Margaret River Part 1

THE “MARGARET RIVER” REGION “PART 1”

28^TH MARCH -4^TH APRIL

When you think of W.A. one of the towns that you know the name of is Margaret River. This town is known for the wineries and tall trees but now the name has become a brand name and many small towns and beaches within about 30 km’s of the Margaret River town itself have taken on the label to try and get tourists to visit them. This entire region is part of the Cape to Cape area I have spoken about before on the west coast. The other huge attraction over in this region is the caves, of which there are many to explore if you want to keep putting your hand in your pocket. There are two main roads that run north / south, one called caves road and the other the Bussel HWY. Caves road is a must do drive and this may seem silly to say but to drive it going north and then south you will be amazed at the scenery. The amount of glamorous looking wineries, tourist attractions, caves and one very lovely forest to drive through really makes this road enjoyable and you don’t even go through Margaret River!

YALLINGUP  

We started up North and Yallingup was the first town in the region that we stayed at for two nights, it is a pretty little surfer’s village. Actually we set a record for ourselves staying here, it was only 26km from our last camp!!!  Here the weather was just starting to turn for us, the wind had picked up and become a westerly and the days were cloudy and cooler. We still managed to get a swim in each day while here; we just didn’t stay in the water to long. There is a lovely lagoon like area to swim in with the waves for the surfer’s just out over the reef. Kite surfing seemed to be the major sport here.



Sunset from our Camp at Yallingup




Looking down at the lagoon where we  swam at Yallingup.



PLACES WE CALLED IN AND HAD A LOOK AT

 Canal Rocks

We sat for ages at this place just watching the rough sea break over the rocks. They say on really calm days when there is no wind you can snorkel amongst the canal, it would be a beautiful place to see then as well.



The bridge to walk over the Canal.




Looking down the Canal out to sea where we watched
the waves crash over the rocks.





You can see how much water comes up over the rock compared
to the photo above. 



Prevelly

Prevelly is another small surfer’s village and is also the place where the Margaret River meets the ocean. The Margaret River fires that happened in December last year started near here and Prevelly was very lucky that they only lost a few homes.




The end of the Margaret River before it hits the sea with the
burnt dunes in the back ground.


Contos Spring

Conto itself is a really nice area where you can bush camp in dedicated bays. We did a little drive around and found this nice beach area called Conto Spring. We couldn’t find the actual spring itself, apparently it comes out of the cliff and runs into the sea, but it was fun rock hoping around.




The rocks we had fun climbing over at Conto's.



Ellensbrook Homestead

This is one of the first settlers homes built in the region in the 1800’s. The area was used to graze cattle on because it had its own natural spring. It was also one of the first places to start schooling aboriginal kids. When the father Allen died the daughters took over the home and maintained it for many more years to come, one of the daughters name was Ellen hence the name today. This building is now heritage listed and to go inside costs $10 a family or you could just wonder around the grounds. We got chatting to the young German man who lives on site with his wife and three young children. His job is to maintain the property and take your money.  They have only just started their one year contract and really love the area and people they meet, whenever he hears stories from locals he goes and researches about them to find out more. He told us that it was here that DEC ( department of conservation & environment) was doing the back burning that got out of control back in December. The one good thing to come out of it was that the fire has burnt a lot of the paperbark trees which are not native to the area so they are going to rip them out and replant with natives apparently. 



The old homestead







Parts of the garden with the old water wheel.





MARGARET RIVER TOWN

We thought it appropriate we stay in Margaret River itself.  I think there is only 2 C.P. in town but there is a stack of cabins, apartments and the like to stay in. Only in one of those  C.P.  could we set up our camper, and at that we had to straddle a brick pad. We went for a stroll down the town strip; I think you are safe if you keep your hands in your pockets. It is a nice town strip with plenty of variety in the shops including smaller versions of many of the well known stores.

We did a great 20km bike ride to Ten Mile Dam which follows along the Margaret River, through the bush, up and down some hills and over a small bridge. The Dam itself is part of Margaret Rivers’s town water supply and as the photo shows is quite low, they haven’t had a good rain fall here for quite some time.



On the bike ride to Ten Mile Dam




The Dam



We went into the tourist info centre and bought a family pass to do three cave tours and the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse all for $160 which is quite a saving compared to doing the caves individually and you have 7 days to use it.




One of the lovely forest drives through the Karri Trees.




Driving along the Cave's Road you come to this wonderful spot where
all you can see is Karri Trees, you look through the trunks and see only
more trunks, the photo does not capture the real beauty of this.