We recently had a friend visit from Mount Isa. Kerriann was coming to Perth for a work conference and as this was her first visit to the South West of WA she tacked a few days on so as to be able to do some site seeing with us in the Margaret River Area (3 hours south of Perth). We were honoured to play tour guide for the two days and one night she spent with us.

Knowing she’s a lover of both nature, and of good food we planned our itinerary accordingly. The tall Karri trees in Boranup forest were a must, as was Canal Rocks, a geographical feature that showcases the best of the rugged coastal scenery that borders our Cape to Cape walking track. Bussselton Jetty, the longest wooden pylon jetty in the Southern Hemisphere needed to be factored in too, and we decided to incorporate a short bush walk along the more gentle coastline on the Dunsborough side of the Naturaliste cape. A picnic would sustain us on the first day, and we chose Rustico on Hayshed Hill for a dining out experience that we knew would give her a pleasant and somewhat different experience to remember our little neck of the woods by. The two day itinerary follows:

Day 1 Map

Kerriann caught a South West Coach Line bus from Elizabeth Quay in Perth to Busselton arriving at 11.15am. We spent the morning putting together a picnic lunch, then met the bus with take away coffees from a nearby Cafe.

Our hellos quickly said, suitcase stashed into the boot and we headed south. First stop was the beautiful Boranup Forest. We headed down the Bussell highway driving through the pretty town of Cowaramup, then the township of Margaret River before cutting across to Caves Road to continue south until we reached the track that would take us into Boranup forest. The tall Karri trees are an absolute must see for any lover of nature visiting the area.

As it wasn’t a long week-end we knew the campground in the forest wouldn’t be full, so we used a picnic table in one of the camping spots. In our opinion it’s a much more picturesque and tranquil area than the day use area in the forest.

We treat any picnic like an occasion. Table clothes to suit the environment we’re picnicking in are always in our basket, crystal glasses for our wine, and silverware for our eating utensils. Todays fare was warming mulled wine to accompany a hearty minestrone soup with thick sliced fresh wholemeal bread, a caramel & macadamia nut slice and fresh crunchy red apples to follow, along with a thermos of boiling water for our tea and coffee.

Picnic over, we headed up Caves Road to Canal Rocks. Canal Rocks forms part of the rugged west coast, which showcases some amazing rock formations. The rocks in this particular area form a canal into which the waves crash through the narrow channel of water creating a spectacular and mesmerising show of nature at its best. Both Paul, and Kerriann have a bit of mountain goat in them and it didn’t take them long to start bounding over the rocks looking for the best vantage point to snap their photos.

It was freezing, but one brave teenage girl was doing back flips into the swirling water as it crashed through the channel below the walk bridge constructed to make viewing of the spectacle safe. Paul and I have visited Canal Rocks countless times but we never tire of it. It’s beautiful on a calm day, but on a stormy day it is absolutely amazing. This particular visit it was inbetween, just enough fury in the Indian Ocean waves to showcase the wild-ness of the region.

Next we headed over to the bush walking track that runs from the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse down the north east side of the Cape. Even though only a few kilometres separate the rugged west coast from the north east coast of this peninsula area it provides a great contrast of countryside to see. We had time for a short walk from Castle Rock to Meelup beach and back. Unfortunately June is a bit early for the whales that come down the coast on their way back to Antarctica. A few months later and it could almost be guaranteed that whales would have been seen just off shore.

The sun was dipping in the sky, so we had just enough time to head back to Sugarloaf Rock on the west coast. Sugarloaf Rock is amongst the most photographed geographical features in the area. Both amateur and professional photographers flock to the area on a cloudy night at sunset, although saying that, it’s never really crowded. It wasn’t at its best this night, but we still managed to get some reasonable photos as the sun dropped over the horizen.

That wrapped up Saturday. We came back to our place, cooked an easy dinner of chicken and vegetable stir fry with steamed rice, and followed it with Ice cream and warm blue berries. Then a sound night’s sleep ready to fit in as much as we could the next day.

Day two map.

Sunday saw us off to a good start with a light continental breakfast of muesli, yogurt, fruit, toast, and croissants before we headed out to see the Busselton Jetty. Being 1.8kms in length the jetty is the longest wooden pylon jetty in the southern hemisphere. It was almost completely destroyed by Cyclone Alby In 1978 and lay in ruins for several years before the townspeople decided they’d raise funds to rebuild it. It’s now the pride and joy of the coastal town of Busselton. There’s a lot of history attached to the jetty, but on this whirlwind trip there wasn’t time to delve too deeply into it. We did walk the length of the jetty though, and when at the end, almost 1.8kms out to sea we went down into the underwater observatory to see the colourful display that lies beneath.

We had booked into one of our favourite restaurants in the Margaret River region for lunch at 12.30pm. The degustation tapas served up at Rustico on Hayshed Hill certainly didn’t disappoint. With our visitor having been living for a number of years now in Mount Isa, Rustico is that little bit different to anything Kerriann will have seen for some time, so was a must do in showcasing what our little area has on offer for visitors to the region. Rustico suggests their patrons should allow 2 1/2 hours for their five course degustation tapas menu, and believe me 2 1/2 hours is needed. Each of the five courses is, in fact, two courses. So in reality it is 10 small courses. We managed to eat all of the food presented, but we did see some tables having their cheese course packaged up to take home for later. Bordering on fine dining, it’s rare in that although the courses are each quite small, together the ten courses provide a substantial quantity of quality food.

There was only a couple of hours left before we had to be back in Busselton for our guest to meet her 5.30pm bus to take her back up to Perth. We drove out to the surf beach near the Margaret River mouth. This area is home to the Margaret River Surf Classic, part of the world professional surfing circuit, and held in November each year. There were a few surfers out there trying their luck on the waves, but the waves were quite small and tame compared to what they are later in the season.

We arrived back in Busselton with about 15 minutes to spare, just enough time to head back to the Jetty area for some photos of the area taken from the shore.

It was a whirlwind two days, but we managed to give Kerriann a great snapshot look at the Margaret River Region. Kerriann gave us a whirlwind tour of her home area in the Atherton Tablelands in North Queensland a few years ago. It was such a pleasure to return the favour. I do hope she has taken some lovely photos, and some lovely memories away with her.