20/9/2025 Melbourne to Dalyellup via Perth

It is a universal truth that weather can make or break a holiday and, so far, our experience of the Margaret River region has been absolutely magnificent!

Charmaine, Luke and I met up on Saturday at the Skybus terminal in the city and got to Melbourne airport with several hours to spare before our midday flight. We had lunch and discussed our plans. We are spending the first night in Dalyellup, which is close to Bunbury (Bunbury was much more expensive and didn’t have much accommodation when we went to book) so we got a house across the road from the beach for our first night. I am keen to see some good sunsets!

After that we have four nights in Margaret River, one of Australia’s larger wine regions. Then a night in Fremantle, four nights on Rottnest Island (our big extravagance for the trip) and then four nights at Scarborough, which is just Luke and I so we can visit Leslie, my Mum’s close friend from her childhood in Sydney.

The flight was uneventful and I’d made Luke and I a little snack box since Virgin doesn’t offer complimentary in-flight meals. I made the crackers myself – delicious!

We picked up our rental car at Perth airport and headed down the coast. Luke mispronounced ‘canal’ as ‘canarl’ so we’ve been making fun of him ever since.

On the way we stopped to see some thrombolites at Lake Clifton, which are related to stromatolites (obviously!), and are close relations of the original organisms that produced the oxygen that allowed life to leave the oceans billions of years ago. Who wouldn’t want to see that?!

We thought they were pretty cool though! Which is definitely a sign that I am, at the very least, middle-aged.

As you can see, it was getting towards sunset-viewing time, so we raced to Bunbury and found a place that was right on the beach, just in time to watch the sun go down. The temperature was perfect, the food was lovely, and despite being a Saturday night and an incomparable view, the place was almost empty.

We sat around for a while watching the light fade before driving the eight minutes to the supermarket, where teenagers on bikes were riding through the indoor area, then on to our Airbnb house. It was a brand-new, rather cavernous and echoey, but only 50 metres from the beach. I spent a good 15 minutes enjoying myself critiquing the design choices (too much reflective surface, too few rugs or doors) before we had a glass of wine and hit the hay.

Day 2 21/9/25 Dalyellup to Margaret River via Busselton

WA is two hours behind Victoria, so we were all awake that much earlier than usual, which for Charmaine is seriously early – she normally gets up well before 6am so I think she was awake at 2!

Charmaine and I did a walk along the beach and then through the treeless suburb of Dalyellup before we packed up the car and drove to Busselton.

We had planned to walk the jetty and go to the underwater observatory, but it was sold out for the day, so we booked tickets for our return drive up the coast, and had a wonderful lunch at the brewery and restaurant that has a view of the park and the jetty.

Busselton foreshore is extremely attractive. It felt like we couldn’t possibly have been anywhere nicer at that moment – perfect temperature, fabulous sunny view, delicious food!

We had a wander around the town and had a look in a few shops and galleries and a lady in the Tourist Information Centre gave us a map and marked out two loops that would cover most things of interest in the area; one to the south of Margaret River, and one to the north.

We walked around the foreshore of Busselton, had a look in the original gaol, then got back on the road. Speaking of which, the roads in WA are incredible! I don’t know if we saw a single pothole. Someone we met later on said it’s because the huge mining equipment trucks needed really well-made roads.

The drive from Perth to Margaret River is about 3 and a half hours. We arrived at the ‘Margaret River In Town Apartments’ with plenty of time to check in and then go for a walk along the main street. While the hotel didn’t feel super fancy, the rooms were spacious and our balconies faced into the forest behind the town.

Day 3 22/9/25 Beaches, Caves and Flowers

Another unintentionally early morning, our plans to get up and out at 9 changed to up and out at 7:30 since we were all awake. We drove to a beach where a river flowed out to the ocean. The waves were quite big and the scenery was very unspoiled. There were hardly any people around and it was lovely!

In the rocks by the water, there was a statue of a woman nursing a little sea creature. An interesting place to put an artwork.

We found a cafe with a view of the ocean and sat in the sun before driving to Mammoth Cave. I don’t really like going into caves but this one was huge and the ceiling was almost entirely covered in huge stalactites and interesting formations. We got the audio guides and followed the one-way walkway, which was narrow enough to hold onto both sides because everything was very damp.

We exited the cave via a steep staircase up through a bowl-like cave where there were two natural beehives! Very cool to see and hear. I think there were about 240 steps up. After that there was a short walk through the native forest and the wildflowers were so lovely!

The grass trees were also fabulous to see in their natural environment. I didn’t know before this trip that the black stumps are a sign that the tree has been through a fire.

Next stop was Hamlin Bay, where the internet had suggested sting rays could be spotted. We walked up to a viewpoint but the water was too choppy and there probably weren’t any stingrays to be seen anyhow. It was a lovely view though.

The colour of the water was beautiful everywhere, but every beach had its own hues and different rock formations.

Next stop was the south west tip of the Australian mainland, the spot where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet. There is a lighthouse and lot of windswept, red rocks.

Charmaine had looked up places to eat in Augusta, which was just as well because the cafes along the main road looked pretty average. She found a restaurant called The Colour Patch, which sounds like a hippy cafe, but turned out to be a swish restaurant with outstanding views across the estuary and a great menu. On a day with such perfect weather, it was hard to imagine anything nicer.

From Augusta we drove back to Margaret River, stopping briefly at a tiny town called Witchcliffe, in which hardly any shops were open.

Charmaine had spotted an Indian Restaurant in town that we went to for dinner. It didn’t look very fancy on the outside but the food was great. Then we adjourned next door to Pearl’s Bar for a couple of delicious cocktails and some people-watching before an early night.

More about a Margaret River in Part 2!