The Margaret River area is a dreadful place – 
you can travel no distance at all without stumbling across another Winery or yet another Brewery. Teetotallers would have an extremely difficult time finding anything to do here – fortunately however neither Sandra or I are teetotallers and so have had a great time!
Leaving Christmas Creek we headed back towards the coast passing through Dwellingup and Pinjarra, reaching the coast at Mandurah, a large town where we re-supplied. Moving south we felt we had to visit the small town of Harvey – obviously named after our grandson – and camped for a few nights on the Leschenault Peninsula. We set up camp on the site of an old “alternative lifestyle” – or, for those who
remember the 60’s and 70’s, hippy – commune, where Zen Buddhists rubbed shoulders with potters and painters. Most signs of this occupation are long gone – the only remaining reminder being a few sad bricks which were part of the potters kiln.
We forayed out from our peninsula camp visiting exotic places such as Bunbury, Collie and Brunswick Junction. One of the main towns in the region has the interesting name Australind – a combination of Australia and India, as it was developed in anticipation of significant trade between the two British Colonies, which never materialised. Then on towards Margaret River.
The area stretches for over 100k between two capes – Cape Naturaliste to the north
and Cape Leeuwin to the south with most of the area between the two being part of the Leeuwin-Natuaraliste National Park, which is where we camped – eventually. Arriving at the Conto Road Campsite we found it full of campers! Being the anti-social sort and having got used to “splendid isolation” we decided to make for a bush camp a few kilometres away – if only we could find it! Coming across a Park Ranger es we asked for directions and experienced some cultural linguistic problems. There were two 4WD tracks to the site and he advised us to take the Point Road route and “follow the burn for several k’s” until we arrived at the campsite – it all seemed clear enough – but could we find the burn to follow? It took sometime for us to realise our mistake – in Scotland a “burn” is a small stream whilst in Australia it is an area of controlled burning!
Having eventually set up in “splendid isolation”, the following day we set off north to Cape Naturaliste calling at all points of interest and dodging wineries by the score and getting in a
bit of whale watching just down from the lighthouse. – amazing beasts, migrating to the Antarctic for the summer.
For beer lovers, much of the main stream Australian beer is pretty poor fare. Being mainly of the lager variety they are undoubtedly refreshing served ice cold on a hot day – but they are not what one would call a “session” beer. However a trip to the Ferguson Valley in the Margaret River region was a revelation. Set amongst beautiful rolling countryside amidst a multitude of wineries we came across the Wild Bull Brewery serving hand crafted beers. I can
personally recommend their Irish Ale which had an unusual quality for Australian beer – taste! Their Amber Ale was pretty good too – and they also do meals, highly recommended.
Mind you the visit to the brewery seemed to mess up the navigation systems and our trip back to camp, whilst initially OK, rather came off the rails when we entered the forest and tried to find the right track. The Sat Nav we have been using has been excellent in towns and cities but has its problems when navigating forests – it got us well and truly lost and we only just made it back to our forest lair before darkness fell.
The following day we went south to the other cape – Cape Leeuwin. This is where the Indian Ocean and Southern Oceans clash with resultant incredible seascapes – probably even more dramatic than the northern cape. The nearest place, Augusta, had the air of a holiday town but the local bakery is highly recommended especially their spinach and ricotta pasties.
Our last afternoon in the area – the weather was beautiful so we took a bottle of chilled white wine went down to the beach near our campsite – the sea was incredible as, although there was little
wind, enormous waves were crashing onto the beach and rocks. We debated whether the tide was coming in or going out and, wrongly, decided the latter - resulting in the two of us perched on a rock, clutching our wine as the sea churned all around us. It’s not surprising that one of the major causes of accidental death in Australia is fishing from rocks – luckily all we lost was a modicum of dignity and got wet.
