Maragret River isn't just the place to go to for wine and fresh local produce... you've probably heard there's some pretty good surf there too. Prevally is where all the beach bums tend to hang and it's where they hold the world class surfing events, like the Drug Free Pro which is happening next week. It's a five minute drive from the centre of Margaret River and it's really beautiful.
Although be warned. Along with the pretty serious rips and currents that help create some awesome waves for locals and tourists to enjoy, you'll also have to steel your nerves, as the tales of visits from some pretty scary underwater creatures are many. Our wine tour guide, who was a pretty serious surfer too, said he went out four or five times a week at the Prevally break. Two years back, he told how a mate of his was attacked by a Great White shark about an hour after he'd gone home from catching a few waves together. Andy said his mate was paddling back out after a set and was grabbed. I asked whether he was okay and Andy just looked at me blankly and said "No chance. Dead." Yikes. He said the key is to stay in a pack and try not to be the unlucky surfer on the edge of the group. Bags not! I think I'll just watch the action from the beach.
And if you go for a little wander around the rocks, you'll see where the Margaret River meets the sea - although the inlet was closed when we were there. The white sand and aqua blue water are postcard pretty.
So if you visit the area and get a little over all the sipping and spitting at the wineries, chill out on a picnic rug with those yummo cheeses you've just bought at Prevally (and dream about becoming a millionaire so you can own a house there - starting price $2 mill. Phew!).
People tend to go to Margaret River to indulge. In food, fashion, art and of course, wine. And what were we to break with tradition? I was excited just thinking about all the delectable wonders to sample!
After driving up the beautiful Caves Road from the windy Augusta, we weren't really sure what to expect when it came to the Margaret River area. It's got a reputation for being the 'Byron Bay' of W.A and once we drove into town, we could see why. A main street filled with designer clothing shops, gourmet food stores, health food and alternative medicine practitioners and tons and tons of restaurants and cafes. So many, in fact, I wondered whether they would be able to stay open through the slower times of the year - like in winter. But I quickly learnt that Margaret River doesn't seem to have any 'slow' times anymore, with tourists flocking to the town for weekend retreats or weeks of relaxation.
The famous wineries that attract most are really spread out across the countryside, so the best way to see all the sights and taste all the flavours of the region is on some kind of tour. We booked into the Cheers wine tour and prepared ourselves for a big day. And we weren't the only ones. We ended up befriending a bunch of American girls, a Perth local and an Irish lass, all up for a day of delights, so teamed with our trim looking part-time surfer, part-time P.E high school teacher and part-time tour guide Andy, we were sure to be in for a bloody good day!
After a gourmet BBQ on the banks of Margaret River itself, with a glass of vino in hand (at 11am mind you, they don't muck around in these parts), I was having flash backs to our messy evening in a Barossa Valley caravan park...
First stop, Watershed Wines, a corporate, multi-million dollar wine producer that's floated on the stock market. The visit is worth it just to see the amazing architecture of the restaurant and cellar door, with a view out onto the vines.
Next stop Redford wines - a middle range winery that's big enough to employ cellar door staff and showcased a wine called Bin3455, which was a Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot mix. I'm no wine expert but this drop tasted more like some kind of rocket fuel that we used to make out of goon at Uni, than an award winning vintage. No sales from us here, but we were quite happy to taste away!
Venison was next, as we visited an award winning farm that sold all sorts of deer products. From handbags and hats to sausages, salami and kebabs - I was feeling for the two vegos on the bus.
Onto a small wine grower/ maker/ seller, a crazy guy called Greg from Bethany Wines who ran his own show and did everything from help pick the grapes to teach his son how to come up with a killer brew. So good a teacher he turned out to be, that in fact his son's Lost The Plot First Blush Rose wine that's infused with chili, outsells his Dad's 18-years in the making Chardonnay, 3:1. We even bought a bottle it was that good!
All that drinking obviously made Luke hungry (that's the excuse he's using anyway) for going back to the sample bowl at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory three times and piling his hand high with choccie buds - white, dark and milk. Okay, I went back three times too, but I'm blaming the frenzied atmosphere created by the bus loads of drunks.
Some marinated feta and soft-as-silk tasty cheddar at the cheese factory helped our thirst return, and what better way to quench it and finish the day, then with a paddle of six different beers at an award winning micro brewery. What time is it? Where am I? Who cares!
So thanks Cheers and our tour guide Andy (who had an uncanny resemblance to the American actor Tim Allen, from Home Improvement, lame jokes included) for that headache and empty wallet. We had so much fun!
One thing we didn't expect after driving across the treeless plain that was the Nullarbor into Western Australia, was that this state was home to some of the biggest and most beautiful trees we'd seen since Tassie. Seriously massive!
