Margaret River is a special place. It is a naturally beautiful area, with its awesome forests, rugged coastline, booming seas and wonderful waves, stunning beaches, food and crafts galore, and of course the Capes – Naturaliste and Leeuwin.  We were there to see the natural features of the area, especially the forests and beaches, and not so much the wineries or specialist food farms and outlets. It was a busy few days but we loved it.

We stayed at Margaret River on 26, 27, 28, 29 Sept. 

Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia

Getting There

Bunbury > Busselton (54km) > Margaret River (50km) ~ 104kms

History

The history of the First Nations people and the colonial use of this area can be read here.  Following is a brief summary.

The town of Margaret River is firmly situated in the South West Boojarah region in Noongar booja (country). Noongar have lived in this part of booja since the Nyittiny – creation times.  Noongar people have a long and continuing connection to this area. Devil’s Lair cave, south of Margaret River, is one of the earliest sites of human occupation in Australia. Evidence of Noongar existence dates back about 48,000 years. 

The 1850s, a group of convicts were sent to cut jarrah timber for export; however, that proved not profitable. In the same decade, John Bussell’s (who founded Busselton) brother Alfred and his wife, Ellen, built a homestead at Ellensbrook and becoming the first settlers in the Margaret River area.

Margaret River is named after the River, which is presumed to be named after Margaret Whicher, cousin of John Bussell  in 1831. The name is first shown on a map of the region published in 1839. The first British settlers arrived as early as 1850, with timber logging commencing in around 1870. By 1910, the town had a hotel which also operated as a post office.

Today, the surrounding area is regarded as the Margaret River Wine Region and is known for its wine production and tourism, attracting an estimated 500,000 visitors annually.  Margaret River’s coast to the west of the town is a renowned surfing mecca, with worldwide fame for its surf breaks. 

Day 1 – 26 Sept – Drive to Margaret River

It was cold overnight with showers, and the day was generally overcast and cool in Bunbury. We had a lazy morning as it is a very short haul.  We were going to call into Busselton to have a look around, but first we turned off the highway and took the Tuart Forest Drive, which takes us through the Tuart Forest NP.  This little gem contains the largest remaining section of pure tuart forest in the world. How about that!

This narrow strip of tuart trees lies between Capel and Busselton. The trees only grow on the coastal limestone that underlies the area and the NP is home to the tallest and largest specimens of the trees on the Swan Coastal Plain. The taller trees found in the park are over 33m tall and over 10m in girth.  As a bonus on our drive, the ground cover was a mass of white lilies. Really lovely.

From there it is a short drive to Busselton. and we made for the Jetty. On the way we saw the most unusual caravan ever – it is shaped like an older style van but was only the height of a car. I would love to know how all that works. 

Busselton is an easy town to tow a van around – nice wide streets and roundabouts. At the jetty, it was clear that there would be plenty of parking, including  for van rigs, so we saw a bay for 4 cars parallel to the road and took that over. It was a short walk to the Jetty.  

The Jetty is the longest timber piled jetty in the southern hemisphere, some say the World. Because the shallow waters of Geographe Bay restricted ship movement, a long jetty was required so that cut timber could be transported to ships. Construction started in 1853 with the first section opened in 1865. It was extended numerous times until the 1960s, ultimately reaching a length of 1.84km.

After the last commercial vessel called at the jetty in 1971, the jetty passed into the control of Busselton Shire and has been gradually restored and improved since. Today it is operated by a non-profit community organisation known as Busselton Jetty Inc. Proceeds from ticket sales contribute to jetty maintenance and conservation. And what a wonderful looking Jetty it is too.  Long, elegant with a beautiful curve to it.  I decided immediately that we should walk the 1.8 km length.

There is a rail track along the length of the jetty, a relic of the railway line into Busselton from Bunbury. The line now carries tourists along the jetty to an underwater observatory which opened to the public in 2003.  

At the start of the Jetty you have options: walk out and back (1.84km each way); train out and back; walk out and train back; and all of these options with a visit to the Underwater Observatory added in.   We decided to walk out and then see about getting the train back (its all a question of timing – to get there as the train is out there, otherwise there is a long wait for the next train – there is a single train going out and back. At either end pneumatic wheels are lowered lifting the engine off the train track so that it can turn around and hitch up at the other end. 

We paid our $4pp entry fee, and walked out. It is a really nice walk. So many beautiful colours in the water to look at.

At a couple of places there are the remains of an old timber structure next to the jetty and the seagulls use there as nesting places. We saw 4 or 5 chicks scurrying along the timbers with their parents trying to round them up. 

About half way along the train passed us, so we thought we would have to walk back.

But when we got to the end the train was still there so we bought  a ticket and jumped on board ($13.50 for us both).

