Margaret River, more than just wines

So it turns out I've had giardia for about 8 weeks and the medication to fix it meant I couldn't drink alcohol for 3 days... the exact same amount of time we were set to be in Margaret River for. As I'm not a big drinker, or much of one at all really, it wasn't the end of the world, but I do like a good port and I had been looking forward to taste testing a few and just generally enjoying the good food, good vibe and pretty surrounds at a couple of wineries. I thought about delaying the medication but I have been so very unwell it just didn't seem worth it. Fortunately, there's lots more to do in Margaret River than visit wineries. There are chocolate factories, The Berry Farm, cheese places and more, and the caves (but they're in their own post).

We visited the Cheeky Monkey Brewery & Cidery for Greg. Like all vineyards, it is located in a stunning setting, with beautiful views, lush green hills and surrounding vines. Greg did some sampling while I supervised the kids at the playground. I can't comment on the beer or cider, although I do know Greg found a very nice beer, but they playground was very good for kids of all ages. I wish it was in the Hunter Valley, exactly as it is, as I'd love to go and enjoy a long lunch with my friends.

The Margaret River Chocolate Factory was a must stop for us all. They have milk, white and dark chocolate buttons for you to sample and I have to say, their white chocolate is the most delicious white I have ever tasted. Greg and Tilda really enjoyed the milk chocolate and Rory was just happy with any bits we gave him, although he did seem to show a preference for the dark, which surprised me. They have a viewing window but unfortunately weren't actually making chocolate while we were there. We were surrounded by nicely packaged chocolate goodness... what more could a girl want? They make chocolate into all types of shapes, which seems to be a bit of a specialty for them. There were chickens, golf balls, surfboards and more. My favourite was the quokka shaped chocolate but for $25 for not a lot of chocolate, I just couldn't part with my dollars. Given that we're on a tight budget it's a bit hard to stretch to that much money just for chocolate.

Chocolate mixing, milk, white and dark

A beautiful wren outside the factory

We checked out Temper Temper and I really enjoyed this. It tends to focus more on flavoured chocolate mixes like white chocolate and peppercorns, fig and orange milk chocolate (which was delicious!) and chocolate coated dried berries to name a few. They had 3 different flavoured chocolates to try, plus a range of single origin chocolate from around the world. The single origin chocolate started at 49% milk chocolate, then 65% Ghana chocolate, through a number of countries up to very dark (maybe 99%) dark chocolate. They make hot chocolate, served as straight hot chocolate or single origin flavoured, plus other drinks and some chocolate snacks. We had single origin hot chocolates. I had Ghana hot chocolate, Greg had 70% Queensland hot chocolate and the kids enjoyed chocolate lollipops. My hot chocolate was delicious, the most delicious I've ever had, and has made me want to experiment a bit more at home, rather than just use the tinned Cadbury stuff.

We also visited The Berry Farm. This place is so pretty I could have stayed all day. It's great because you can taste different jams, sauces and of course, my goal, the port. Greg did the hard duty of tasting the port while I just sniffed it to get an idea of whether it was one I would like or not. But, I did get to try some jams and sauces. They have a cafe that serves yummy smelling food but we didn't stay for a meal. It has a very good playground, but unfortunately the kids got swooped by magpies and had to leave because they were scared. Fortunately they also have a great little play area for kids inside the tasting building, so they were entertained while we tasted. This is the place we bought the most goodies from.

We also checked out Lloyds of Margaret River. I don't really know how to describe it. It is a bit like finding a treasure trove as it is full of lots of rooms and seems to go on forever and has lovely giftware, household and kitchenware, Christmas ornaments and more. It seemed so bright and colourful and I really enjoyed shopping there.

We also went mountain biking on some trails near Wharncliffe Mill, which is where we stayed. It's a nice caravan park set in a National Park in what was an old mill and logging area. The mountain bike trails were great. They are very popular. There was a little one, with some log jumps, tight turns and tight bits between trees from the caravan park down to the start of the trails. Rory could do this track (with a couple of pretty big spills) on his balance bike. Then Greg and Tilda, then Tilda and I had a turn each following the Pines and part of the Old Chimney trails. They were really well marked and the Pines is graded easy. It was loads of fun rolling down a hill through a beautiful forest, cruising around tight turns and over some little bridges. We had a great time. Although I did discover just how much being sick for so long has knocked me about as I really struggled with anything physical.