And with the Easter long weekend meaning all holiday accommodation on the coast of WA was booked out some 12 months ago - this from the girl on the phone from one caravan park, "What? A powered site? Honey, is this some kind of joke? We booked out last March. As in 2007." O-kay. No need for the attitude, just trying to get a piece of turf so the Easter Bunny can find us, that's all.
But turning inland away from the beach turned out to be one to the best things we'd done in a while (after cashing in our credit card points for petrol vouchers, that is). The Southern Forests down this way are spectacular and are home to ancient karri, tingle and marri trees that will have you looking at nature in a different way and making you feel very small in the scheme of things.
Highlights of our little forest field trip included:
-Seeing a backpackers in the main street of the town of Walpole (which is surrounded by Tingle trees) with the name Tingle All Over. Nice play on words guys, but people may have taken you a little literally from the look of your empty car park. Ewww...
- Drinking burnt coffee in a diner called De Javu in Manjimup because it was the only place in town open on Good Friday. Warning: This cafe was the only place open on Good Friday in such a small town for a reason.
-Laughing at all the places in a 200km radius that end in 'up'. Nanup, Manjimup, Kojonup, Kendenup, Nornalup, Porongurup, Daranup, Yallingup, Boyup, Quinninnup, Boyanup, Jerramungup, Ongerup, Gnowangerup... and these are but a few. No joke. Someone must have been sick of coming up with names for towns over this way so mixed a few letters around and stuck an 'up' on the end and hey, presto!
-Feeling my legs turn to jelly as Luke and I attempted to make the climb up a 61 metre Karri tree in the Gloucester National Park near Pemberton. There are three climbing trees in the area with dodgy looking metal pikes sticking out of them and a sign that warns people not to attempt the climb if they're unfit or afraid of heights. The trees used to be fire lookouts before the age of the helicopter and are free to climb - actually there's no one around at all except for testosterone infused tourists wanting to conquer the tree, but the brochures say no one has fallen in over 40 years and more than one million visitors have made the climb successfully. I should have been more honest with myself because at half way up, my legs froze and I started to sweat and had to back down to the ground and leave Luke to climb the next 30 metres on his own! But he made it and said the view from the top platform was amazing.
-Feeding the purple-crowned lorikeets and rosellas in the National Parks and at our caravan park as well. These guys were everywhere.
-And finally, being five minutes shy of getting arrested for indecent exposure after deciding to throw caution to the wind and skinny dip at Big Brook Dam. Seemed like a good idea at the time but who knew other travellers would also fancy a swim on a hot autumn afternoon and drive the windy 10km dirt track seemingly into the middle of nowhere to find the perfect spot. Just as we did our nudie dash for the shore, a bunch of people came meandering around the corner. Close. Very Close.
Yours in the great outdoors and wishing you all a very late happy Easter, Odette
PS The Easter Bunny may have gotten a little confused as to our current address (understandably, of course) but the Easter Bilby decided to jump out of the bush and deliver us more chocolate then we know what to do with! (Okay, we stinged it and went to Coles on Easter Monday and stocked up on the half price stuff. Excellent idea!)
We loved the town of Albany. But we did have one little drama shortly after we arrived... namely, Luke snapping off our internet modem and breaking it so we could no longer communicate with the outside world. Shock! Horror! What was to be done? Luckily Albany is quite a big regional town - about 25,000 call this seaside place 'home.' So that means if our computer's internet device was to break anywhere, Albany was a much better place for it to happen then say, Quorn (Population 56).
A trip to Telstra (who couldn't help us out because unfortunately warranty doesn't cover people breaking the USB stick right off. I know, we couldn't believe it either...), so we continued on to a little electronics guy who had TV's piled up around his ears. Bingo! $50 later and we had a pretty much brand-new internet connection device (if you looked past the glue and cracked cover and duct tape). Phew... No internet? That would have been as disastrous as a caravan park shower and no thongs. What a close call!
But mostly our stop over to Albany was spent at an amazing coffee house called Dome Cafe. This place is housed in the old Albany Primary School and is a cross between an American style diner that we loved in the US called Denny's, Gloria Jeans and a tiny backstreet coffee shop with all the latest magazines hanging around for you to read plus comfy leather lounges to snuggle into. We went back two days in a row.
Dome Cafe
Open daily for breakfast and lunch, from 7.am to 6.pm Monday to Friday, Thursday 7.am to 9.pm and Saturday/Sunday 7.am to 5.pm. 98 411 933
As our trip continues, we thought it was about time we gave a little update on Jefro the Kombi. The poor van seems to be getting more and more loaded up, the longer we're away and is now sporting some VERY attractive added extras. Let me explain...
