SO MUCH MORE THAN WINE!

Whether you enjoy exploring fine food and wine trails or prefer to venture through mammoth caves and prehistoric forests, the Margaret River region has something for everyone

WORDS BY FRED WRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRED WRIGHT AND JOHN HABERFIELD

The Margaret River Region of South West WA is located on a 110km stretch between Cape Naturaliste in the North and Cape Leeuwin in the south. This region is filled with both natural and man-made wonders and a place of outstanding contrasts.

For many it’s a premier wine growing region of WA and although producing only 2% of all Australian wines, 20% of the wines produced are premium wines. However, there is much more to the Margaret River than wines, you’ll also find prehistoric trees, award winning beers and some of the best desserts I’ve ever eaten.

We always recommend making a base camp from which to explore and so we chose to stay at Taunton Farm Holiday Park, just out of Cowaramup. With shady trees, powered drive through sites and farm animals you can feed at 5pm each day, this proved to be a good decision.

VINEYARDS AND BREWERIES

Bathed in a warm Mediterranean climate, over 200 winegrowers call the Margaret River home and for good reason. This kind of climate plays a huge part in producing the outstanding wines this region is so well known for.

Drive the coast and you’ll be greeted at almost every turn of the road by winery after winery so it’s probably best to map out which places you want to visit in advance, and of course decide who the nominated driver will be. If nobody wants to drive, you can book a bus tour around the vineyards and arrange to be dropped back at your caravan park.

The Margaret River doesn’t just do wine, however, you’ll also find wonderful micro-breweries producing beers that have won all sorts of major awards.

Bush Shack Brewery is a multi-award winner and a tasting session will tell you why. The Shack is built from recycled bricks, timber and tin which means that it blends in beautifully with its beach environment. All brews are natural and unfiltered with a huge range to choose from. How about names like ‘Dirty Dan’s, Dark Delights, Mango Madness and Mama’s Ginger Beer? Life’s too short, so enjoy.

Before we headed to Bush Shack Brewery, I’d contacted a good mate of mine who lives not far away and he was nice enough to pick me up from the Bush Shack and together we drove to Karridale, in the south to taste some beaut Biltong, learnt about the process for making it and picked up some varieties for happy hour. This amazing stuff comes from a company called Ridgeback Biltong and you’ll find it at the Karridale Crossroads General Store, on the Bussel Highway in Karridale and at the Prevelly Caravan Park in Prevally Park. Not only can you find Ridgeback’s delicious biltong at Prevally, but you’ll also find a cracking caravan park located just a stone’s throw from the beach.

Of course when visiting a region best known for wine, you have to follow trend and visit some wineries. The next day we set off for Happs Winery, and as they say, welcome to the flavour frontier! Their range is something else, but the taste is what you’ll remember – superb. The grounds are immaculate and even the mud bricks were made by the owner. It’s also got an outstanding range of pottery, with beautifully created works of art and you’ll often find a potter, happily at work. It was great to just relax and wander the grounds, taking in the serenity.

Recharged and rebooted it was off to Knotting Hill Estate Vineyard with its grand entry over a curved wonder bridge atop a huge lake. Chatting to the Knotting Hill tour guide we learnt the fascinating story of how this winery came to be. Built on the idea that good people deserve good wines, Michael Gould and his father Brian established Knotting Hill from scratch, planting and training the vines, building the cellar door and dam, while simultaneously managing their wheat belt farm 250km North East of Perth. This place was built on hard work and you can taste it in their wines, specialising in rich cab sauvs and delicious sauvignon blancs, you can’t miss a visit to Knotting Hill.

Spending time with such hard working people gives you a hard earned thirst, so we set off for the Moody Cow Brewery. This award winning brewery is located in the Ferguson Valley and pride themselves on producing the best handcrafted beers using only malt, hops, yeast and Ferguson Valley water. They have six different mouth-watering beers on tap. I recommend the Grunta’s Original ale.

NATURAL ATTRACTIONS

The Margaret River is truly a blessed region, with fabulous cave systems to explore where you’ll learn about mega fauna, those giant animals that roamed these parts 50,000 years ago. You’ll find evidence of ancient animal jaw bones and some of the 10,000 specimens that have been discovered such as prehistoric wombats, echidnas, kangaroos and even Tasmanian tigers.

