Saying goodbye to Perth was made a lot easier by the thought of our next destination – Margaret River (affectionately known as Margs).

However, before we got to the actual township of Margaret River, we decided to stay for a night in a gorgeous little seaside town called Busselton. The drive from Perth to Busselton took approximately 2 ½ hours, not factoring in our stop at the Bunbury Farmers Market (which was incredible, the only bad part was not being able to buy the whole store!).

In Busselton, we stayed in a little B&B called Baudins of Busselton, which was simple, but had everything we needed and even included breakfast the next morning. After dropping off our stuff, we headed to the beach for a swim and to see the famous jetty!

The beach was a fantastic spot for kids and big kids, with a protected ocean pool, an inflatable playground on the water and a long grassy tree-covered area to sit and observe.

The jetty is 1.8km long and has an underwater observatory at the end of it. You can decide whether to walk the jetty yourself or take the quaint little red train. We chose to walk and had a great time trying to answer the trivia questions posted along the way.

After our swim we went to The Goose, a beachside restaurant open all day, and

drank (forced down) two Bloody Marys. It was during these drinks that we realised just how many flies are around in summer in Busselton!

Luckily the gift shop at the jetty sold fly nets to put over your hat, which were practical and doubled as fascinators.

Despite the flies, we loved Busselton and booked a night to stay at the end of our time in Margaret River before we flew out of Perth. That time we stayed in the Hilton

Garden Inn, which is perfect location-wise and has great facilities like a pool, gym, laundry and restaurant (but a bit more expensive than the B&B).

After a coffee and a walk along the Busselton foreshore, we continued our journey south towards Margaret River. When I was researching where to go during the trip, one beach that kept consistently coming up was Eagle Bay in Dunsborough.

As soon as we arrived, I could see why. The beach itself was long and wide, meaning that it wasn’t crowded at all, with plenty of space to place our towels. The water was next level, a sparkling light turquoise blanket between the white sand and the horizon, calm waves politely landing onto the shore. Plus there were no flies to be seen, no fashionable fly net required!

I swam and read my book in the sun to my heart’s content. Eventually we both got hungry and I had to farewell my favourite beach in the world (thus far).

We stopped in Dunsborough at Peko Peko to pick up some delicious chicken and soba noodle salads to take to Cape Naturaliste lighthouse.

Once we arrived, Joey decided we should eat in the car in case the flies made a reappearance. This turned out to be the right decision as they surrounded us as soon as we got out.

After paying $6 entry each, we walked up the hill to get to the lighthouse. Whilst it was interesting to read the history of the lighthouse, there wasn’t much to be seen from the viewing deck and honestly, I wouldn’t do it again.

We got to Margaret River around 2pm and checked into our Airbnb, which was about 10mins from the town centre. The cottage was nestled in a peaceful pocket of the bushland with lots of walking trails connected to the property. There was a kitchen, living room and bathroom downstairs, with a bedroom loft upstairs and a verandah with a barbecue out the front. Perfect size for a couple’s getaway.

After unpacking and settling into our new home for the next four nights, Joey was itching to get to a winery. We decided to go to Voyager Estate, one of the most renowned in the region and conveniently just down the road from our accommodation.

Driving through a tree-lined avenue revealed a gorgeous white Cape Dutch Manor House with dark green details, complimented by immaculately kept gardens of roses and hedges.

After impatiently waiting for me to take a million photos of the building and its surrounds, Joey went straight to the bar for a tasting. A lovely French cellar door assistant took us through the different wines to try, explaining the origins and elements of each. My favourite was their 2023 Syrah, while Joey loved their

Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, two quintessential varietals in the Margaret River region.

After the tasting, we explored the grounds further and walked through their herb and flower gardens before going to our next stop – Leeuwin Estate.

According to Joey (the wine connoisseur in our relationship), the Leeuwin Art Series

Chardonnay was the most collected wine of 2024, which was confirmed by the cellar door host. As expected, their wines were also delicious and we grabbed a bottle to take with us.

For Christmas, Joey said he’d take me out to dinner in Margaret River and that promise was fulfilled when we went to the Margaret River Tuckshop. Fortunately, the cellar door host at Leeuwin had let us in on a bit of local knowledge and told us that the Tuckshop was BYO on Monday nights.

