Margaret River

Busselton Jetty

We made our way to the Margaret River area to relax and taste some wine. On the way we stopped at Bussleton for lunch. The beach is beautiful and there is a quaint jetty with a little train that takes tourists to the end. All in all it's very picturesque and tastefully done and the weather is beautiful.

We hiked for an hour at Cape Naturaliste to try to see the migrating humpbacks from the whale watching stations. On the way we met a fellow who told us there were "tons of them" out there! We had no luck until the second viewpoint. We kept meeting this Italian girl who kept scoffing and claiming what we were seeing was dolphins, not whales.  I was pretty sure they were whales, but I'd like to get up closer.

We picked up a few groceries in Dunsborough and talked with a helpful Aussie clerk in the wine store who gave us a list of his favourite wineries and activities. "See the majestic Karri forest," he suggested with great enthusiasm.

Waterfall Cottage View

We then proceeded to our cottage in Margaret River. We've allowed only three nights in this area because we were supposed to stay with an ATC member who cancelled on us.because of family illness. (Three nights is the ATC limit.) I suspect this will not be enough time because this is a gorgeous area with innumerable wineries and  a foodies' paradise. I found Waterfall Cottage on the internet before leaving Toronto, and as it turns out, the owners have a complex of cottages here, but each is discreetly positioned so no worries. We rented one that is bigger than what we need in order to have a water view. It turns out, this view is of a man-made pond, and the eponymous waterfall is across the road, but this complex is very attractive. The cottage reminds us of one of the best National Trust cottages in the UK, artfully designed and finished. It has  solid walls, some nice stained glass windows and entire glass walls on two sides that  afford beautiful views of the surrounding landscape with the pond and resident ducks in the distance.

Ring Neck Parrot

Fairy Wren

The birds here are exquisite, fairy wrens, ring neck parrots, kookaburras, New Holland honeyeaters, Australian magpies, grey fantails and a few others we haven't been able to identify. The birds in Australia really take all the prizes for being the most colourful and entertaining. I put out some seeds but couldn't persuade them to stay long enough to take photos. I even got up early one morning and sat outside with the camera, but the birds were too wily and flew off when I got close. There are also supposed to be bandicoots here but we'd need to be looking for those at night. One morning I saw a joey hopping in the woods nearby. He bounced quite close before returning to his mother and hopping head first into her pouch. Magic!

Vasse Felix Winery

Our second  day we visited three wineries, Cape Mentelle, Vasse Felix and Cullen. They were all wonderful, but Vasse Felix was the most spectacular. We bought bottles of their Chardonnay and Cabernet Merlot considering them exceptional and good value to boot. Sadly Cape Mentelle, a label we've purchased many times in Toronto, was bought out by the luxury Louis Vuitton/Hennesey group and their prices have gone sky high. Their Cabernet Sauvignon was $84 a bottle. Vasse Felix prices are $20-30 per bottle, more in line with our budget. We also visited a chocolate factory and a gourmet shop for olives so we're all set for a nice dinner chez Waterfall #5.
Click below to see location:
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