Western Australia
Rooms for rent in Bunbury
Bunbury is roughly twenty-five kilometres of town strung between the ocean and the estuary, and which part of that line you land on changes your whole day. This page walks it from the top end down to where the buses stop.
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The north end, and the water between it and town
Start in Australind, at the top of the line. The Leschenault Estuary sits between you and the rest of the town, so the road has to run all the way down its western shore before it arrives anywhere. Australind, Treendale and Millbridge follow that water, with Eaton tucked in below them. It is about fifteen minutes by car from Australind to the city centre and ten from Eaton. The surprise up here is the paperwork rather than the distance: this side is the Shire of Harvey and the Shire of Dardanup, not the City of Bunbury, so plenty of sites file it as somewhere else entirely. Day to day it is simply the north side, and it is the handiest side for Kemerton and for the industrial ground inland at Picton and Davenport.
Onto the spit, from surf to bay in ten minutes
Come south and the road funnels into the Eelup roundabout, where the land narrows to a strip with the Indian Ocean on one side and Koombana Bay and the inlet on the other. That is the whole reason Bunbury grew as a line rather than a circle. From Victoria Street you can be at water in either direction in about ten minutes on foot, and Marlston Hill looks over both. The working port is on the bay side, with alumina, mineral sands and woodchips going out through it, so the truck route and the cafe strip are a couple of streets apart.
This stretch changes character in December. The beaches and the dolphins at Koombana Bay bring the visitors down, and anything short-term is competing with holiday bookings until the end of summer.
South past the campuses, out to where the buses stop
Keep going south and the streets open out. South Bunbury, Carey Park, Withers and Usher are older brick-and-tile houses on generous blocks, and that is the part of town with the most share houses in it, flat enough that a lot of people ride into the centre in a quarter of an hour. Swing east onto Robertson Drive and you pass the regional hospital, the ECU South West campus and South Regional TAFE within a couple of kilometres of one another, which is why East Bunbury, Glen Iris and College Grove get asked about so often.
Past Usher the town thins out behind the dunes: Dalyellup about fifteen minutes from the centre, then Gelorup and Stratham. Gelorup is where the TransBunbury network runs out, so read the timetable against the actual street before you commit to anything down this end. Carry on and you are in farming country. The dairy runs north through Brunswick Junction and Harvey all year, and inland at Donnybrook, half an hour away, the orchards pick from about February to May while the Geographe vineyards do vintage over much the same weeks.
Where people look in Bunbury
The north side, across the estuary
Eaton, Australind, Treendale, Millbridge
Ten to fifteen minutes from the centre once you are round the water, generally cheaper, and already on the right side of town for Kemerton.
The spit: CBD and Marlston Hill
Bunbury, Marlston Hill, the waterfront
Ocean on one side, bay on the other, and ten minutes on foot between them, which is why hardly anyone up here drives to the beach.
East, along Robertson Drive
East Bunbury, Glen Iris, College Grove
The hospital, ECU South West and South Regional TAFE sit close together here, so these streets save a lot of people a daily run across town.
The south side
South Bunbury, Carey Park, Withers, Usher
Older houses, wide blocks, and the densest share-house part of Bunbury. Flat the whole way, so the ride into the centre is about fifteen minutes.
Out past the dunes
Dalyellup, Gelorup, Stratham
Newer estates about fifteen minutes south of the centre. Gelorup is the southern edge of the bus network, so check that before you rely on it.
What Kip Haus is
A free iPhone app that introduces somebody with a spare room to somebody who needs one. Drop a pin anywhere on the map, choose how far around it to look — 2 km out to 100 km — and go through the rooms one at a time.
Rent is shown per week. Browsing, listing and messaging are all free, and signing up is a six-digit code emailed to you: no password, no documents, any visa. It works from overseas, before you fly.
Kip Haus reads incoming messages for the pattern scammers use and warns you in the chat. The rule that does the most work is simpler than anything software can do, though: stand in the room, or have somebody you trust stand in it, before any money moves.
iPhone, iOS 16.4 or later. Nothing to pay, at any point.
Bunbury: questions people ask before they move
Is Eaton or Australind actually part of Bunbury?
Not administratively. Eaton is in the Shire of Dardanup and Australind is in the Shire of Harvey, while the city itself is the City of Bunbury. That is why listing sites often put them under their own headings. In daily life they are the north side of town, ten to fifteen minutes from the centre once you are round the estuary.
Do the Bunbury buses go out to Dalyellup and Gelorup?
Yes, Gelorup is about where the TransBunbury network reaches its southern edge, and Dalyellup sits inside it. The twelve routes run seven days a week, but frequency out that far is regional rather than city. Read the timetable against the exact street and your exact start time, especially for shift work.
How far is Bunbury from the Kemerton industrial area?
Kemerton is north of the estuary, past Australind. From Australind or Eaton you are already on that side of the water. From the south side of Bunbury you add the run back through town and round the inlet, which is what makes the north side popular with people working up there.
Can you live in Bunbury and work the Donnybrook picking season?
People do. Donnybrook is about half an hour inland and the apple picking runs from roughly February through to May, with vintage in the Geographe vineyards over much the same weeks. There is no bus that does it, so it only works with a car or a lift arranged with someone on the same shift.
Have a look at Bunbury.
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