Sun 20th–Sat 26th June. Margaret River-Augusta

Sunday 20th June

We moved camp sites this morning, needing to refill our water and empty the cassette. Down to ‘Big Valley Campground’ a working sheep station with power, water and dump point.

As it was only a short move we set off afterwards for another scenic tour of the coast, visiting Prevelly, the mouth of Margaret River and some surf beaches.

Stopped in at Voyager Estate for an afternoon tasting, bought some lovely desert wines.

Monday 21st June

Our original plan was to only stay at the Big Valley Campground overnight to empty and fill up. But it seemed a nice spot and central to Margaret River so we chose to stay here for the rest of the week.

Out to some wineries, Fraser Gallop, then Domain Naturalist where we bought some Chardonnay (yet to be released – as we happened to arrive just as Bruce - owner/wine maker, walked in and he was happy to explain how he arrives at his final product.

On to the Hay shed Winery/restaurant for a Tapas Degustation luncheon with matching wines. Effectively a 5 course (10 plate) awesome Tapas meal.

Then a scenic drive back to camp visiting Gracetown.

Tuesday 22nd June

We booked a winery tour for today, Vintage Wine tours. Tony was great. We visited Xanadu wines; Leeuwin Estate; Olio Bella (lunch); Margaret River Chocolate Factory; Jarvis Estate; Thompson Estate; Brewhouse Margaret River.

Leeuwin Estate has the most renown wines (also we were told by a couple of wine buffs not to miss Leeuwin Estate) and was by far the best wines we have had since arriving. So it is hard to go past this big winery for the little boutique wineries. In the end we all bought some wines from Leeuwin and a bottle of Limencello from Jarvis Estate.

Wednesday 23rd June

Another trip back to Prevelly for brunch. On the way back a couple of photos of the Margaret River meeting the ocean.

Spent the afternoon visiting a couple more limestone caves. All very different to each other.

Mammoth Cave, very large self guided (via audio). Very impressive.

Lakes Cave, a guided tour down into it. It would be fantastic if the water wasn’t receding so much (climate change?). But some of the formations were still spectacular, like the suspended table about a meter in the air – obviously the water flow has carved everything from underneath.

Thursday 24th June

Day trip down to Augusta to visit the lighthouse. On the way we drove through the Karri Forest, visited Hamelin Bay (but didn’t see any sting rays) and of course view where the two oceans meet – Indian and Southern. Fish and chips for lunch.

Friday 25th June

Leaving Big Valley campsite, we liked Augusta yesterday so we thought we would spend a couple of relaxing days there while the weather is nice. So we moved the 45km’s to Augusta, Turner Caravan park for two days.

After lunch we visited the last of the 4 available caves – Jewel Cave. And we were so glad we visited this one last, the other caves were all different and well worth the visit but this one trumped them all. A truly awesome experience. So much crystal and formations, and knowing that the formations grow around (very roughly) 1mm per 10 years puts what you see into perspective.