Saturday 26 November 2011
Margaret river and Pemberton
Left Jurien Bay a day earlier then planned due to the weather being not that nice .
It took us about 6 hours to get to Margaret River as it is about 250 kms past Perth . Managed to skirt Perth due to the navigator but took it nice and slow as it was pouring with rain.
Planned on originally staying at Busselton but decided to drive straight to MR and use it as a base to see the whole area.
Debs had checked out the campgrounds and decided either Prevally ( right on Prevally beach and about 18kms from the town) or Gracetown ( nearer town but still in the bush) . Went to Gracetown first and checked out their sites to find a really nice bush setting .
Spent 10 days in MR and loved it even though the weather was not that flash somedays .
The region is full of wineries ( about 140 with cellar doors),fresh produce , cheeses and handcrafted breweries , the scenery is very lush with rows and rows of vineyards as well as lots of wildlife including Roos and kookaburras sharing the campground with us.
The town of MR is very scenic and has a lovely feel to it , very village like .
It is well serviced with two good pubs , restaurants and cafes and markets on Saturday while not massive had great produce including the two goats cheeses we bought for lunch.
We kept busy while there by :-
1.Visiting Dunsbrough ,Geographe Bay and Busselton. Beautiful beach at Geographe Bay and saw a pod of whales and their calves so close to the beach .
2.Doing a full day wine and cheese tour including Watershed,Voyager (stunning gardens employing 6 full time gardeners),Pieros,Moss Brothers,and Stella Bella. Bought a few bottles for Christmas . Loved the Pieros chardonnay but at $90.00 a bottle from the cellar door gave it a miss.
3. Trip down to Augusta where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian ocean and boy was it bloody windy.
4.Splunked through Mammoth cave which was ok but not as good as some near Canberra
5. Had dinner with Lisa and Tony Fletcher in the MR pub .
6.Had a nice lunch at Hay Shed Hill winery followed by a drive through the national park then onto Prevally beach .
Overall had a great time and could have stayed longer but weather was up and down and the weekend coming up was the national Harley Davidson rally which meant a town full of 1,000 motorbikers including the campgrounds.
We will be back though.
Left MR to drive to Pemberton a town inland but on the way to the coast , known for its Karri forests and national park . Karri trees from the area were sent last century to the UK to help build the london undergound.
A nice little town known also known for it's wine and marron farming , as the weather was not to nice we booked a cabin with a log fire etc for a couple of nights which was a nice change .
Drove through the scenic national park with some massive trees in it including a fire look out you can climb up ( see photo ) that is 84 meters high and has like wire steps to climb up .it didn't happen.
Moving onto Denmark next .
It took us about 6 hours to get to Margaret River as it is about 250 kms past Perth . Managed to skirt Perth due to the navigator but took it nice and slow as it was pouring with rain.
Planned on originally staying at Busselton but decided to drive straight to MR and use it as a base to see the whole area.
Debs had checked out the campgrounds and decided either Prevally ( right on Prevally beach and about 18kms from the town) or Gracetown ( nearer town but still in the bush) . Went to Gracetown first and checked out their sites to find a really nice bush setting .
Spent 10 days in MR and loved it even though the weather was not that flash somedays .
The region is full of wineries ( about 140 with cellar doors),fresh produce , cheeses and handcrafted breweries , the scenery is very lush with rows and rows of vineyards as well as lots of wildlife including Roos and kookaburras sharing the campground with us.
The town of MR is very scenic and has a lovely feel to it , very village like .
It is well serviced with two good pubs , restaurants and cafes and markets on Saturday while not massive had great produce including the two goats cheeses we bought for lunch.
We kept busy while there by :-
1.Visiting Dunsbrough ,Geographe Bay and Busselton. Beautiful beach at Geographe Bay and saw a pod of whales and their calves so close to the beach .
2.Doing a full day wine and cheese tour including Watershed,Voyager (stunning gardens employing 6 full time gardeners),Pieros,Moss Brothers,and Stella Bella. Bought a few bottles for Christmas . Loved the Pieros chardonnay but at $90.00 a bottle from the cellar door gave it a miss.
3. Trip down to Augusta where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian ocean and boy was it bloody windy.
4.Splunked through Mammoth cave which was ok but not as good as some near Canberra
5. Had dinner with Lisa and Tony Fletcher in the MR pub .
6.Had a nice lunch at Hay Shed Hill winery followed by a drive through the national park then onto Prevally beach .
Overall had a great time and could have stayed longer but weather was up and down and the weekend coming up was the national Harley Davidson rally which meant a town full of 1,000 motorbikers including the campgrounds.
We will be back though.
Left MR to drive to Pemberton a town inland but on the way to the coast , known for its Karri forests and national park . Karri trees from the area were sent last century to the UK to help build the london undergound.
A nice little town known also known for it's wine and marron farming , as the weather was not to nice we booked a cabin with a log fire etc for a couple of nights which was a nice change .
Drove through the scenic national park with some massive trees in it including a fire look out you can climb up ( see photo ) that is 84 meters high and has like wire steps to climb up .it didn't happen.
Moving onto Denmark next .
Saturday 19 November 2011
Jurien bay /Cervantes
Getting close to Perth now, don,t really need to stop before going through Perth but Jurien bay is close to the national park that has the pinnacles in it.
Juiren Bay has a really nice beach and a nice feel to the town with one camping ground , few shops and the jetty and marina with a good cycle track along the water front.
Went fishing off the jetty a couple of times , caught a few snook and herrings but not much else . Locals were pulling out mackerel and tailor all nice size .
Spent 6 days in the bay but was probably to long once you see the pinnacles and the national park that is about it.
The pinnacles are about 30 kms away nearer the town (?) of Cervantes and a area of sandstone plilars rising out of the sand in a green national park .worth a visit but not on a par with the bungle bungles etc .
The national park Lesieur is about 40 kms away from the town and again worth a visit due the widflowers and the walks but one day was enough.
We moved on after 6 days as the weather was starting to rain and we had done the area .
Off to the Margaret river !.
Juiren Bay has a really nice beach and a nice feel to the town with one camping ground , few shops and the jetty and marina with a good cycle track along the water front.
Went fishing off the jetty a couple of times , caught a few snook and herrings but not much else . Locals were pulling out mackerel and tailor all nice size .
Spent 6 days in the bay but was probably to long once you see the pinnacles and the national park that is about it.
The pinnacles are about 30 kms away nearer the town (?) of Cervantes and a area of sandstone plilars rising out of the sand in a green national park .worth a visit but not on a par with the bungle bungles etc .
The national park Lesieur is about 40 kms away from the town and again worth a visit due the widflowers and the walks but one day was enough.
We moved on after 6 days as the weather was starting to rain and we had done the area .
Off to the Margaret river !.
Tuesday 1 November 2011
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