We have now packed up and moved further south and have set up a new camp at a place with the most wonderful name – Snotty Gobble – which is near the small town of Pemberton and close to a tree big enough for Sandra to walk through!
you can travel no distance at all without stumbling across another Winery or yet another Brewery. Teetotallers would have an extremely difficult time finding anything to do here – fortunately however neither Sandra or I are teetotallers and so have had a great time!Leaving Christmas Creek we headed back towards the coast passing through Dwellingup and Pinjarra, reaching the coast at Mandurah, a large town where we re-supplied. Moving south we felt we had to visit the small town of Harvey – obviously named after our grandson – and camped for a few nights on the Leschenault Peninsula. We set up camp on the site of an old “alternative lifestyle” – or, for those who
remember the 60’s and 70’s, hippy – commune, where Zen Buddhists rubbed shoulders with potters and painters. Most signs of this occupation are long gone – the only remaining reminder being a few sad bricks which were part of the potters kiln.We forayed out from our peninsula camp visiting exotic places such as Bunbury, Collie and Brunswick Junction. One of the main towns in the region has the interesting name Australind – a combination of Australia and India, as it was developed in anticipation of significant trade between the two British Colonies, which never materialised. Then on towards Margaret River.
The area stretches for over 100k between two capes – Cape Naturaliste to the north
and Cape Leeuwin to the south with most of the area between the two being part of the Leeuwin-Natuaraliste National Park, which is where we camped – eventually. Arriving at the Conto Road Campsite we found it full of campers! Being the anti-social sort and having got used to “splendid isolation” we decided to make for a bush camp a few kilometres away – if only we could find it! Coming across a Park Ranger es we asked for directions and experienced some cultural linguistic problems. There were two 4WD tracks to the site and he advised us to take the Point Road route and “follow the burn for several k’s” until we arrived at the campsite – it all seemed clear enough – but could we find the burn to follow? It took sometime for us to realise our mistake – in Scotland a “burn” is a small stream whilst in Australia it is an area of controlled burning!Having eventually set up in “splendid isolation”, the following day we set off north to Cape Naturaliste calling at all points of interest and dodging wineries by the score and getting in a
bit of whale watching just down from the lighthouse. – amazing beasts, migrating to the Antarctic for the summer.For beer lovers, much of the main stream Australian beer is pretty poor fare. Being mainly of the lager variety they are undoubtedly refreshing served ice cold on a hot day – but they are not what one would call a “session” beer. However a trip to the Ferguson Valley in the Margaret River region was a revelation. Set amongst beautiful rolling countryside amidst a multitude of wineries we came across the Wild Bull Brewery serving hand crafted beers. I can
personally recommend their Irish Ale which had an unusual quality for Australian beer – taste! Their Amber Ale was pretty good too – and they also do meals, highly recommended.Mind you the visit to the brewery seemed to mess up the navigation systems and our trip back to camp, whilst initially OK, rather came off the rails when we entered the forest and tried to find the right track. The Sat Nav we have been using has been excellent in towns and cities but has its problems when navigating forests – it got us well and truly lost and we only just made it back to our forest lair before darkness fell.
The following day we went south to the other cape – Cape Leeuwin. This is where the Indian Ocean and Southern Oceans clash with resultant incredible seascapes – probably even more dramatic than the northern cape. The nearest place, Augusta, had the air of a holiday town but the local bakery is highly recommended especially their spinach and ricotta pasties.
Our last afternoon in the area – the weather was beautiful so we took a bottle of chilled white wine went down to the beach near our campsite – the sea was incredible as, although there was little
wind, enormous waves were crashing onto the beach and rocks. We debated whether the tide was coming in or going out and, wrongly, decided the latter - resulting in the two of us perched on a rock, clutching our wine as the sea churned all around us. It’s not surprising that one of the major causes of accidental death in Australia is fishing from rocks – luckily all we lost was a modicum of dignity and got wet.We have now packed up and moved further south and have set up a new camp at a place with the most wonderful name – Snotty Gobble – which is near the small town of Pemberton and close to a tree big enough for Sandra to walk through!
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