Text size
Published
Text size
Next time you head south, don’t take the Bunbury bypass. Drive into the city instead and be surprised by the new look, new attitude and a host of new attractions.
Anyone who regularly makes their way down south will now reap the benefits of the brand-new Bunbury Outer Ring Road. Open from the end of 2024, it’ll shave another 20 minutes off the drive from Perth to Margaret River by seamlessly connecting the Forrest Highway with the Bussell Highway.
But, in pursuing a faster trip, what are you missing out on by bypassing Bunbury? Plenty.
While it’s retained the laidback charm many will remember from family holidays gone by, Bunbury has grown up. It’s a regional city with great bars and restaurants and a vibrant arts scene. And let’s not forget the bountiful bays and estuaries to explore. Oh, and there are dolphins. Lots and lots of dolphins.
The port city, a mere two-hour drive from Perth, is very much a destination in its own right. Here are just a few reasons why you should bypass the new Ring Road and drop into Bunbury.
Dolphin delight
One of Bunbury’s most iconic attractions, the Dolphin Discovery Centre, is one of the state’s premier dolphin interaction experiences. It sits on Koombana Bay, which is home to around 50 regular bottlenose dolphins, with another 100 or so visiting throughout the year.
Stand knee-deep in water in the Interaction Zone, where volunteers answer questions about the dolphins as you await their arrival. Or, take a 90-minute eco-cruise to see them frolicking (or sleeping) in the bay. If the conditions allow, you’ll be able to slide into the water to swim with them. The three-hour adventure runs from November to April, with tours departing at 8am every day except Tuesday. Bookings for all tours are essential.
The centre also houses a cafe, aquariums replete with fish and coral, and interactive displays and feeding programs to engage the whole family.
Dolphins in Koombana Bay (Image credit: Tourism Western Australia)
Art attack
Fondly known as BRAG, the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery has a lot to brag about. A former convent, the pink heritage building is home to the City of Bunbury Art Collection’s 800-plus pieces, including 330 botanical watercolours by the late Bunbury artist Rosetta Kelly. It also hosts an exciting, ever-changing roster of world-class exhibitions, various art workshops, and an important Aboriginal art program to foster local Noongar talent.
Outside the gallery, you’ll find even more art, with Bunbury having the largest collection of street and public art in regional Australia. Pick up a street map at the Bunbury Visitor Centre and take a stroll in search of the 40-plus large murals by national and international artists; allow a good two hours to see them all. You’ll also spot electrical boxes that have been transformed into colourful characters in a novel collaboration between artists and local students.
Still want more? Peruse the clay and paint works of local artists—or join a class—at the Stirling Street Arts Centre, or head out on the annual Tree Street Art Safari, a free self-guided art trail held in March. The resident artists offer workshops year-round, too.
Beach beauties
Bunbury became popular as a seaside resort in the late 1800s when miners sought respite from the Goldfields heat. While the city bears little resemblance to the Gold Rush settlement, its coast still holds the same allure.
Koombana Bay is a great family beach with very little swell, free public barbeques, and plenty of shade. In late 2017, the opening of a large, ship-themed playground only made the bay even more family-friendly. There’s now a flying fox, numerous slides, and two climbable red ‘ship stacks’, impossible to miss against the blue of the ocean. But it’s Wardandi Boodja—a 5m-high, shape-shifting bust of a Noongar man—that’s Koombana’s most striking addition. Designed by Nicole and Alex Mickle, the artwork is one of the South West’s most significant public commissions in the last 20 years.
On a smaller scale but equally as appropriate for young families is Jetty Baths, a calm, shallow bay with shaded grassy areas and a small playground. At the southern end of the beach, you’ll find Vat 2, where you can buy a takeaway coffee to enjoy with your toes in the sand. The cafe also serves lunch and dinner, or there’s always the free barbecues you can fire up for a beachside picnic.
The most renowned beach in Bunbury is Back Beach, stretching right the way from Wyalup-Rocky Point to the start of the Maidens Reserve. Bodyboarders descend on Wyalup-Rocky Point when the swell is up, riding the colliding waves and backwash to go flying high in the air. Swimmers head a little further down, setting up base in front of the surf club or down at Hungry Hollow. Conveniently, this curved mini bay is right across the road from the tavern of the same name. With many sections of shallow reef along the beach, fishing and snorkelling are also popular, while joggers, dog walkers, and cyclists work up an appetite on the path hugging the coastline.