As you can see from the pictures above and below, we've added a few little essentials to the top of the car.
-A 20 litre water container in case we get stuck somewhere isolated and become parched (or need a shower very badly - whatever happens first).
-A 20 litre petrol container, obviously in case we run out of juice. Luke has attractively wrapped the petrol container in a heat reflective car windscreen protector in the hope of repelling the sun (The container has a 'Keep out of direct sunlight warning' and this was the best solution we could come up with without having to sleep in car full of petrol fumes).
-A hose for Luke's now famous 'Porta-Water' TM. More on this later.
-A totem tennis set. Okay, this isn't 'essential' but it's a lot of fun when the caravan park doesn't have a games room.
Making use of every bit of space we can find, Luke bought back a piece of poly pipe and used two hose clamps from Bunnings to attach it to our rear bumper bar. Inside are our two fishing rods, ready to go! Oh, and we can't forget the 'Porta- Water,' an invention that Luke thought up and got his Dad's stainless steel factory to whip up while we were home last (yep, he bought it back on the plane...). The basic idea behind this ingenious device is that caravan parks often have one tap per site, that's miles away from where you're actually camping. So with Porta-Water, all you have to do is run a hose along the ground and stick your new stainless steel tap where ever is most convenient to you - and you now have water for cooking, drinking etc right at your door! Call Luke for orders 0414 266624.
And as you can see the kombi is in a real need of a wash. We probably cleaned up a couple of thousand insects on the crossing between South Australia and Western Australia, although with heavy water restrictions continuing across the border, Jefro might have to wear the bugs for a little while yet...
But one thing hasn't changed. We still love our good 'ol '76 van as much as the day we left and swear we've never slept better than we do snuggled up in the back. Thanks Jefro for running so well so far on our trip! Impress us even more by not breaking down again until we get home! Wee!
After spending soooo long in the car the day before crossing the Nullarbor, the two hours from Norseman to the coastal town of Esperance was a lazy Sunday drive. And we were super excited to arrive in a town that had... wait for it... a Woolworths! Grocery shopping at tiny country IGA's and Foodworks can get expensive and they often don't have much on the menu either, so Luke and I walking into Woolies to do a full food shop, was like two kids in a lolly shop, not knowing where to look first!
Esperance is gaining in popularity as a great little holiday spot and it's not hard to see why. It's still a decent seven hour drive from W.A's capital city of Perth, but they run daily flights from the capital so more and more people, we're told, are discovering this little slice of paradise. And paradise it is. The town has about 25,000 people so there's your fair share of choice when it comes to lovely coffee, fresh seafood restaurants and a great selection of arts and craft shops. But it's the natural wonders surrounding this place that make it so special.
First stop, the local wharf, where we're told one of Esperance's best natural wonders hangs out each day. And there he was, Sammy the seal, all 400 kilos of him (or there abouts), lazing around under the jetty. He doesn't seem to mind being the centre of attention but some local fisherman told us that he won't hesitate to chase tourists up the beach if they get too close with their cameras. (I can't see it happening myself... Sammy needs to lay off the hot chips with his fish)
Next up, is a drive along the Great Ocean Road tourist drive (and you don't have to drive all the way back to Victoria to do it!). The 30km loop will take you from the town centre, past the beautiful Twilight Beach, which was named 'Most Popular Beach in W.A' and really is amazing with it's aqua waters and unusual rock formations.
But nature really turns it up a notch if you drive the 60km out to Cape Le Grand National Park. You can camp out there in a number of basic National Park sites that are soooo close to the water that you might want to do your tent up extra tight at night, just in case you wake up spooning a seal. Frenchman Peak is a beauty with a 2 hour walk to the top, and we could have hung out at Lucky Bay and Thistle Cove for the next few months if we didn't have more pressing things to do...like read magazines or go for a bike ride or enjoy a cold beer. We saw emus running around but unfortunately no kangaroos lazing on the beach, which the ladies at the tourist info centre assured us happened quite regularly.
So add it to your list of places to visit - and jump on the band wagon soon before everyone over in the East discovers there's plenty of land to be developed on the coast and end up destroying the whole area in one go.
Oh and don't stay at the BIG 4 caravan park in town. We didn't notice the train track that ran pretty much directly behind our heads until 11:30pm at night when a train came hurtling down the hill to the Port. Nice.
If you're in South Australia and you want to visit, say, Perth, then there's pretty much only one sensible way to get there. Fly. But if, by chance, you're heading around Australia in a kombi and you get to Ceduna, then unfortunately flying is out of the question, so to reach Western Australia you have to drive straight. Straight across the Nullarbor Plain.
