Our trip from Perth to Margaret River took us through a number of interesting places.
South through the new suburbs to Mandurah showed us just how much Perth is growing and how significant this southern corridor is in this growth. A wide freeway with a railway line in the centre took us south through an area that appeared open (as is the case with many major highways around Perth) but is really quite dense with commercial and residential activity.
Our first stop was at Bunburry at the northern end of Geographe Bay. The outstanding feature of this town is the black and white checker-board lighthouse. When we were last in WA, the lighthouse was isolated on a prominent headland. Now, it has become immersed in a housing estate and is virtually surrounded by new town houses. Further down the road is the town of Bussleton with it’s extensive jetty. We stopped here for a few photos and lunch in a little cafe in the main street.
We then drove on to Cape Naturaliste which is the start of the famous ‘Cape to Cape’ walk. It also has a lighthouse and a number of lookouts. From one of these, we watched a pod of Humpback whales traveling along the coastline. From here, it was a drive of about 90 minutes to our next stop at Margaret River. On the way, we passed Cape Lodge ( a luxury boutique hotel where we had stayed on a previous trip) along with a number of very well known wineries such as Vasse Felix and Cape Mentelle.
On our second day in Margaret River, we took it easy with breakfast in a local cafe and then along to the main surf beach. We had been told that whales had been seen at this location over the last few days, but there were none to be seen at the time at which we were there. The surf was probably 3 metres high and we watched the surfers for some time. Then we drove north checking some of the beaches as we went for whale sightings, but none were to be found. We had a pizza for lunch at a winery with the name of ‘Swings and Roundabouts’ It was a a very balmy Sunday and it was a pleasant lunch in the sun with a couple of glasses of nice wine. We finished the afternoon with a look around town.
