Margaret River
My return to an old playground
13.03.2013 - 14.03.2013
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2013 Round the World Trip
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The Margaret River area is the south west toe of Western Australia about 3 hours drive from Perth. I had been there before on my previous visit to my cousins in Perth back in 2002 but definately wanted to go back there again as there was so much to see.
We started by visiting the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse situated at the most south western point in Australia which is where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet. After the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and Cape Horn in South America this is one of the most treacherous capes in the world. The lighthouse was built in 1895-96 and is 132 feet (40 metres) high with walls 7 feet (2 metres) thick at its base - and 176 steps we had to climb to reach the top!
Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

The Lighthouse Lens at Cape Leeuwin

The view of the rest of Australia from Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

Me at the meeting point of the Indian and Southern Oceans
Next stop moving north was Lake Cave, the Leeuwin Naturaliste Ridge which is the backbone of the Margaret River Area is peppered with over 100 of them most of which have the most amazing natural cave formations. Lake Cave is considered the prettiest of them with an impressive colapsed cavern entrance known as a doline and its stalactites within reflecting in the stream that flows very slowly through it. From the karri trees growing in the entrance it is estimated the doline colapsed about 700 years ago and inside Lake Cave there is a very unusual cave formation known as as suspended table formed by the flowstone beneath columns being eroded away.
The impressive entrance down into Lake Cave
Stalactites reflecting in the water inside Lake Cave

The suspended table inside Lake Cave

The deepest part of Lake Cave

Day light again! Re-emerging from Lake Cave into its doline
The Boranup Forest above the caves contains an amazing forest of karri and marri trees, driving along the Caves Road that runs along the spine of the area you are aware the trees are tall with similar sized trunks but all of a sudden the trees seem to be 3-5 times taller than they were previously - very belittling! Karri Trees are a very straight trunked hardwood tree with all its branches high up that can grow upto 200 feet (60 metres) high. The most famous karri is the 200 feet high Gloucester Tree near Pemberton about an hour's drive away to the east which is used as a fire lookout tree and can be climbed but I was quite happy keeping my feet on the ground!
The view from the Boranup Lookout across the Karri Tree Forest to the Indian Ocean

Karri Trees line the track as we drive through the Baranup Forest

To give an idea of scale, our car stopped on the track amongst the Karri Trees in the Boranup Forest
Where the Margaret River enters the Indian Ocean is also world famous for its consistent surf and I remember a fun day on the beach there during my previous visit. Since then the shape of the coastline seems to have changed a lot and still shows the scars of a bushfire that ravaged the area a couple of years ago but as we stopped for old times sake we could still make out the surfers practising in the waves on Surfers Point for the annual Pro Surf Competition being held there starting at the weekend.
Surfers practice at Surfers Point, Margaret River

Lifeguard Notice at Margaret River Beach

Surfers encampment at Margaret River in readiness for the Pro-Am Competition the following weekend

Scrubland at Surfers Point recovering from the Bushfire that ravaged the area in 2011
However what Margaret River is famous for more than anything else is for being Western Australia's premier wine region so what else were we to finish our trip to the area but with a tour of a local winery? The winery we chose to visit was the Leeuwin Estate, one of the original wineries in the area when it was identified as an ideal place to grow grapes back in 1972 and which often hosts open concerts for famous entertainers such the London Philamornic and Sting. Our tour was given by a very enthusiastic guide and one of the senior growers and was very interesting and fun - honest I learnt a lot! We then finished off by sampling some of the different vintages before starting our long trek back to Perth.
The entrance to the Leeuwin Estate Winery

The stage all set for the next open air concert at the Leeuwin Estate

Where the grapes arrive from the fields

Wine fermenting in the vats at the Leeuwin Estate

Wine aging in oak barrels in the cellars of the Leeuwin Estate

Of course no tour of a winery would be complete without some wine tasting!
Posted by FrancisRTW 02:00 Archived in Australia Tagged beaches trees lighthouses tunnels caves wine perth videos Comments (0)