Margaret River Part 2

Day 2 of having a little car so we headed south along the coastal road down to Augusta and Cape Leeuwin. First stop was Hamelin Bay. In this bay you can normally see Eagle Rays along the shallows of the waters edge, however, on our visit the weather has started to come in and the beach was blown out, very rough, full of seaweed and too churned up to see any rays. From there we headed to Augusta, the south western tip of Australia. From here it's a short, scenic 9km drive to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, which is the most south-westerly point of Australia. 

    The lighthouse provides a vital link to the navigational and meteorological networks in Australia.

Normally you can climb the limestone lighthouse, however, it was under repair when we were there. None the less it was worth the visit to see where the mighty Indian and Southern Oceans meet.

We were there on a calm day on the water, however, overcast and very windy on the land.

 None the less the area was spectacular in it's remoteness.

Nearby is the historical waterwheel built in 1895 to supply water to the lighthouse cottages. It was originally built from timber and has since fully calcified, giving the appearance of ancient stonework.

This was very interesting day touring the southern most area of WA.

Our last day in MR and we were greeted by this -

    Rain, rain and more rain

Lucky for us we booked a tour of the wineries for this day as it was supposed to be the worst weather day and it lived up to its predictions. This was not going to worry us as we were picked up about 10 by the Margaret River Winery and Brewery Tour and were driven all over the area to wineries, an unreal distillery, olive oil and condiments factory, chocolate factory and a unique brewery called Cheeky Monkey.  All tastings are pre- booked so we were looked after everywhere we went, much better than rocking up to a winery for tasting on your own. Lunch was served at a winery called Knottinghill, not after the town in England but rather for the unique way they tie up their vines.

    Knottinghill  Winery, bet you can't guess which direction the wind is coming from. The water behind us is a man made lake that the owners dug out themselves to supply water to their vines as well as add ambience to their winery. 

Bush tucker is served with lots of bush limes, tomatoes, smoked kangaroo and much more to choose from, very yummy. 

One of the highlights was visiting the distillery where the owner/manager was an unusual but very entertaining man with loads of character. The pic below might give you some insight into his sense of humour.

 

As you walk along the pathway over the bridge into the distillery the caption on the tree reads -' Caution drop beers in tree above'.

A closeup of the Bears.

We tasted lots of wine, oils, vinegars, cheese, chocolate, ciders and the yummiest of ports including chocolate ports and liqueurs made from butterscotch snaps etc, OMG  we rolled home about 6 pm after a very interesting, exhausting but most of all fun day. By the way we bought heaps of stuff.

Margaret River is a beautiful region and a must visit at some stage.