From there we went on to Margaret River, getting there late morning.  It is a good van park – the Margaret River Tourist Park – with good facilities, in pretty good condition. Our site is wide but not deep. We got it in without a hitch, so as to speak, but the front of the A-frame is almost on the road. As well there is a camper van directly behind us and their kitchen was looking straight into our awning where we sit out. So we had to put up up an end wall, which we had not had to do before. It proved to be so long we can’t peg it out so we had to use heavy objects to secure the bottom.  At least we had a bit of privacy though.

In the afternoon we went into town to have a look around. It’s not a bad place for a tourist town, and has a good feel to it. There is not much in the way of heritage, apart from the large Margaret River Hotel. The opening of the Hotel in 1936 gave the town a modern building to attract visitors and was probably the beginning of the tourism industry that booms today. 

To see photos from this day, click here

Day 2 – 27 Sept – Drive to Cape Naturaliste

It was cold overnight with a shower, and a cool blustery, partly overcast day. We drove to Cape Naturaliste, driving up Caves Road and aiming to see as many of the beach access point as we can. 

First up is the Ellensbrook Homestead, driving through some rich looking farmland and towering roadside trees.

Initially we went to the beach on the north side of the Homestead, which has a lot of rock on the northern shore but  also a sandy beach on the south side. There are fringing rocks that provide protected pools along the beach, but have pounding waves coming in over the top of the rocks. Very interesting.  We spent some time there walking the rocks (Kerry) and walking the sand and taking pictured of the waves (me).

 

We drove around to the Homestead, and were very surprised at seeing this lovely heritage home, not having heard anything about it. 

It has a long history. Alfred Bussell and his wife, Ellen, built the homestead at Ellensbrook in 1857. Sheltered from the winter storms, the site had access to fresh water and was surrounded by fertile soil. Over the decades the house was built in stages by ticket-of-leave convicts, deserting seamen and local First Nations people.

The Ellensbrook venture was successful, based on beef, butter and cheese. Much of the success was due to the practical skills, energy and sound management of Ellen. Alfred and Ellen left Ellensbrook in 1865. Between 1871 and 1877 Ellensbrook was managed, and the homestead extended, by the eldest of their five daughters, Fanny. Later, the second daughter Edith made Ellensbrook her permanent home. In 1899 she established the Ellensbrook Farm Home for Aboriginal Children. The Home continued for 17 years during which time Edith continued the tradition of extending the main building. The First Nations people, the Noongar, named the locality Mokidup, and it was a traditional summer camping spot for thousands of years.

Unfortunately for us the Homestead was closed for major restorations. Nevertheless we walked around the outside and took some photos. I walked the short distance to Meekadarabee Falls, spying some new flowers on the way. The falls are operating at a trickle, but the little grove is very pretty.

Next up is Gracetown, a short distance to the north. There is a surprising number of houses here, cascading town the hillside to a pretty good beach.

It’s a bit like the beach at Ellensbrook – lots of rocks along part of the beach but also lots of sand, lots of fringing rocks protecting the inner waters, and in this case a jetty and lots of surfers out on the northern end.

The rocks are unusual with narrow bands of coffee coloured rock. This photo lines them up. These large rocks were actually a couple of metres apart.

There were some big waves out there and I enjoy taking photos of big waves and good surfers.

While looking out to the north, Kerry spotted a large pod of dolphins. There were about 20 dolphins in this pod – usually swimming in pairs, obviously herding fish as a team….  So lovely to see them working together.  There are lots of high cliffs up there and pounding waves breaking out to sea.

Looking north, we could see large waves breaking against the cliffs sending up a mass of spray. Could watch this all day.. The breaking seas are absolutely mesmerising…. the way the wind catches the spray and hurls it into the sky creating amazing patterns…. me too could indeed watch this all day.

Further north is Moses Rock, a similar beach to the others.

As we drive north we see more and more wineries, and soon there are vines at nearly every property. But we are not tempted. Further north the vines gradually phase out replaced by rolling hills of open cleared farmland of an incredible green.

Injidup Point presents a really lovely beach with also some large rock outcrops. Here there are no rock platforms protecting the beach and there is a reasonable surf running. 

Only a short distance north, but you have to drive back out to Caves Rd and then in along Canal Rocks Rd, are the fabulous Canal Rocks.  This is a network of canals between a large rock structure near the land and another parallel structure 5m or 6m out, and at the northern end, a gap in the outer rocks allowing a surge of water to push through the canal and under a wooden walkway.   This is the focus for most people. 

A bit to the south the rocks are high and rugged making it hard to see the long canal, but there are areas where the thundering waves force the water through low areas. This is awesome and we spent some time there despite teh crowds. Again, completely mesmerising watching the waves, the currents and the colours generated.

From there we went to Smiths Beach and Torpedo Rocks. 

