The Southern Right and Humpback Whales are the most prominent in our waters and migrate in huge numbers, travelling close to the coast for the months of June through to December. Whale watching from June to Late August is best done in Albany and Augusta, then Dunsborough and Busselton from September to December.

Many travellers will choose a whale watching tour for the ultimate experience. These tours operate from varying locations depending on the time of year and the movements of the whales.

We think the most wonderful thing about whale season is having your own unique whale sighting! Nothing spells special like spotting your own whale! There are many beautiful spots you can set up your viewing post!  To name a few:

• Cape Leeuwin & Flinders Bay, Augusta. Numerous vantage points are along Leeuwin Road and enjoy fantastic views from the top of the lighthouse.
• Cape Naturaliste Lookout Platform and Lighthouse 13km from Dunsborough take the 1.3km return-walk from the lighthouse car park.
• Shelley Cove, part of Bunker Bay 13km from Dunsborough walk from the car park to the viewing platform above the limestone cliffs.
• Canal Rocks Rotary Lookout 4km south of Yallingup take the 400m walk from the car park.
• Hamelin Bay 18km north of Augusta, south of the boat ramp, follow the boardwalk up to the limestone headland.
• Cape to Cape Walk This walk covers 140km between the lighthouses in Cape Naturaliste near Dunsborough and Cape Leeuwin near Augusta. It offers breathtaking coastal scenery, and you can enjoy the wild flowers from August.
• Southern Skydivers, Busselton Airport. Imagine enjoying thrill upon thrill. Nothing says skydiving like an exhilarating freefall from 14,000ft, then a breath taking canopy ride, soaking up the coast from 4,000ft up! There is no way you will miss your free spotting, seeing as far down as Augusta to right on the doorstep in Busselton… We have whale watching well covered all season!

To think this is all only 2 and half hours South of Perth! Enjoy the whale watching season, we will!

1. SCUBA DIVING

Described as Australia’s greatest artificial reef, Busselton Jetty is rated as one of the best dive sites in the country. You can check out the amazing forest of brightly coloured corals, sponges, and fish hidden beneath the timber beams.

All local dive operators take group tours to the area and some offer night dives at the jetty, as well as to the amazing underwater world surrounding the former HMAS Swan.

What an awesome way to spend time in Busseltons beautiful waters!!

2. BUSSELTON JETTY

Extending 1.8 kilometres across stunning Geographe Bay, the heritage listed Busselton Jetty is the longest timber-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere! You can not visit Busselton and miss this sight!

You can also board the famous Jetty Train to reach the awesome Underwater Observatory; this is 8 metres below the water’s surface. You can discover some 300 different marine species below the jetty!

Take a dip, throw a line or just enjoy the view!

3. DRIVE IN CINEMA

Whilst in Busselton why not experience a movie night out at the Busselton Drive-In Outdoor Cinema.

Enjoy a night under the stars at WA’s only remaining country Drive-In… The Busselton Drive-In Outdoor Cinema is heritage listed and features include: Awesome blockbuster movie doubles. All you have to do is tune your car radio into 92.5FM, or use the traditional in car speakers!

Beep, Beep where do I drive in??

4. WINE TOUR

Fancy trying some vino while in Busselton?  Why not use one of South Wests many fantastic wine tour companies like ‘Wine for Dudes’

You could be picked up from your door step and taken across the Margaret river region to try many of the delicious wines the region has to offer only to be returned home when the suns coming down and you have had your self a perfect day!

Sign me up!

5. SKYDIVING

Need adrenalin rush? Why not throw yourself out of a perfectly good aeroplane from 15,000ft with Southern Skydivers!

Imagine the feeling of jumping out over South West’s beautiful coastline, free falling with your tandem instructor, towards the earth at 200km an hour, then taking a breathtaking ride under canopy until you land your feet in the white sands of Busseltons foreshore, along side the crystal waters and Busselton Jetty only metres away!

Does it stop there? No after having achieved your heart pumping skydive, Southern Skydivers would love to shout you a beer or wine at the Goose café to say thank you and well done!

Well I’m sold! Wait for me Southern Skydivers!!!!

It’s been in the bosses’ slow cooker for a while now, and finally with green lights we are now offering our tandem customers a landing they wont forget!