RELATED: 10 of WA's best beach fishing spots »
RELATED: Lesser-known beaches south of Perth »
Image credit: Australia's South West and Frances Andrijich
Cool cuisine
The city is no slouch in the culinary stakes.Nicola’s Ristorante is a Bunbury institution. Opening in the early 2000s, it’s the city’s original Italian restaurant, now joined on Victoria Street by the modern Italian eatery Tramp Trattoria. Head to the former for a dinner of bubbly-based, Napolitan-style pizza (they have a huge Marana Forni pizza oven) and the latter for a fresh, handmade pasta lunch. Unfortunately, Tramp Trattoria doesn’t open on weekday evenings, so plan your meals accordingly.
Another long-term fixture in the Bunbury dining scene is Mojos, a popular haunt for more refined dining. The food here is great, but the wine and beer lists are what really put the restaurant on the map. Sommelier Jake Atkinson is constantly awarded for the thought and breadth of his curation, winning the title of ‘Australia's Best Beer List’ in the Australian Wine List of the Year Awards for the second year in a row in 2024. At Market Eating House—a similarly lauded higher-end eatery at the northern end of Victoria Street—the star attraction is the charcoal and woodfired oven. It turns out flavoursome, Middle Eastern-inspired food made for sharing; think meze plates, barbecued cuttlefish with Persian black lime, and cauliflower fatteh with turmeric labna.
But, it’s casual, everyday dining that reigns supreme in these parts.Last Slice Sports Bar constantly pulls a crowd, both for its approachable, pub-style menu and the giant screens playing whatever game is on that day. Just down the road is Froth Craft Brewery, Bunbury’s version of the ever-popular Exmouth establishment. While the name and brews are the same across both venues, the Bunbury menu leans heavily into Asian fusion and less into ‘quick pub grub’. If it’s burgers you’re after, Milky Lane’s Bunbury outpost on the Silos Waterfront has you covered. Expect oozing, juicy burgers and over-indulgent dessert cocktails.
Outdoor adventures
Bunbury is an ideal base to explore the region’s natural beauty. It’s best to stop by the visitor centre to find the trail right for your level of fitness, but the Marlston Hill walk to the checkered lighthouse and the lookout is a good place to start. Climb the spiral stairs up the tower for superb views of the city and bay. Leschenault Peninsula Conservation Park, 18km north of Bunbury near Australind, is a great place for swimming, hiking, and birdwatching. You’ll likely see the resident dolphins cruise by in the inlet or on the ocean side, too.
Bring your bike or hire one at Melo Velo, and complete the 6km Leschenault Inlet loop. It’ll take you past the southernmost white mangroves in Western Australia and one of the older residential areas of the city. Alternatively, take to the 4 km-long beachside path along Ocean Drive.
Prefer water activities? You can bodyboard, surf, stand-up paddleboard, snorkel, water-ski or sail. Ask for details at the visitor centre. You can even dive for ‘sunken treasure’ with Octopus Garden Dive Charters. The FV Lena, just off Bunbury, is now an artificial reef rich in marine life.
Noongar knowhow
Noongar people called this area Goomburrup long before the town was founded in 1836 and named for Lieutenant Henry St Pierre Bunbury.
Proud Noongar artist and performer Troy Bennell gives visitors a different perspective via Ngalang Wongi Cultural Tours. On the Dreaming Town Tour, you’ll learn how the Noongar lived and hunted, and visit sites of cultural significance. The Estuary Walkabout Tour takes visitors by the mangroves and up along Koombana Bay, where you’ll forage for bush tucker and learn a bit of bush medicine. Both tours take about two hours, with the latter including entry to the Dolphin Discovery Centre.
Market magic
The Bunbury Farmers Market’s location on the bypass is genius, as everyone going down south can stock up for the time away or their homecoming. If you’re staying in Bunbury, though, you can visit any time you please.
This massive indoor marketplace is loaded with fresh fruit and vegies; specialty cheeses and cured meats; freshly baked breads and cakes; and a host of sauces, spices and chutneys that you don’t need but will definitely want.
Chances are you’ll leave with an overladen trolley even if you are only there for a few days. Just avoid peak hours — parking can be hard to find.
Locals also swear by the Bunbury Markets. Held every first and third Saturday of the month in Queens Garden, the markets are not only a great source of local produce, crafts and more, they are a wonderful place to get to know the people who make Bunbury so special.
Night moves
Like all good port cities, Bunbury has plenty of great watering holes. Call in for a drink at the refurbished Rose Hotel, which has served customers since 1865. The front bar is a warm blend of old and new, and out the back is a sprawling—and always popular—restaurant space. A much more recent addition to the main drag is Lost Bills, a place where cocktails are craft, the beers are chilly, and the wine list is local. It’s Bunbury’s original cocktail bar, cosy and moody, perfect for a late-night tipple. But, with the opening of the underground Ruby Lounge at the Mantra Bunbury Hotel, Bunbury’s cocktail bar count has been bumped up to two.