You’ll also love a drive into awe inspiring national parks where you’ll be confronted by the land of the giants. These are 80m tall Karri trees reaching for the sky, brilliantly coloured with delicate wild flowers and birds. You won’t be able to resist snapping pictures and just as quickly sending them to family and friends.

Any mention of the natural wonders must also include the stretch of brilliant white beaches and the many perfect spots you’ll choose for morning tea or lunch. Perhaps you can see yourselves taking a carefree, gentle stroll over dunes or just sitting, relaxing and taking in the vistas before you.

From early June to December, you’ll get the chance to spot whales heading for the Antarctic after calving and feeding up for the long ocean travel ahead.

Not only is this one of the most visually stunning regions in the world, it’s also one of 34 internationally recognised bio diversity hotspots, and the only one in Australia.

After spending some time exploring the vineyards and breweries, it was now time to check out the natural wonders of the Margaret River, so we headed off to Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park at Boranup. We towed our Regent Caravan through here, but I’d recommend you leave yours at your caravan park as there are too few places to turn around on narrow roads.

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is about 45 minutes south of Margaret River at Augusta. This is the tallest and most westerly on the Australian mainland and it’s where the Indian and Great Southern Oceans meet. Built in 1895, its shimmering white exterior stands out against the turquoise oceans below.

Travelling on, we had been hearing a lot of locals talk about the array of splendid caves located along the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge. I can already hear some of you say that a cave’s a cave, but that doesn’t apply to the more than 1000 caves nestled along one of WA’s favourite coastlines.

Formed over the last one million years by water moving through limestone some of the most popular are the Mammoth, Lake and Jewel caves – all uniquely decorated with natural formations.

We chose the Mammoth Cave, as it had the best nickname – ‘Dawn of Creation’ and is the most easily accessible, with the first chamber having wheelchair accessibility. Open daily, from 9am until 5pm, the Mammoth Cave is a fully self-guided tour with Mp3. The huge mouth of the cave was formed when thousands of kilos of limestone and rock fell through and created the doorway like entrance. Remains of megafauna can be seen inside, but it’s hard to believe they roamed this region 50,000 years ago. There’s also evidence of human habitation going back tens of thousands of years a fact I found hard to get my head around. The only thing that disappointed me was that we couldn’t see more!

If you want to check out the Jewel and Lake Caves you will need to purchase separate entry tickets for each one. Tickets are priced between $22.50 for adults and $12 for children, with family packages available. You can visit the caves all year round and is an excellent educational experience.

SWEET THINGS

Coming back to modern times, the next day we decided to go and check out Millers ice cream, located about 40km north of Mammoth Cave. Their ice cream is made from milk, straight from their own dairy cows! I’m rarely an ice cream fan, but the first taste simply won me over. Delicious and very moorish!

Following on with the sweet theme for the day, we popped over to Bettenay’s Margaret River Nougat Company, only 10km up the road from Millers. This is a family owned business and makes gold medal winning nougat. You can see the nougat being made most days and even have a taste of the world’s first nougat liqueur, Nougaretto.

After our delicious experience at Bettenay’s, it was off to Yahava Koffee Works. This place redefines what the taste of coffee should be. You can watch the entire roasting process and have a free tasting as well. They say that it’s an adventure in a cup and who am I to disagree? Linger longer at the café, try their coffee, learn and enjoy.

Of course the thing that goes best with coffee is chocolate and they have that in spades at Temper Temper. Here you can taste the chocolate for free and watch it being made. Try a hot chocolate and gently pour small chocolate buttons in until they disappear. This is a seriously decadent experience, but completely worth it!

HERITAGE SITES

One hundred kilometres north you’ll find Dardanup Heritage Park. Although only open two days a week, this privately owned park is a must see for everyone. In all my travels I’ve never seen anything like it! You’ll find huge garage after garage of beautifully restored machinery. There’s an enormous café, affordable food and genuine country hospitality.

Up to 40 volunteers work here, lovingly restoring the machines. These people are passionate about what they do, but not more so than Jill, Dardanup Heritage Park’s dynamic owner. She seems to have boundless energy and a positive word of encouragement for everyone. Jill is the driving force, has a dream and knows more about every single machine than most people will ever know.

Alas, all too soon it was time to head home, but we did so knowing that we’d be back, as we’ve only scratched the surface of this remarkable region. The Margaret River taught us a valuable lesson – it’s not all about the wines!