This week we travelled through Augusta – Hamelin Bay – Margaret River  – Yallingup – Dunsborough – Busselton – Ferguson Valley – Fremantle from Tuesday 11^th to Monday 18^th May  2021. It was a week of pure indulgence with lots of delectable winery and produce farm tastings, some stunning cliff-top walks and natural rock formations and stormy weather producing incredible surf and sunsets. Watch our Parrott’s Oz Lap Week 5 Video for more details.

Tuesday 11^th May: Massive trees, dams and rays.

It was a pretty active start to Week 5 with a run around the Big Brook Dam a clamber up the 65m Dave Evens Bicentennial Fire Lookout tree, a motor along the Karri Forest Explorer drive, a walk around the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse and a visit to the Manta Rays on the shoreline of Hamelin Bay before spending the night in the Jarrah, Marri and Peppermint bushlands at Jarrahdene campground. The top three things to tick on this leg are 1. Dave Evans (Bicentennial Tree) climb 2. Big Brook Dam 6km loop trail and 3. Hamelin Bay’s resident rays who love a pat.

Wednesday 12^th – Sunday 16^th May: Ticking off the top sips, eats and walks in Margaret River-Yallingup

This region is absolutely overflowing with wineries, eateries, surf breaks and coastal walks amongst colourful Gneiss rock formations.  There’s so much written on this area already that I’ve just picked out our top three in each category. Take a look at our 3 minute video summing up our Quest for the best Chardonnay.

Top winery ticks

With over 200 vineyards in this region it’s an impossible task to whittle it down to just three top tips but given our penchant for Chardonnay (which the area is famous for) we only went to wineries that offer our fav grape on their list and can say these are our top picks: 1. Voyager Estate gets the tick for overall experience due to the sheer grandeur of the grounds and buildings matched by a stunning wine tasting room with seated wine flights where we tasted some seriously good Chardonnays. 2. Amelia Park gets the surprise tick for its imposing cellar door entrance, the floor to ceiling winery views in the tasting room, the super friendly staff and of course, the rocking chardonnay!  3. Leeuwin Estate has to be up there for similar reasons as Voyager – it is such a beautifully presented winery and they have the Art Series which is still my fav top of the rung Chardonnay!

Special mentions go to our old fav. Juniper Estate for their friendly, relaxed cellar door and the best value range of delicious sparkling, whites and reds – we stocked our van cupboards here! Marri Wood Park organic winery also gets a mention for their rustic setting complete with fire-pits and Lola the kelpie-shepherd plus a fine sparkling SB, and we also loved Flame Tree Wines with the beautiful autumn colours and best value chardonnay yet.

Top eatery ticks

So many of the epic eateries in this area are at the wine estates and focus on long lunches. I’m not a fan of drinking during the day or eating big lunches either so our top picks go to breakfast and dinner spots and Providores for treats to have with sundowners: 1.White Elephant Café on Gnarabup beach gets a big tick for a killer breakfast overlooking the surf breaks up towards Prevelly. 2.Pizzica gets a tick for being a quirky, woodsy little Italian gem with dam fine pizzas at the bottom end of Margaret River town and 3.Olio Bello for the most delectable range of olive oils, pickles, cheese biscuits.

Top beach ticks

There’s so many fantastic beaches in this area and whilst the weather wasn’t on our side for swimming the conditions were ‘going off’ for surfing. So our top picks go for beaches that had good surf viewing, walking and settings and include 1. Gnarabup beach, Prevelly’s sheltered little sister with a cosy comer for swimming and a killer beach café (see below). 2.  Prevelly beach to watch the surfers ride the famous surf breaks and read about the legends that made this place famous. 3. Smiths Beach up near Yallingup for its sweeping curve of white sand.

Top rides/walks to tick

The region is famous for its Cape to Cape walking track and its myriad of mountain bike trails – given we have hybrid bikes we chose the paved or gravel trails for riding and our top picks include: 1. Cape to Cape walking track particularly the sections from Gnarabup to Prevelly beach and Smiths beach towards Canal Rocks. 2.The Margaret River town to Prevelly beach 10km cycle/walking path which winds down to the beach and slowly, but surely, back up again! 3.The Margaret River cycle/hike dirt tracks along and over the river with two main access areas from Rotary Park at the end of town or further up near the Riverview caravan park (where we stayed).

Top rocky vistas to tick

The Gneiss (pronounced ‘nice’) rocks feature heavily along the coast from Cape Leeuwin to Cape Naturaliste and often gather in big piles on clifftops or crack open to form natural canals or swimming holes. Our picks of the cliff tops and rocky outcrops were: 1.Canal rocks a series of long jutting out rocks that form natural canals just above Wyadup. Theres a boardwalk that takes you over one canal – the rest is a rock scramble with a keen eye on the waves that can wash in here strongly 2. Injidup Natural Spa to the east of Cape Clairault. There’s some big craggy rocks to clamour on around to the natural inlets or take part of the cape to cape walking track. Injidup natural spa is the second nook and more protected but still not advisable to go when the waves are big (like when we were there). 3. There’s a carpark on the right on the road down in to Gracetown where you can scramble down and sit on the rocks and watch the sunset and cheer on the surfers tackling Huzzawuiee surf break (locally known as Huzzas).

Monday 17^th May: Cape Naturaliste-Dunsborough- Busselton-Ferguson Valley

Leaving the South and hitting the south-west tip of Australia at Cape Naturaliste things start to look up. Literally. From here we’re heading due North. Our first trip around ‘the corner’ was along Geographe Bay where we dipped into all the iconic beaches and points. Our tip picks here are: 1.Eagle Bay-Meelup rd which runs along the coast just south of Bunker Bay and heads south past Point Piquet and Eagle Bay and the lovely cosy curved Meelup beach which has great picnic tables for lunch. 2. Busselton 1.8km long pier for a walk with lots of historical story plaques. 3.The Wellington Dam with its stunning large scale mural painted on the dam wall and the lovely Potter’s Gorge campground.

Next week we tackle Fremantle, Rottnest Island by bike, then head up to Cervantes, Green Head and Kalbarri.