Cape Naturaliste National Park

We did a driving tour of some of the Busselton-Yallingup area on our second day. We started at the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse where we did a tour. Our guide was a wealth of knowledge and made the facts about the lighthouse so interesting. Cape Naturaliste lighthouse was built in 1903 and had 3 lighthouse keepers at the time. They each worked a 4 hour shift during the day and a 4 hour shift at night. They used kerosene, which made the tower quite smoky and the lighthouse keepers very sleepy. The spiral staircase was so small, with tiny treads on each of the steps, I can't imagine how sleepy men managed to make their way up and down the stairs without falling. The lighthouse was shipped from England as a flat pack to be assembled on arrival, by men who had never put one together before. I think that is amazing! The lens is still perfect today and the light can be seen 46km away. We got to climb up inside it. It was left in its original state inside, complete with an oak cupboard (also shipped flat pack from England). The wives of the lighthouse keepers also had to know the job, as they had to take over if their husband was sick and unable to do his shift. The other lighthouse keepers didn't do it for them. It was a tough life in pretty harsh and isolated conditions. We even got to go outside at the top, which would have been fantastic if it wasn't blowing a gale! The view would have been beautiful if you could take your time to enjoy it. We all huddled on the sheltered side of the lighthouse while our guide told us more of the story. When I went around to the other side to take a photo the wind was almost blowing me over and certainly was buffeting the camera and making it impossible to take a photo.

(Note: I said "lets get the kids jackets" when we left the car and Greg said "they'll be OK. It's not that bad" .... just in case you notice how cold they look and how rugged up I am)

After leaving the lighthouse we drove to Yallingup, which is quite a pretty little place and I would imagine it gets very busy in the summer holidays. Despite the wind and the waves it was causing, the beach looked very beautiful and I would have loved to be able to explore it. But it was the sort of wind where you get sand in your eyes, despite sunnies, and it was just too blustery to enjoy. We stopped and let the kids have a play at their pretty awesome ship themed playground.

From there we ventured a bit further south to Canal Rocks. The girl at the Observatory had told me about it and I am so glad we went. The sea was rough and the coastline is pretty rugged, but it was beautiful. You could really see the raw and wild power of the ocean as the waves pounded the rocks and spray flew up into the air. It would be am pretty good spot to snorkel in the right conditions but when we were there, the waves were rushing through the canal and it would have been very dangerous.

View north-east from Canal Rocks

Looking east off the bridge across the "canal"

The bridge across

The water funnels in through here pretty fast in rough seas. There were some amazing splashes up over the rocks on the right hand side while we were there

Just south of canal rocks (around the other side of them really) is this little spot. You can really see the waves pounding the rocky coastline in this photo and the one below

Busselton, the Jetty and the Underwater Observatory

Busselton is referred to as the premier holiday destination for WA in loads of the information brochures. I think that's because of the direction the beach faces, so it is very sheltered from the almost constant (at this time of year) winds. All I knew about Busselton is that it has the longest timber jetty in the Southern Hemisphere and an Underwater Observatory at the end. I don't want to offend or upset anyone but I don't see why it is quite so wonderful and why the caravan parks ask so much. It is a nice enough town, but I didn't find it as pretty or as appealing as some other places we have seen or stayed on our travels. We didn't have swimming weather so we didn't get to enjoy the beautiful beach/bay, so perhaps that clouded my impressions a bit.

The accommodation at Busselton is very expensive, with most of the numerous caravan parks wanting over $65/night for us to stay, and one wanting $89/night. Admittedly it does look pretty special with its 3-4 pools, one of which is heated and one with a giant waterslide, but we aren't on holidays and that was way too rich for us! We headed slightly out of town to stay at the Adventist Camp. It is just like a caravan park but without all the bells and whistles, but the showers were hot (although they do have a 5 minute timer!) and we had power and water, the kids had a playground and it's right on the beach.

Given that all I knew about Busselton was the long jetty and Underwater Observatory, we had to do both of those. The ticket for the Observatory also includes a ride on the train along the jetty, which of course made Rory's day. The train is pretty cool and it was much nicer to catch that than try to walk the 1.8km jetty with Rory, especially as it only has a rail on one side. Rory also has a tendency to just stop walking when he's had enough and I think Greg or I would have had to carry him most of the way.

I loved the Underwater Observatory. I just love reefs and the fish they attract. The jetty is so long because Geographe Bay is so shallow. At 1.8km out from shore it is still only 8m deep. The jetty pylons are covered in coral, sponges etc and there are so many pretty and colourful fish that swim amongst them all. We saw quite a lot of fish, a starfish, crabs and an octopus. The octopus was pretty hard to spot, and the young lady running our tour pointed him out to us. There are windows at 4 different levels of the Observatory so you can see the differences in plant and fish species as you descended to the sea floor.

