On the road to Margaret River, Western Australia

By Glen Bruels
This is part of a series called Oceania 2025
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While really enjoying Fremantle, we really wanted to go down to visit Margaret River, about 150 miles to the south. Margaret River is famous for both its wines and a world famous surfing location. We were ready for the former, but not so much the latter. When we lived in Australia in 2007/2008, Margaret River was the only wine region we didn’t make it to and we wanted to make up for that. We knew some weather was going to come through, but on our way down, we experienced torrential rains, hail, thunderstorms, and sunshine — each period lasting for a short time. Our first stop was Cape Naturaliste where I toured the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, one of two marking the north and south reaches of the peninsula. It was so isolated at the time that they actually had to have three lighthouse keepers, each doing four hours on and eight off. We then stopped at a local brewpub where we tasted a local brew and enjoyed a mushroom pizza with black truffles. It turns out that the Margaret River area is also known for its truffles and we happened to be there at just the right time! Yum! From there, we were to Cape Rocks, a rugged headland that is carved with canals from the pounding of the Indian Ocean Waves. It ends of creating a patchwork of rocky islands with currents that rip through them. After all that excitement, we were ready to sample a little wine at Domaine Naturaliste, one of the highest regarded wineries in Australia. By the way, everything down here is named Leeuwin or Naturaliste or some combination of the two. I’m not sure about “Naturaliste,” but “Leeuwin was a dutch ship that discovered and mapped much of Southwestern Australia. By the way, there were kangaroos everywhere, just lolling around. We also saw some lorikeets, (very colorful birds).Tonight we had dinner with the father of one of the couple that we sailed with in the British Virgin Islands a few years back. He is a geologist (which is a pretty lucrative thing to be in Western Australia, and an avid surfer. It was a great evening. More tomorrow!

A roadside stop on the way to Margaret River. It seemed like an Australian version of Wall Drug in North Dakota.
Our rainy stop at the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse.
Quite a desolate area, but because this is a high promontory, the lighthouse itself didn’t have to be that tall.
Looking up into the light. When it was still kerosene-fired, they had to carry the kerosene up in buckets. As a consequence, they actually had three lighthouse keepers in residence here.
Our lunch stop — great beer, great pizza,…
… and beautiful views! What a great place for a brewery!
From there, we made our way down the Leeuwin-Naturaliste coastline to Canal Rocks. The rock here was formed when the supercontinent of Gondwana collided with India, creating great pressure. This metamorphic rock is called gneiss.
The constant pounding of the Indian Ocean, along with the fractures in the gneiss, created canals over time. Very strong current flowing through there.
Sadly, this pristine section of coastline is under threat of development, but the locals are putting up a good fight!
But one of the major reasons we came here was to drink wine. Here was our first stop!
Domaine Naturaliste (there’s that name again!) is known for their Chardonnay (especially Artus). I’m not generally a Chard drinker, but the Artus was excellent.
And who was waiting for us outside? A Rainbow Lorikeet!
Dinner with Mark, enjoying a Japanese tasting menu.

Day two of our time in Margaret River started out sunny and very windy. We decided to check out the surfing scene down at Surfer’s Point, home to some major competitions that bring surfers from all over the world. If you’ve seen the movie “Endless Summer,” you seen Surfer’s Point. There are multiple world class breaks here, including the famous Bombie which sits between two reefs. Because it is so shallow, surfers have to paddle out nearly a half mile out to catch the waves. Because the winds were so high, the breaks were really confused and nobody was surfing. On the other hand, there were a number of crazy people out there swimming in the rough seas. From there, we visited Brown Hill Estate and Woodlands wines (the latter one of the oldest wineries in Margaret River) for some more tasting. And what goes well with red wine? Chocolate! Off we went to Gabriel Chocolate, the first bean to bar chocolate makers in Western Australia. They source beans from all over the world and create chocolate going all the way up to 99% cacao! We ended up getting a couple of bars made with cacao from Peru and Venezuela. The only criteria was how well it would go with port. After lunch and a last wine tasting, we started heading back to Fremantle. On the way, we stopped in Buselton to visit the iconic jetty there. At over a mile in length, it is the longest timber-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. We had intended to walk out on it, but then the rains returned. Instead we drove up the coast and stopped in Bunbury, a nice little beachside community. It reminded me of driving up Route 1 from San Diego with all the little beach communities. Only one more day here — tomorrow, Rottnest Island!

Wild winds and threatening skies at Surfers’ Point. No surfers out there today!
The entrance to the Margaret River. I think you could have surfed there that morning.
While no surfers, these yahoos were out swimming in the cold water and huge waves. It takes all kinds!
… then to Woodlands,…
… and finally, Amelia Park. All excellent wines although I must say I’ve never gone through three wineries’ worth of wind before noon!
On our way back to Fremantle, we took the coastal route. Our firs stop was at Busselton, home of the longest (over 1 mile) timber-piled pier in the Southern Hemisphere. It actually started in 1865 as Buselton became a major trading port in Western Australia.
It started to rain again, so we passed on taking the electric tram out to the end of the pier.
Instead we stopped in the little seaside village of Bunbury — quite an artsy place. I really was amazed at this Aboriginal statue and the different perspectives you got as you walked around it. Then it was back to Freo.
This entry was posted in Australia, Travel, West Australia
Glen Bruels

I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.

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