Our new drop zone is on Busselton’s busy foreshore, in front of the famous Goose Café and our much-loved jetty!  Landing in the white sand along side the crystal blue waters the South West is so famous for!

The Southern Skydivers crew are extremely excited and have thoroughly enjoyed our successful launch over Easter!

Dan found his passion for flying way back in 1999, but full time jobs got in the way of his one true love until in 2010 when he pursued his commercial pilots license at Nelson’s renowned Aviation College in NZ.

We wouldn’t trade Dan in for the world, safely and expertly ferrying us load after load as we launch ourselves out and plummet towards the earth, surely he thinks we are nuts, but Dan has fell in love with the area, the surf and well obviously us!!

Why would you want anything less?

With this in mind and living up to our name as WA’s premier drop zone, Southern Skydivers is proud to announce its latest advance, to Full Frame digital 22+ mega pixel cameras.

For those in the know, Southern Skydivers was already leading the charge when it comes to video quality, We’re passionate about it! Now we have surpassed every one else, once again.

Firstly we have introduced formal photography training for all of our freefall photographers, so instead of throwing any old camera on any old skydivers head, our team are trained professionals.

Next we have given our team the latest in professional photography equipment.  Unlike others using $ 300 consumer level cameras, we are equipped with Canon’s latest professional digital SLR the 5D mark 3 which comes in just north of $4000, couple that with the Canon’s 15mm fisheye lens and the results are remarkable.

You know you are getting the best, we guarantee it.

The best people with the best tools = The best skydiving photography on the market!

Skydivers can now fly to Busselton from either Perth or Albany!

Currently there is a twice weekly passenger service available through Skywest on Fridays and Sundays. Information about this service is available at www.skywest.com.au or by contacting 1300 660 088.

In a nutshell, the answer is that it doesn’t really matter – just make sure you get at least one or the other!

For the few passengers that come and do a Tandem with us, and then decide against a DVD package of their jump, they almost always regret it! There is nothing quite like your first jump, and it’s a memory you are going to want to re-live again and again!

So here are the differences:

Handcam

Your Handcam DVD is filmed by your Tandem Master. While the two of you are sitting in the plane together, all hooked up and ready to go, your Tandem Master is getting ready to record the whole experience! We capture those great facial expressions as you are sitting in the door of the plane, as well as the entire freefall, parachute ride, and landing.

Freefall DVD

Your very own skydiving cameraman is given the job of recording your Freefall DVD. He will jump in the plane together with you and your Tandem Master and film the skydive from an external perspective. Your exit and freefall are all caught on film, and then your cameraman will fall away and open his own parachute, and be on the ground just in time to film your landing. No parachute footage is captured in this option.

Just pick whichever option suits your budget better! They are both awesome

Some level one AFF…

After another AFF course on Friday; Rob, Josh, Alex and Julian (one of our talented pilots!) completed their first jumps.  There were plenty of nervous faces on the ground, but everyone knew their training back-to-front, and were excited to get off the ground.

Alex was up first at 8:30am, and set the standard for the rest of the boys.

Julian was last to jump on the Sunday morning, and finished up with a very nice (unassisted) landing. We put the awesome canopy skills down to his experience in flying.

A few tandems…

Glenn, Kev and Rossco had some great fun with the tandems this weekend.  One standout was Allison, whose son’s bought her a gift voucher for her 60^th birthday.

Allison called us during the week wanting to ‘discuss the voucher,’ and ‘decide if she wanted to use it or not.’ Needless to say she was VERY nervous.

The funniest part was that the week leading up to the jump was probably the most nerve wracking for her, as she tried to overcome her fears, and get a good nights’ sleep!

When Allison arrived on Saturday morning she was amped up for the jump and ready to go! The jump was so much fun, and Glenn took the canopy ride down really easy so she could recover from the freefall and enjoy the ride.

A sunset 10 way attempt…

We were lucky enough to have a lot of experienced jumpers hanging out at the DZ over the weekend, and when Tony (our local LDO,) showed up, it was a great opportunity to attempt our first 10 way since Glenn and I took over Southern Skydivers last year.