Sydney 3328km away

And this is just for Tilda to remember: the Busselton Maccas has a very awesome playground. I've got to admit, I wished I were a kid again so I could go and play in it. The half-clear slides were pretty cool and pretty fast.

Pinjarra - Dwellingup

When we left Perth we decided to head south via some of the inland, rather than coastal, towns as there were a couple of places that sounded interesting. First stop was Pinjarra, where the Edenvale Homestead is an historic site. The Homestead was built in 1888. It was the home of Sir Ross McLarty, a Premier of WA, but that wasn't why we went there. If you haven't figured it out yet, I really like heritage buildings and this looked like a nice place to stop and explore. The Homestead has tea rooms (which we didn't visit), a machinery museum, art and craft shop and gallery (which we did visit). The one thing that stood out for me was the height of the ceilings in the house. I think they must have been around 12'!

Greg wants to build a barn like this at home. It's the machinery museum

Rory loved the well. Thank goodness it was covered

The kids played at the playground on the banks of the Murray River, which was very picturesque every time we saw it, and I had a brief chance to walk through the heritage rose garden. There was also an old church, complete with gravestones of pioneers, a suspension foot bridge and a lovely timber bridge over the river but it was very hot and we had no sunscreen, so we didn't stop long.

 

This is bridge no 5 for this spot. It's been washed out in floods a number of times now

The roses were beautifully perfumed

From Pinjarra we headed to Dwellingup, as this too sounded like a nice town to visit, based on the tourist information guides. We also planned to free camp at the Dwellingup Townsite Camp in the state forest. It was a pretty good free camp. The road in had been recently graded, so it was less bumpy than some bitumen roads we've been on, and the surrounding forest was a lovely backdrop. There were a few other people camping there too.

The drive in, showing the forest we camped in

It is a short drive through the State Forest to a Prisoner of War Camp, so we went to check it out. One of the things I am learning on this trip is that there is so much history to do with the war in Australia, from sites on the west coast that were bombed to the downed Catalina's at Broome to a number of POW sites. It was Marrinup POW No 16 Camp and was home to both Italian and German prisoners of war. Over 3500 Italian POW passed through this camp site to other camps or unguarded farm work after Italy's surrender in 1943. 300 German prisoners were held in this camp, working as woodcutters. They arrived after the Italians had constructed the camp. They were professional soldiers who had  served in the Luftwaffe, Arika Corp and some of them had been on the Kormoran which sank the HMAS Sydney. They were considered dangerous to our country's security. There are building remnants and walking trails to check it all out. I found it hard to get my head around the fact they caught these POW overseas and then shipped them back to Australia, to this patch of bush inland in WA and put them to work cutting timber and keeping them from escaping.

We visited to Forest Heritage Centre, which was interesting. We didn't pay to do the walk or anything, partly because we didn't want to pay to walk through a forest but mostly because it was almost closing time and we wouldn't have had  time to enjoy it, so we just checked out the shop. There were a lot of interesting timber products for sale, and other felted, glass and ceramic products made by local artists. The lady working there took us through to where a gentleman makes rocking horses and showed us some in progress, including the spray booth where he paints some of the finished ones. She was very nice, great with the kids and full of lots of information.

We drove to Lane Pool National Park. This is a beautiful place where you can camp. It was so busy some of the campsites were full. The Murray River runs through the National Park and it would have been pretty awesome to put the canoe in and paddle up or down it to explore, but there was a distinct lack of interest from everyone. Greg and I did discuss staying an extra day and doing that the following day, but in the end we moved on. I am envious of the people who live here and get to go camping in such a beautiful location, but in all honesty, I'd have probably hated it on the Saturday we drove through as it was so busy I don't think it would have been all that enjoyable.

We had a rather bizarre experience at the Dwellingup IGA. On the counter they had the 2017 Rescue Dogs calendar for sale and on the front of it was a picture of a dog that was the spitting image of Millie. Given that she was a cross breed we got from the pound in 2000, it was very weird to see almost the exact same dog (down to a red collar) on the front of a 2017 calendar in WA.

Before leaving the next morning Greg went riding one of the mountain bike trails in the State Forest. He enjoyed it and took Tilda with him while Rory and I rode a small trail just near  the free camp site. Rory had a blast! You couldn't keep the smile off this face and we went down the track and back up the road to start again about 10 times. There was a little jump and a small rocky patch which were perfect for his balance bike, (Mountain biking on a balance bike sounds so funny!)


I am really glad we drove the inland route rather than the coastal highway as it was a very pretty country drive through rolling green hills, with cows and pasture and sheep and all sorts of lovely green spaces. It was definitely worth seeing not just the towns of Pinjarra and Dwellingup, but also those further south as we headed to Busselton.