Bunbury and Gnomesville

We prefaced our visit to the Dolphin Discovery Centre in Bunbury with a warning to the children that as wild animals,  the dolphins do not perform on cue and there's no guarantee of even seeing one. So it was with great delight that we rushed down to the beach less than 10 minutes after arriving to see a young male dolphin swimming in the shallows, clearly visible,  at times only a couple of metres from the beach. He stayed for 10 or 15 minutes, before swimming off again.

We ventured inside then,  to inspect the displays of sea creatures. Two octopus kept us entertained for quite some time as they interacted with us,  squirting water,  pressing a tentacle against the glass tank and changing colour and shape. There were tanks of clown fish,  seahorses,  freshwater crayfish and starfish.  We saw the clown fish being fed and were able to touch a star fish. We experimented with placing an assortment of sea creatures under a microscope to examine more closely and got very close to a recuperating marine turtle in the rescue area.

Our afternoon was spent visiting a completely different creature -  garden gnomes.

Gnomesville was started by locals in the early 1990’s to brighten up a new roundabout. Passers-by added to the collection and it soon became a tourist attraction.  The gnomes had to be moved to the side of the intersection as they outgrew the roundabout and the collection has kept growing ever since. Tens of thousands of gnomes and other garden ornaments decorate the side of the road,  stretching back into the forest for about 50 metres.

The children adored the gnomes and raced around looking at all the different types. I was impressed by the sheer number of gnomes but mostly enjoyed the natural environment.  The area of Gnomesville is a lush green forest complete with a trickling brook, lined with ferns.  It was idyllic, my idea of paradise. It was a pleasure to wander through the forest,  across little wooden bridges as the creek meandered down the valley.