After a briefing from Tony, the crew took off in our 2 aircraft and headed to altitude over Geographe Bay and Cape Naturaliste.

Right on sunset, Richard and Mal flew our aircraft in formation right over the DZ and released the 10 jumpers at 14,000ft.

Aussie, Tooky, Rossco and Swingles made up the base in no time. Then Andy, Glenn, Tony, Kevin, Scotty and Lushy swooped down to attempt the 10 way, but the base was falling too slow and just when the formation was almost complete it was time to track off.

A good excuse to do it all again another day

Southern Skydivers dedicated fun jump day was long overdue by the time it came around last month. Since Glenn and Amy took over the DZ 6 months ago, it has always been the plan to change the focus from a tandem DZ, to a fun jumping DZ. We invited all the local crew, our new students, and anyone from Perth who was keen to check out what’s been going on.

It was a huge turn out, and a full days jumping. There were also some huge achievements by a few students.
Rob finished his B license with a nice 5way with Tony, Tooky, Adam and Rossco. Angelica finished her A license (which she started in The Netherlands,) with a hop-and-pop. Adam also finished his B license, with a few nominated landings.

At the end of the day, over a few beers, we made a DVD of all of the jumps and had a bit of a laugh, but the funniest part was when we started getting calls from worried girlfriends / wives / mothers saying “is he STILL there? Tell that boy to come home right now!”

A special mention to Swingles, who couldn’t make it. We missed your spiderman underwear – sorry you weren’t there ☹

December 2010, Margaret River, South West WA – Southwest TripleXXXTreme brings together three local adventure tour operators, Dirty Detours Mountain Bike Adventures, Southern Skydivers and the Margaret River Climbing Co. in an ambitious collaboration which aims to increase the profile of adventure sports in the Margaret River region. Showcasing the Boranup forest, Wilyabrup sea-cliffs and a thrilling aerial overview of Geographe Bay this package of three activities rolled into one is a thrill seekers antidote to wine fatigue.

Traditionally famed as a wine producing region, Margaret River and its surrounds need to look further afield if the area is to continue to attract the tourist dollar. The people from Southwest TripleXXXTreme hope to help raise the profile of the area and to encourage people to stay longer and spend a little more time and money locally. By helping to expand tourism they also hope to shore up the argument against mining in the local area.

The three experiences on offer are Mountain Biking in the Boranup or Carters Road forests, Rock Climbing on the Wilyabrup Sea Cliffs and Skydiving over Geographe Bay / Busselton. These locations are all pristine examples of the variety and diversity to be found in the South West.

Mountain Biking: www.dirtydetours.com

Our half day XXXTreme mountain bike tour. The beauty of the south west is no secret but our routes and trail destinations are. Ride through Margaret River’s awesome forest scenery (if you want to stop for a look) – this tour is for experienced riders and those who prefer their scenery to be blurry. This is 90% technical single track mountain bike riding. Purpose built as a challenge for advanced riders. Steep, winding and technical, a frenzy of adrenaline and thrashing pedals.

Rock Climbing: www.margaretriverclimbingco.com.au

Do the half day XXXTreme rock climbing session and you will see why Rock Climbing is our real passion. There’s nothing we love more than sharing our local crag with adventures designed to challenge and exhilarate. Tackle vertical limestone cliffs of up to 40m, hug the rock and hang on by your fingertips… marvel at the dolphins frolicking in the waves below – there’s no way not to look down!

Skydiving: www.southernskydivers.com.au

Your XXXTreme experience will begin with a 20 minute scenic flight over Busselton and the spectacular Margaret River Region. From altitude you will have amazing views of Geographe Bay, the famous Busselton Jetty, Cape Naturaliste and the wineries beyond. Then it’s time for the door to open, and ready… set… GO! The biggest rush comes during freefall where you and your instructor will plummet toward the earth at 200km/hour. Spread your wings and do ‘the Superman’ and feel the adrenalin pumping!

Each of these activities is available separately, and more information (including pricing and online booking) is available through the margaretriver.com website, or the individual business websites above. However, when booked directly and taken as a bundle, you will also receive your exclusive, limited edition souvenir t-shirt. More info, pictures and feedback can be found at www.facebook.com/ridejumpclimb