Busselton Jetty – The Longest Timber Piled Jetty in the Southern Hemisphere

Busselton Jetty is one of major tourist attractions in Western Australia. According to Busselton Jetty official website, it’s construction began in 1865 with original length of mere 161 m. Extensions were made to Jetty with the passage of time which eventually resulted in total length of 1.8 km making it the longest timber-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. During our day trip of exploring Margaret River region in WA, Busselton Jetty was our first stop.

Sky was pretty much clear when we left Perth. However after a drive of 2.5 hours, it all became cloudy with chill winds. We had to wear jackets and other warm clothing.

There was a lush green park at shore having rides for kids, couple of restaurants, visitor information center and other rest-room facilities.

Designated swimming area in the sea.

Busselton jetty ticketing office at start of jetty.

and the jetty goes on and on…

The ticketing officer informed us that a train departs every hour to take visitors to the end of jetty. The fare was 12 AUD per person. Unfortunately, we were few minutes late to take the train and the next trip was after an hour. Since we were running out of time, we decided to go on foot. Walk-pass for jetty was relatively cheap – just 3 AUD per adult.

The train runs in middle of jetty with walk ways on both sides of rail track.

Many people were fishing along jetty. There was also a lower platform extended from jetty for fishing.

While we were heading towards jetty end, we saw bunch of guys and gals removing their clothes and jumping in cold sea water in short swim suits. Right after jumping we heard their voices cum screams “Oh my god. Oh my god”. Water was definitely too cold :).

Perhaps seagulls were more intelligent as they were resting out of water.

Looking back towards Busselton beach from jetty.

Our supposedly destination was at the end of this trail.

When we were around midway, we realized that our supposedly destination is still far. Of course, we needed same time to return to our cars that was required to reach jetty end. We were running out of time as we just started our journey and we still had to visit Lake Cave and Cape Leeuwin Light House. So we decided to halt and march back.

This was the closet we could go in our limited time.

There was also an underwater observatory at the end of the jetty which we couldn’t visit. Anyways, I hope I will get another chance to visit the remaining portion of Busselton Jetty.