And so ended our Margaret River discovery tour. We returned to town to have a coffee, and in my case to visit the local camera store (which I later found out was for sale) to buy a new memory card for the E-P1 which had become my primary camera for the trip by that point. The store owner asked for my opinion of the E-P1 and we discussed its pros and cons for a little while, as you used to be able to do in old-fashioned camera stores before they all were for sale or closing down.

When I came out I noticed this rainbow on the opposite side of the road; the Bussell Highway, by name. There was still no pot of gold, though.

I originally posted this shot in July 2015, which was coincidental timing. Just on the right of frame, you can see an ABC Centre. This is - was - the retail chain operated by the national public broadcaster. The shops had been operating for the prior 35 years, and at one time their sales of merchandise, CDs, DVDs (and, in the old days, VHS tapes no doubt) made a significant contribution to the broadcaster's funds. However as with many bricks and mortar stores in this category, times have become tough, with plunging DVD and CD sales and the switch to digital. As a result, a few days before my posting it was announced that the stores would close, with only the e-commerce store remaining. (And that has since closed as well, he says updating these comments in August 2021. The last ABC stores in any form closed at the end of 2018.) I originally wrote that "As the ABC Centre in Margaret River also served as an Internet cafe, this will probably put a hole in the hangout options of the more intellectually inclined." Though by 2021, with almost everyone carrying at least a 4G smartphone and/or tablet, there is little call for those either.

Still, at the time this shot was taken the rainbow was still vibrant and the closures were still two years in the future.

Of the other stores, Muster Wine Bar on the left closed down some time in 2016 and became the Elkamo Restaurant, which as far as I can tell is still staying afloat in Covid waters. According to TripAdvisor a couple bought that out in October 2020 and changed it from an a la carte restaurant to "a cocktail lounge style venue". The surf shop, however, is still rattling along. I do wonder if I'll ever get back there again, and what I'll find if I do.

Probably not the rainbow. Certainly not the pot of gold.