The drive into Yallingup is very pretty, but once in the town, which is a great location, there is little of interest. Expensive looking houses cascade down the hillside, but all the facilities and shops are a couple of km away. 

At Dunsborough we turn for the Cape, but first call into Castle Rock. We are amazed to see a perfectly calm ocean with the gentlest of waves compared to the pounding surface on the western coast. What a difference. It is also a lovely beach.  And it seems so quiet compared to the Indian Ocean side.

 

Meelup Beach is also a beauty. Here, eagle eyed Kerry spotted some whales. A pair, just idly swimming around, not breaching, but with some impressive tail dives.  As we were leaving, I  spoke to a man who said go to Point Piquet. 

 

At Point Piquet are a number of people trying to count the whales. This is quite a rocky beach.  A lady was sitting here, obviously keeping count of the number and type of whales.  Wish we had brought the binoculars.  There were 4 whales here – the 2 we had previously seen as well as 2 others.  She was thinking they were Southern Right Whales, but I think they were humpbacks (the tail sizes are totally different.

Last but not least is Eagle Bay, quite rocky as well, but with a sandy strip.

At Cape Naturaliste we just did the walk around the Lighthouse precinct, declining the lighthouse tour. It is good to see one of the old house done out in the olden days style.

At the lighthouse, the coastline is actually some distance away and you cannot see the shoreline.

Our last port of call is Sugarloaf Rock, back out on the rugged west coast. 

After that we headed for home.  When we were taking down the deflappers at Bunbury, one arm got caught in the bracket and  in getting it out the screw snapped leaving half the screw in the hole, With a bit of persuasion, I got the other out. The screws looked pretty pathetic. I could have charged in and got my drills out and put new screws in but I could easily make a mess of it as the brackets have to be precisely positioned. 

At the van park office I got a card for Caravan Mobile Services, and rang Stefan to see if he could help, despite the smallness of the job. He said he was in the area and would pop in to have a look. Which he did and we agreed that he would come the next day to do the job. 

To see photos from this day, click here

Day 3 – 28 Sept – Drive to Cape Leeuwin 

This was quite a good day weather wise, although the wind was wicked at times. We drove down to the Cape first and then worked our way back up the coast.

Matthew Flinders named Cape Leeuwin after the first known ship, a dutch ship, to have visited the area. It is the extreme south west point of Australia. It’s not often one gets to be at the meeting point of two of the world’s great Oceans… Quite awe inspiring actually… You could see the waves further out on the reefs / rock islands coming from different directions… incredible.

This Cape is awesome. Built in 1895, the lighthouse is the tallest on mainland Australia. While I did the lighthouse tour, Kerry wandered around the precinct trying to stay out of the fierce wind. And reading the memorial plaques to some of the people who lost their lives here.  An unusual one was to an N Class Destroyer in 1947 – sadly, a freak wave caught the Australian destroyer and it keeled over badly, losing 10 men overboard.  This ship and its crew had survived various fairly hairy missions during WWII, then to be lost overboard just off the Australian coast was tragic.

Down at the point, where the division of the two oceans is marked we got some photos.

The tour was great. The lighthouse was built from local limestone, carved by hand at the quarry, and then brought across by rail. A template of the design was built at the quarry and all rocks cut to that. The stones are keyed into each other. 

A feature is that until June 1982 the lens was rotated by a counter weight mechanism, and the beacon was a pressure kerosene mantle. The counterweight was hauled up 2 of the 6 floors as soon as it was getting dark, and had to carried back up again every 2 hours. The kerosene also had to be carried up to the top, six floors up. At each change of shift the incoming person carried the kero up 2 flights. A radio navigation beacon was commissioned in 1955 and operated until 1992, when the tower was automated.

We climbed the 6 flights of stairs and then went out onto the platform. The guide told us all to secure everything as the wind was fierce up there. He even told me to take my beanie off.  He was right – everyone huddled around the leeward side of the tower to escape. He pointed to an island with waves breaking in all directions telling us that this is the junction of the two oceans as seen by the mess of whitewater.

From there we drove to the beach near the quarry.  Given the wind and seas we experienced at the Cape, we were surprised to see how calm it was. A lovely beach to spend some wandering time. 

Near Point Matthew is another rocky beach.

The Augusta Boat Harbour is a new and excellent facility. Not many boats there, but it will be an excellent safe port along a rugged coast.  There was an abalone boat unloading its precious cargo too – completely calm in this amazing little harbour with the sea all over the place just outside.

In a calmer environment the beach on Flinders Bay would be an excellent spot for a swim or snorkel. The rock pools are protected by a rock bar. There is an old jetty further along.

We drove through some lovely Jarrah forests on the way to our next beach. 

I think that Cosy Corner is my favourite beach on this coast. Just look at these photos – the colours!