The only thing better than a cold pint on a summer’s day is a cold pint by the water on a summer’s day.The Old Coast Road Brewery has its catalogue on tap at the Parade Hotel, and the pub’s sprawling over-water deck is the perfect to enjoy something from it. It overlooks the Leschenault Inlet’s mangroves and the tops of the huge woodchip piles at the port. If you want to get your dancing shoes on, the heritage-listed Gold Rush-era Burlington Hotel gets going from 9pm to 1am on Fridays and Saturdays. Cover bands play in the Indi Bar, while pool players can kick back with live music in the Chillax Bar.
Festival fever
No festival quite unites Bunbury’s hospitality, arts, and wellness industries quite like the annual Lost & Found Festival does. There are upwards of 20 registered events (ticketed and free) in the program each year, ranging from live drawing sessions at Cuprum Distillery to a lakeside jazz and pizza night at Evedon Lakeside Retreat. Consider it Bunbury’s answer to the Margaret River Region’s wildly popular Pair’d or Cabin Fever festivals.
Bunbury Fringe brings a range of cutting-edge performances from the big smoke to the South West, including stand-up, music, improv, poetry, and storytelling. It’s held annually in the last week of January, with plenty of pop-up venues joining in the fun and transforming into Fringe venues for the duration. Before heading to your show, visit the Fringe Festival hub for a tipple and soak up the electric atmosphere.
Film buffs should put CinefestOz, the state’s leading film festival, on their calendar. Held in August across Bunbury, Busselton, and Margaret River, it always has an exciting program of workshops and world premieres, where you can even catch a few of the film’s stars walking the red carpet. There’s also an ‘IndigifestOZ’ offshoot showcasing the work of Aboriginal filmmakers.
Check the Bunbury Geographe calendar for upcoming festivals and events.
Shopping central
You won’t have to wander far to find cool shops, with many clustered in and around Victoria Street. Lose yourself in Afez of the Heart, an Aladdin’s cave of treasures from Turkey, Morocco, and India, including rugs, cushions, ceramics, and jewellery. For the fashion-lovers, there’s the effortlessly cool, unisex store Sabotage, and across the road, racks of Kivari, Alemais, and PE Nation at Life & Soul Boutique. End your Victoria Street shopping spree at Imogino, where you’ll find luxurious fragrances—the kind you definitely don’t find in duty-free—skincare and home fragrances.
On Arthur Street, right by the Bunbury Visitor Centre, is Emporium of Eshe, an eclectic boutique stocking everything from beautiful babywear to its own jewellery label. Walk around the block, and across from the post office, you’ll find Terracotta. The clothing here is easy and affordable, really playing into Bunbury’s laid-back, coastal aesthetic.
Historical hits
Housed in the old Bunbury Boys School, built in 1886, the Bunbury Museum and Heritage Centre neighbours the visitor centre. The museum takes a contemporary approach to the past, sharing the lives of the Wardandi Noongar people, the struggles of early migrants and convicts, wartime history, and beyond through a series of temporary and permanent exhibitions.
From there, history buffs will find themselves spoiled for choice of places to visit. There’s the Stirling Street Historic Precinct, where buildings retain much of their 19th-century character; the Marlston Waterfront walk, revealing the dozens of vessels that came to grief on ‘shipwreck bay’ in the 1800s; and Centenary Gardens, created in 1936 to mark the city’s 100th birthday.
Brekky bonanza
For a hearty breakfast, locals swear by The Happy Wife. On the Leschenault inlet, this cosy cafe serves breakfast until 2:00pm, so you can sleep in late and still make it in time for homemade crumpets (sweet or savoury) or indulgent house-made granola. On a sunny day, a seat on their waterfront deck is unbeatable. In inclement weather, head to Sage, which has plenty of indoor seating and a robust menu of coffee, cakes, salads, and brunch dishes.
If Mojos and Nicolas are restaurant stalwarts, Benesse Bunbury would be their cafe companion. In its current incarnation—and under its current ownership—the cafe has been running for 15 years. And, it’s never not busy. Open seven days, Benesse is known for its great coffee, well-filled sandwiches, and fun takes on breakfast classics.
Park the idea of coffee and cake and go for coffee and croissants instead.Little Spencer Co. does pastry exceptionally well, especially when it comes to their sweet and sticky cinnamon scrolls and fruit-filled danishes. Chunky, New York-style cookies are one of their specialties, too; think white chocolate and Caramilk or Oreo stuffed. Grab a box of goodies and eat them in Centenary Park next door or find a table to order from the dine-in menu.
Last updated: November 2024Image credit: Bunbury Geographe Tourism Partnership, Photographer: Bianca Turri Model: Elle Ryan. Banner: Australia's South West and Frances Andrijich.
