About Margaret River
Margaret River is both a town and a region. As a region it is a hugely successful wine growing district with over 80 vineyards, many of which have impressive cellar doors. At a town it is a typical wine growing region service centre with an emphasis on cafes, boutique shops and a sense of chic-ness. It has an impressive Farmers Market and an excess of upmarket restaurants. It lies close to superb beaches and impressive limestone caves. The district’s magnet is its vineyards which produce some of the best wines in the country (sourced from the Aussie Towns website – click for more).
Some links…
Gracetown Caravan Park
We had planned to stay in Prevelly Caravan Park, where we stayed in 1980, but decided to abandon that idea at the last minute based on what we had heard about it (like not being updated since we were last there – from the guy on the phone at the Prevelly CP).
So at the last minute (like 2kms from town) we found Gracetown Caravan Park (maplink) which was absolutely fantastic. Nice bushy park with friendly people and just a good vibe – coffee van visited each morning. We even had a friendly kookaburra come to visit every afternoon trying to share our nibbles; little girl next door called him “Kooky” buy her brother called him “Luigi”.
We found this was a bit of a drive from Margaret River, but in WA you get used to this. Took a drive down to Prevelly Park and had a look at the mouth of the Margaret River. Truly beautiful spot to spend the day.
Margaret River beach
Busselton Jetty
Took a trip up to Busselton from Margaret River and discovered the Busselton Jetty, which is the longest timber-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere stretching 1.8 km into Geographe Bay.
We took the quaint little train out to the end where we took the tour of the underwater observatory. This is another one of those “must do” activities if you are ever in the region.
Busselton Jetty
Some links…
North of Margaret River – Yallingup, Dunsborough, Eagle Bay & Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse
Taking Caves Road and driving north along the coast from Margaret River you come across some beautiful places with amazing vistas over the ocean and coastline.
Starting in Yallingup we checked out the surf, watching a couple of guys doing tricks on their boogie boards in close to shore as well as a pod of dolphins surfing through the waves. I was fortunate enough to snap a photo of a dolphin jumping out of a wave – pretty cool.
Had lunch in a nice little cafe in Dunsborough before exploring Eagle Bay (millionaire’s holiday spot) and onto a look at Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse.
Surfers Point - Margaret River
Some links…
- Trip Maplink
- Margaret River Region website
- Tourism WA – Yallingup
- Tourism WA – Eagle Bay
- Tourism WA – Dunsborough
South of Margaret River – Tall Forests, Hamelin Bay, Augusta & Cape Leeuwin
Overcast and cool today as we headed down to Augusta through the tall Karri Forests in the National Park.
Stopped off at Hamelin Bay which was originally established as a port for exporting of Karri timber. There are 11 shipwrecks in the bay and on July 2nd 1900 a ship was wrecked in a massive storm which ended the timber export from here due to the hazardous conditions.
The Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is the tallest in WA and the 3rd in the country sitting 54 metres above sea level. This is the extreme south-western most point of the Australian continent, and the point where the Indian Ocean meets the Great Southern Ocean.
We also checked out the famous “fossilised water wheel” which was built to help pump water from a spring up to the lighthouse in the late 1800’s.
On the way back to Margaret River we stopped to view the fields of white Arum lily flowers, declared an environmental pest, which grow all over this end of WA. They are literally everywhere you look in the pastures and forests.
Overcast and cool today as we headed down to Augusta through the tall Karri Forests in the National Park.
Stopped off at Hamelin Bay which was originally established as a port for exporting of Karri timber. There are 11 shipwrecks in the bay and on July 2nd 1900 a ship was wrecked in a massive storm which ended the timber export from here due to the hazardous conditions.
The Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is the tallest in WA and the 3rd in the country sitting 54 metres above sea level. This is the extreme south-western most point of the Australian continent, and the point where the Indian Ocean meets the Great Southern Ocean.
We also checked out the famous “fossilised water wheel” which was built to help pump water from a spring up to the lighthouse in the late 1800’s.
On the way back to Margaret River we stopped to view the fields of white Arum lily flowers, declared an environmental pest, which grow all over this end of WA. They are literally everywhere you look in the pastures and forests.
Margaret River Wineries
You cannot visit the Margaret River region without visiting some wineries so we trundled out today to visit just a few…
- Vasse Felix – lovely Cabernet Sauvignon
- Cheeky Monkey Brewery – great place for lunch and to take your kids
- Killerby – a couple of reds here too
- Evans & Tate – grabbed a couple of bottle of Pinot Grigio
- Howard Parks & Madfish – massive vineyard with sweeping driveway entrance of 2kms. Took away a nice Shiraz
We finished our little tour at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory (identical to Chocolaterie in Vic) followed by the Margaret River Dairy Company. It was a great day spent visiting the region.
Vasse Felix Winery
