Margaret River Wine Region

Busselton Jetty


Guess why we are in this part of the world - to sample wine you think. Well that could be one reason but there are plenty of others including catching up with dear friends Lance and Joy on their lovely acreage property outside of Dunsborough at the top of the Margaret River Wine area. What a place to live!

We settled into the Mandalay Resort Caravan Park at Busselton, one of the best we have so far stayed in, even providing a herb garden for guests. A long white sandy beach is directly across the road and big walks twice a day were in order for the four legged people and me - occasionally Ade! Busselton is a picture postcard coastal town about 3 hours south of Perth on Geographe Bay and it just is delightful. Busselton Jetty which is 1841 metres long has an artificial reef and underwater observatory 8 metres below placed near its end. Unfortunately the jetty was closed for restoration this trip and on our previous visit the weather was wet, cold and blowing gale force winds! We will have to come back again!

At least the weather was on our side this time and we explored from one end of the region to the other. The diversity of the countryside is a tourists dream. Let's start with the wine: The first grape vines were planted as recently as 1967 and internationally acclaimed chardonnay, semillon, sauvignon blanc, riesling, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and shiraz are produced in this Mediterranean climate. Gourmet lines of berries, fudge, preserves, olive oils, and fabulous cheeses are also part of the taste sensation. We saw black Angus beef cattle (Macdonalds must have been here), Freesian dairy cattle, and Merino and Suffolk sheep who didn't have to walk to far for a feed. There are also a lot of flower farms dotted between the pretty towns with their trendy cafes and tourist "must stops" ('cept we didn't)!

Mother natures turn: Down the coast through the town of Dunsborough to Cape Naturaliste to glimpse the Lighthouse and a drive through the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park (and we hid the dogs in the car and told them to be quiet) and the beautiful turquoise waters of Meelup, Eagle and Bunker Bays with stunning coastline views and wildflowers everywhere. Yallingup (meaning Place of Love) is positioned high on a hill and around from the Cape and for those in the know is one of the world's top surfing beaches.


Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

We took a day trip down to Augusta through the centre of the region with its wineries, quaint villages, art galleries, restaurants etc, and on the basis of a recommendation had to sample the fare from the Augusta Bakery for lunch. I know, you are all hanging out for one of my famous food crits! Meat pies to die for and I suppose I will have to mention the custard filled donut with chocolate drizzle - heaven in a paper bag! We came home with a loaf of bread as well and vowed to walk twice as far that day. Poor dogs!

The Cape Leeuwin Light House is only 9 kilometers further on and sits on the tip of the peninsular where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean and humpback, southern right, and blue wales, dolphins and New Zealand Fur Seals hang out!. We took a different road back to Busselton which took us through Boranup Karri Forest (Karri trees grow to 60 metres and are the third tallest tree found in the world) and then more wineries, beaches and pristine coastline.

Karri Forests

We had a wonderful couple of weeks exploring the south west and this part of Aus is definitely a must return to again on our calendar. Time to hit the road once more and start to work our way east to the next state border.