To the south of these incredible islands is a beautiful beach – that combination again of white sand, turquoise water and deep blue sky.  Love it.

Hamelin Bay is a very long sandy bay up to the north, and with a headland and near-shore islands to the south. It is a popular place with a resort behind the beach car park and jetty.We walked to the south to the headland and to where the island was.The water looks such a beautiful pale green, almost as if you could walk right across to the island knee deep (although, in reality a lot deeper).

We realised that the group of people at the water’s edge are feeding stingrays – this beach is famous for this. There are 3 or 4 swimming amongst the legs fo the feeders. 

After that, we drove through the Boranup Drive, through the karri forests. This is great, although there are no places where we could stop and get up close and personal with these magnificent trees.  Even a small parking area would have allowed to get off the road and experience the wonders of such a wonderful forest.  Like driving through a magical green tunnel.

To the north of that Contos Rd takes us back out to the coast. This is another rocky beach with cliffs to the north and a long stretch of sandy beach.

From there it was a nice drive back to Margaret River, but first we called into the town of Witchcliffe.  I had read lovely stories about Witchcliffe – cute little shops and a lovely atmosphere.  In my opinion, there are a couple of junk shops.  Don’t bother.

That afternoon, Stefan camp back and fixed the deflappers. He thought it best to rivet the brackets on, with stainless steel rivets no less. He was astounded at the screws that came with the kit. They were even screws for metal fixing, so probably had no hope with timber. We reckon it was very good value at $80, firstly finding someone who could do even this small a job, and secondly to come out to the van to do it. Caravan Mobile Services in Margaret River – call Stefan at 0474 753 007.

To see photos from this day, click here

Day 4 – 29 Sept – Markets and more Beaches

It is cloudy to start with, cold, as usual first thing, but the promised rains have not yet arrived. And we are grateful.

First up we go to the Farmer’s Markets, which were really good and very popular. Finding a good market is hard work sometimes… This market was fabulous.  ONLY local produce – meats, honeys, fruit and veggies, nuts, cheeses … and freshly baked bread of all types.  Magic.  Des bought 3 bottles of local Shiraz, beautifully marbled lamb chops and a spicy Chorizo.  I found a lovely jar of Jarrah Honey.

So many stalls selling fresh local produce  – meat, veggies, honey, wine, olive oils, all sorts of chutneys and dressings, cheeses, bread, tarts and cakes,etc. Yummy, Yummy, Yummy. There is a C&W band playing and young lad singing – lovely voice.

There is also the inevitable queues for coffee – as a non coffee drinker I  cannot understand people queuing for 15-20 minutes to get a mug. 

We drove back out to the beaches at Redgate, just a little south west  of Margaret River. This is great beach.

There are extensive and interesting rock formation to the north behind the carpark, but to the south is a long sand beach with a great surf running. Kerry spent her time looking at the rocky end while I went off to get some surfing photos. The waves around the rocks are again, amazing.  

There were 20 or so surfers out, boards and body boards, and a solitary black dog watching its owner. The waves are big and I did get some good photos.

We also stopped at another beach near Redgate, but I did not get its name. Nice beach, aren’t they all, with lots of sand and little calm areas. 

There is a little town and lots on new homes at Prevelly Beach, some big, and also many townhouses. The beach has an inner area of calm water protected by fringing rocks, with big seas pounding against them. It makes for spectacular viewing. It is also very popular with surfers and spectators alike – there are great viewing platforms. I get some more good surfing pics.

There are also some good views north to the mouth of the Margaret River. 

It’s a short drive up to River Mouth beach. It is a great sandy beach with the river meandering around to the northern end to the ocean. Kerry went for a walk along the beach and I went back to photographing the surfers and the waves.

Gnarabup Beach is only a few km south of Prevelly. It has an old jetty and boat ramp, and a lovely headland to the south. Again there are waves pounding the fringing rocks, and a lovely calm area inside that.  This could be very tempting in warmer weather Only if you could guarantee the were no sharks on the inside. 

Our final beach, on our Margaret Beach extravaganza, is Boodijidup. Again a good mix of rocks and sand and surfers our there waiting for waves.

After that we went back to Margaret River to get some supplies and fill up with fuel. We put in 89.4L, at $1.537. Our economy had been 16.47L/100km, reflecting that the majority had been non-towing. Back at Mobi, I checked  the tyre pressures and found them a tad down. We will need to top them up in the morning for our drive to Nannup. 

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To see there full range of photos from this post, click here

To see photos from the drive to Margaret River, click here

 

To see photos from Margaret River to Cape Naturaliste, click here 

To see photos from Margaret River to Cape Leeuwin, click here

To see photos from around Margaret River, click here 

To see the video for the post, especially the surfing part, click here

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