Armed with a bottle of chardonnay, we were seated on the back deck and ordered a dozen Albany oysters with a chilli & shallot mignonette to pair with our wine.

Next, we had ceviche with avocado cream, jalapeno and yuzu, which was phenomenal.

After that was pan-seared scallops with miso gochugaru butter and chimichurri, followed by octopus with grapefruit and potato wakame crackers with sourdough focaccia to mop it all up.

Feeling very full, but extremely content, we walked down the main street of Margs to help digest all the delicious seafood, admiring all the little boutiques, charcuterie stores and restaurants.

The only way to end such a perfect day was to watch the sun dip below the horizon at Surfer’s Point, 10mins from the town centre atop a big hill with a panoramic view of the ocean and neighbouring beaches. It was glorious.

Joey is not exactly a hiker, but I was determined to wrangle him along to at least one half-day of the famous Cape to Cape track, which spans across 125km, from Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin. The section I chose was the Redgate to Contos walk, which is 12km return, with easy access from Margaret River town and clifftop views of the beach…

… Which sounded terrific and I’m sure would have been great, however, we both still felt rundown after the festival in Perth and not up for a long hike, so we decided to just visit Conto Beach instead (he got out of it this time!). We put the Ranger to the test on a sandy/gravelly road down Conto Rd and eventually arrived at a small carpark with a sandy path leading out of the shrubbery. Following the path (accompanied by Joey’s trusty fly-net) we snaked down to the beach, taking in the views of the striking cliffs above.

After taking lots of photos of the scenery, we decided to explore the rockpools and spotted multiple crabs ducking out of sight as soon as we came near. It was a windy day and the waves crashing upon the rocks looked a bit menacing, so we didn’t take our chances in the water. However, I would love to come back on a calm, clear day and swim in the secluded bay with the cliffs in the background.

After Contos, we needed to boost our energy levels so we drove to the other side of town to the Margaret River Chocolate Co. There, we enjoyed the free tastings of their milk and white chocolate drops, and tried some of their award-winning truffles.

Yum!

Next was Cullen Winery, a prestigious biodynamic estate, which Joey said had a 100-point rated Chardonnay. He tried four of their wines for a $10 tasting fee each and sang their praises, buying a bottle of the 2023 Kevin John afterwards.

The next one on the list was Vasse Felix, the founding winery of the region. The venue itself was beautiful with luscious vines trellised across the upper floor and trailing down the sides, creating a canopy for those enjoying a wine and cheese platter on the lower deck. They also had The Vault, which was an underground cellar that housed hundreds of their vintages dating back to the original 1971.

We had another tasting at the bar and I enjoyed a few of their wines, however Joey wasn’t a fan of any in particular and just got a “Taste the Grapes” trivia pack for us to expand our wine knowledge. Tempted to get a cheeseboard and enjoy the view of the vineyard, we decided instead to go to the local delicatessen and make our own at home.

After getting a truffle cheddar and triple-cream brie recommended to us by the shop assistant at Charcuterie, the gourmet grocery store, we assembled the fixings for our board and dinner, and headed back to the cottage for a quiet night in.

The morning of our fourth day in Margs was possibly my favourite of all – going to Hamelin Bay to see the stingrays! We drove down there nice and early at 7.30am because all the internet advice I’d read said to get there in the early morning to avoid crowds and increase the likelihood of seeing them. To my dismay, when we got there at 8am, we couldn’t see any!

Hamelin Bay Beach was beautiful with a long stretch of sand wrapping around the teal coast, I said to Joey, “Well, at least if we don’t see any, the beach was still worth it.”

To make the most of it, we wandered down to one end to have a look and then came back to the section near the boat ramp, where the stingrays were meant to hang out.

An English guy came running up to us and said “They were here! They came as soon as you walked away, but don’t worry, they’ll be back!”

And sure enough, four stingrays showed up, flapping their wings in the water and gliding past brave admirers’ legs. There was an eagle ray with blue markings on its back, an enormous smooth stingray that was so friendly it practically patted us and elegant black stingrays weaving among the other two.

It was amazing to see them in their natural habitat, although apparently the reason why they swim so close to the boat ramp is because local fishermen used to feed them scraps after a long day of fishing. Although it’s illegal to feed them now, the stingrays still come back to the same spot almost every day.

