I picked up my car in the morning at the Perth airport to start my journey south along the coast towards Margaret River.  Since it was a Sunday and the weekend markets were happening in Freemantle, I decided to stop and check it out before leaving the Perth area.  Luckily I got there relatively early, about mid-morning, so I could find a parking place.  I spent about three hours roaming around and it was noticeably more crowded as I left!

Freemantle is an old port town settled in the early 1800’s by convicts and gold miners. The roundhouse, which served as the original prison, is still standing near the coast. A new prison, today a UNESCO World Heritage site, was built later and was rather notorious throughout its occupation, which lasted until the early 1990s.  Many of the buildings in Freemantle are well preserved giving you a glimpse of what it might have been like to walk the streets 200 years ago.  The markets, housed in a building that has hosted them since the late 1890s, today consist of a combination of produce, food vendors and artisans and I enjoyed browsing through the aisles to see what was being offered.  Outside the market building is a maze of small streets with other shops and cafes.  I wandered down to the port and found a seafood restaurant claiming to offer the best fish and chips in the area (it was pretty good!).

The old roundhouse in Freemantle. Very well preserved and still standing!

After poking my head in all of the alleys and small streets, I decided to continue on my journey. The day’s destination was Bunbury, another small port city about 90ish minutes further south of Perth, where I was going to spend the evening.  I decided to stop there because of their Dolphin center and the fact that many of the wild dolphins tend to visit the beach by the center.  I arrived late afternoon and since it was a Sunday, the small town center did not have much open, but I found a place to grab a bite.  The coast had some lovely walking paths and as I strolled along I admired the very large, expensive looking beach houses which made me wonder if the town served as a retirement retreat for Perth.  The next morning I headed over to the Dolphin center and spent an hour or two perusing the exhibits and waiting for the bell to ring which announced the arrival of some of the wild dolphins.  It was nice to see that the center also does turtle rescue work, too!

Late morning I left Bunbury behind and decided to stop at Cape Naturaliste to see the lighthouse.  The lighthouse sits on a spit of land that juts out into the Indian Ocean and was an important navigation aide for ships to avoid the many rocks along the coastline.  The lighthouse today sits at the north end of a national park with a coastal walk that goes south to Augusta (and beyond) to another important lighthouse I stopped by (later) at Cape Leeuwin.  They had a small museum that talked about life as a lighthouse keeper, which sounded challenging both because of the isolation and the hard work needed to ensure the light was constantly functioning.

After leaving the lighthouse, I turned south towards Margaret River, taking a back road to enjoy the scenery.  One of the main reasons I had picked Margaret River as a stop on my itinerary was because it’s one of the wine growing regions of Australia. Cave road, which I drove south on, is the major road for finding wineries!  There are about 150ish (I kept getting different numbers from different people) in the area and sure enough, after only 30 minutes of driving, I started coming across signs advertising wine tasting.  I stopped at one randomly and had a nice chat with the young woman who worked there while I tasted their wines (great Shiraz!).  I asked her to recommend another winery to me and she suggested one a few miles down the road, so I stopped there too (great Cab Sav!).  I also stopped at a few art galleries as I made my way to Margaret River to check in to the bed & breakfast I had booked.

An example of the coastline. Mainly low scrub brush and a lot of the landscape was brown; it was the dry season in the area and looked like late summer.

Margaret River another small town, with a population of around 8000, another 11,00 or so in the region, draws in over half a million visitors annually due to their central location in the wine region.  The city center stretched along both sides of the major road that goes through the town and my B&B was only two blocks off the main drag.  My host had a nice map of the area waiting for me marking all of the wineries, galleries, restaurants and other attractions; I found it really useful when trying to target which wineries to visit.  (He also made some recommendations!)

Parts of the coast were rocky. This area, the Canal Rocks, were just south of Cape Naturaliste and the waves were violently pounding into the rocks creating some spectacular surf.

