view, changing colours and contorting their bodies. I got the spectacle I was after, watching unfurling arm work. It was my favourite wildlife viewing of the day.
The centre also features the world’s only 360-degree Digital Dolphinarium. The seven-minute lifelike animated film features the life of dolphins in Koombana Bay, from birth, and how they defend themselves from predators and hunt/feed fish.
Koombana Beach
A walk in the past and future
The Bunbury Museum and Heritage Centre is located in the centre of town. Housed in a red-brick former school, the heritage-listed Paisley Centre exhibits Bunbury’s history through photos, artefacts and maritime objects. It also illuminates the region’s Indigenous history.
Perhaps the centre’s most bizarre artefact is the suit of armour that greets visitors at its entrance. Dubbed the ‘Knight of the Rose’, the local cultural icon once stood as a lobby guardian at the city’s historic Rose Hotel in 1969. After disappearing for decades, the suit of armour was eventually found in Margaret River and returned to Bunbury. A bizarre bit of history.
Bunbury Museum and Heritage Centre
Staying inspired, I followed the Bunbury CBD Mural Trail. The eclectic trail features 36 larger-than-life murals splashed across city walls, adding colour and life down main streets and narrow laneways. Local and international artists contributed to the city’s vivid makeover — from contemporary pieces to bold patterns — including renowned WA muralists Anya Brock and Chris Nixon.
Anya Brock mural
Another source of inspiration? The city’s bustling beer garden. Exmouth’s favourite Froth Craft Brewery has opened its doors in Bunbury (Affectionately known as ‘Froth Craft Bunbrewery’). The bigger venue features multiple dining areas in nautical-themed surroundings. Century-old fragments of the Old Bunbury Jetty (1864) have been given a new lease on life as art and booth pylons. Keeping true to the city’s port routes, the centrepiece of the brewery is a boat-shaped wooden bar.
It was 7pm and locals packed the brewery. I was there for the $20 Tuesday Parmi deal. The thick-cut chicken schnitzel was drowsed with sauce and cheese and served with chips. I was glad I was partaking in a new favourite local pastime. Maybe I shouldn’t wait so long for the next return visit.
Froth Craft Bunbrewery
Discovery Parks – Bunbury Foreshore
The revamped caravan park offers powered, unpowered and ensuite-powered sites. Powered sites 1–11 along Dolphin Drive have coastal views, whereas the park’s new campground sites are encircled with cabins. Four ablution blocks are located throughout the campground, and indoor kitchen amenities rival a commercial kitchen.
Discovery Parks – Bunbury Foreshore has a great range of campsites
Discovery Parks – Bunbury Foreshore caravan park is a great base point for exploring the area on foot
The park fringes Leschenault Inlet, with a flat 5km-long pathway encircling the inlet. From here, it’s a short stroll to the inlet’s jetty and sandy shores, used as a base point for aquatic activities and to the city centre. The views are gorgeous, too.
Fast facts
Discovery Parks – Bunbury Foreshore
P: 08 9791 3900
E: bunburyforeshore@discoveryparks.com.au
Bunbury Museum and Heritage Centre
P: 08 9792 7284
Bunbury Dolphin Discovery Centre
P: 08 9791 3088
E: info@dolphindiscovery.com.au
P: 0407 718 751
Wardandi Boodja steel sculpture located on Bunbury Foreshore
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