After we had finished marvelling at the stingrays, we drove down to Augusta for a coffee. Augusta was a cute little town where the mouth of Blackwood River goes out to Flinders Bay. The café we chose, The Colour Patch, had a great view of the river and fishermen trying to catch their lunch.

The next beach we went to was Cosy Corner Beach, on the other side of Hamelin Bay. The carpark greets you at the end of Cosy Corner Rd with a vista over the stunning water and almost empty surrounds. There was only one other car in the carpark when we arrived. Down to the left of the carpark is a set of stairs leading directly to the beach, however we didn’t see this when we got there and instead made our way down the rocky hillside like a pair of mountain goats. Going back up the stairs after our swim was much easier!

On our way back to the cottage, we stopped in at Xanadu Wines. We got to choose a flight of five wines to try each and a cheeseboard with charcuterie, pickled zucchini, fig paste and crostini crackers.

In the afternoon, we went to the Settlers Tavern to catch up with a friend who had moved down to Margs last year. It was a great atmosphere, much like the rest of the town. Everyone just seems so happy to be there and life is a lot more relaxed.

For dinner, we decided to get takeaway fish & chips and eat it at Gnarabup Beach while watching the sunset. We sat in the back of the Ranger and played more Monopoly Deal. It was a great night after a great day.

On our last full day in Margaret River, we went to the beach that our friend who lived locally had said was his favourite – Gracetown Beach. When he was describing how good it was and what he liked about the surf, he casually slipped in that a 5m-long shark had been spotted there a few weeks ago.

Keeping this tidbit in mind, we kept a wary glance around us as we were swimming, but there were no sharks to be seen, and the water was beautiful. It was in a big curving bay like a soup bowl and felt very protected from the open ocean. There was even a swimming school with kids in wetsuits learning freestyle, so our fears eased substantially.

We popped into the Gracetown General Store for a pie and coffee before going to a winery in the area called Edwards – another local recommendation.

The venue is set up to look like a fancy airplane hangar, complete with big sliding doors that reveal a yellow seaplane.

Edwards also had bottles of wine in their “Ocean Series” that had undergone a year-long maturation process 18m under the sea in Flinders Bay, Augusta. This meant that the water’s constant temperature and pressure maintained the wine’s freshness, prevented oxidation and had unique barnacle-encrusted outsides. Joey purchased a Cabernet immediately upon seeing them.

It was a big winery day, with Pierro, Woodlands and Hayshed Hill following after.

Pierro was a smaller venue with a cellar door set up in a barn-style room. This was Joey’s favourite winery, the Chenin Blanc stealing his heart.

Woodlands Wines is one of Margaret River’s first five wineries, family-run and organic. We had a seated tasting with a delicious cheeseboard and homemade focaccia, and all the hosts were all very friendly.

The last one of the day was Hayshed Hill, which has a highly-rated restaurant named Rustico attached to it. The scenery was idyllic, with the older-style house looking out over the vineyards. I particularly liked the Pinot Gris and brought some home with me.

To finish off the day, we decided to be nicer to our pockets and grab burgers from town. We went to a funky place called Normal Van, which had an outdoor balcony with fairy lights. The burgers came really quickly and Joey won by a mile in Monopoly Deal again.

Finally, the day that we were dreading came – our last day in Margs. We cooked bacon and eggs on the barbecue at our gorgeous little cottage and enjoyed them on the deck before packing up and heading off.

We caught up with our friend again at West Coffee Co, a café at the skatepark popular with locals, and played cards before hitting the road back towards Busselton.

We stopped at Injidup Natural Spa and hiked over the rocks to see the pool naturally formed by the waves crashing over. It was quite crowded (apparently you’re meant to go early morning or late afternoon) so we didn’t swim.

We also stopped at Cape Lavender Tea House, a well-named little café with a multitude of products like hand soap, bath salts, tea and more all made from lavender, and Meelup Farmhouse, where we roamed around to say hi to the silky chickens, alpacas, goats and, my favourite, hairy cows.

Joey decided our winery tours for the trip were not over so we headed to Wise, which had a fantastic view over Eagle Bay and a brilliant Chardonnay. They also offered a gin tasting from their in-house distillery.

Finally, we finished the day back in Busselton, happy to be back in Busselton, but downhearted to leave magical Margs behind.