Next morning I headed south on highway 10, the main highway through the area, heading to Cape Leeuwin to see the lighthouse, as well as the point where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet; I was at the southwestern most point of Australia! The strong wind blowing from the west off the Indian Ocean reminded me of western beaches on the South Island of New Zealand and the fierce breezes coming west over the Tasman Sea.  Driving north out of Augusta, a small town near the cape, I picked up the southern end of Caves Road (which I call “winery road”) heading for Jewel Cave.  The area along the coast, between Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin, is riddled with caves and many are open for visitors.  Jewel cave boasts being the largest show cave  as well as host to the longest straw stalactites in Australia so it was on the top of my list to visit.

I timed my arrival perfectly, only having to wait for 30 minutes until the next tour.  Each tour lasts an hour and you descend into the cave on several steep staircases. Periodic platforms provide convenient spots for the guide to stop and discuss various aspects of the cave.  The cave used to be flooded, but the water level has steadily been going down over the last half century and today the whole cave is dry.  The cave is huge and the rock formations are beautiful and it was eerie to stand in the complete dark, with all the lights off.  Unlike the New Zealand cave in Waitomo I visited, where the glow worms provided enough faint light to see the outline of the person in front of me, Jewel cave was pitch black- nothing was discernible, not even my hand in front of my face.  Not a place to get caught without a flashlight!

Jewel Cave near the entrance looking down the descending stairs into the lower chambers. The cave was huge!

An example of some of the formations in the cave. They were all beautiful.

After touring the cave, I continued north on Caves road which wound through a national park for much of the way back to Margaret River.  The scenery was beautiful, tall Kaori (also known as eucalyptus trees) stood tall, with a high canopy and low undergrowth, giving the forest a light, airy feeling.  I intended to come back and visit on another day, however; I was headed to two more wineries (I limited myself to two wineries when I drove!).  Several people had recommended the two I visited and they were both good, although I liked the wine from the day before a bit better.  I also stopped at a chocolate factory- yum!  Back at the B&B I had wine and cheese for dinner (of course), as I sat on the patio and drank some of the wine I had purchased and paired it with some cheese I had also picked up.  A relaxing way to end the day.

The next day I was met at 9:30am for the full-day wine tour I had signed up for.  With someone else driving, the plan was to stop at five different wineries and finish off at another chocolate factory.  The tour group was a mixture of Australians, English and some Germans (so I got to practice my German skills!).  All of the wineries were different, many organic, and I enjoyed tasting the various approaches.  Wine is very subjective so we all had different opinions about what we tasted.  I liked some and did not like others; not unsurprisingly.  The mantra I kept hearing from the various hosts was “Margaret River only produces 2% (or something like that) of Australia’s wines but wins 80% of the awards.”  The region is very proud of the quality of their wines.  Thankfully lunch was included and as it was a big lunch I repeated my wine/cheese nibbles for dinner.  I was pretty wine-saturated at the end of the day…..

Tall beautiful majestic trees! Everywhere!!

My final day in Margaret River, I drove back down to the national park and hung out in the trees for a while.  It was very peaceful and I did not see many people at all.  Actually that has been the case the whole time I have been here.  It does not feel very crowded and I rarely see cars on the road; yet they get 500,000 people through here yearly.  I asked at one of the wineries and was told that it picks up a bit in March and stays busy through April, but there were still decent crowds around now.   After spending some time in the park I decided to hit two more wineries, both recommended by the tour guide as additional “founding” wineries; those who had been in the area since the beginning.  The grounds of both were very nice, and the last one had a marvelous Zinfindel, which was the first time I had seen that grape varietal.  I broke down and bought one final bottle….

After a wonderful dinner at a South American restaurant, I went back to my B&B to pack for my departure the next morning.  I enjoyed the wine (even though I only sampled less than 10% of the wineries) and the scenery but I was headed southeast, away from the coast to see more national parks.