According to Wikipedia, the Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country immediately north of the Great Australian Bight. The word Nullarbor is derived from the Latin nullus for 'nothing' or 'no one' and arbor for 'tree'. And that's pretty much what's out there for about, oh, say 1197km.
It's the world's largest single piece of limestone, (impressive, huh?) and occupies an area of about 200,000 km². This said, Luke and I were understandably a little apprehensive about tackling the trip. We'd heard good and bad stories from fellow travellers, so it was with a mix of nerves and excitement that we got up super early (5:30am! Wasn't this supposed to be a holiday?) and set off into the darkness at about 6:15am.
After you leave the last South Australian town of Ceduna, it's a long 1200km before you see anything that resembles a 'town' until Norseman in W.A. So here's the few things that kept us entertained whilst driving (at about 95km per hour, mind you) across the Nullarbor.
Roadhouses These pop up every 200 kilometres or so - there's ten Roadhouses across the plain, most with accommodation and VERY expensive fuel. The most we paid was $1.91 per litre. But you've got no choice but to cough up, unless you fancy a long, long walk or a long, long wait for a tow truck. These Roadhouses also have pretty average looking accommodation (Motel rooms and powered sites for caravans and tents) and very average looking food. Fancy a week old pie from the warmer, anyone? Our tip? Take plenty of water and snacks with you. Luke couldn't do without a morning cappuccino and paid very dearly for the privilege of drinking long-life milk froth. $5.30. Ouch!
Road Signs You would have thought the Commonwealth Bank or McDonalds would have bought up all the road side space along the Nullarbor to advertise with big billboards, but the only signs you'll see along the stretch are either warnings for strange outback animals (camels, emus, kangaroos, wombats) or to let you know that there's an insanely long road coming up. Here's a few of our favourites.
Crossing the Border After about five and a half hours of driving, we finally spied the quarantine station up ahead, handed in a few apples and a jar of honey and crossed into Western Australia! Whoo, hoo!
Road Workers
When we were fishing on the jetty back in Ceduna, we met a local lady who said her husband drove the grater along the Nullarbor for council, cleaning up the sides of the road. Once he got to the W.A border, he'd simply turn around and travel back the 600km to Ceduna where he would start all over again. She said it took him more than a month each way. What a job! We saw them working away in the 37 degree heat near the Eucla Roadhouse. I hope he has an 80 gig iPod.
Amazing Scenery
Although there are stretches with no trees at all, believe it or not, there's plenty to see whilst driving the Nullarbor. The kilometers of native grasses meld into coastal scrub as you weave in and out from the ocean. And the view of the rocky cliffs that are over 90 metres high, are just a few kilometres off the side of the main highway. They're part of the Great Australian Bight National Park and are spectacular. It's like being on the end of the earth!
Road Trains
Besides the odd caravan and camper van, road trains make up the bulk of the Nullarbor traffic. These trucks are three and four trailer deep. And being in a kombi, we were overtaken by our fair share - now that's a scary experience. Having said that, when you see one on the horizon speeding towards you, we had to hold onto our seats and just hope that the kombi didn't rattle to pieces. See for yourselves!
Luke and I started out with the plan of staying overnight along the Nullarbor, midway at Eucla, but after the temperatures reached 37 degrees, we decided to keep driving into the afternoon. Next think we knew, we'd programmed the final destination town of Norseman into our Navman and decided that we'd rather try and do the whole stretch in one day than face a second day on the road. The kombi drove like a dream (although both Luke and I were sooo nervous when the car coughed and stalled at the final Roadhouse, with 200km to go). We finally arrived at Norseman Caravan Park at 8:30pm that night, after driving for 15 and a half hours. It would have been 10pm, had we not changed time zones!
Phew! A shower never felt so good! We made it!
Yours excited to be in Western Australia and oh so proud of Jefro the Kombi,
Luke and Odette are the two Tonkins and Jefro is the 1976 VW Kombi Camper. We've been planning a trip around Australia for a while now, and finally we are on our way. Let's see how long we last!
I'm Odette and I'm a busy stay-at-home mum of three littlies (Arley 6, Sage 4 and Bastian 2) and freelance writer when the house is finally quiet.
In my former life (Before Children), I worked as an editor and writer in the busy offices of Australia's top teen and tween magazines (Girlfriend, TV Hits, Total Girl and KZone) and also did stints in the PR and newsreading worlds.
Between school runs, playdough sessions and cooking endless batches of blueberry muffins, I still indulge in my love of writing by slowly chipping away at my Masters degree, writing freelance articles and scribbling down children's stories whenever I get the chance.
But right now, my husband Luke and I are breaking the routine and taking our kids on a three month road trip (we've done it all before solo www.twotonkinsinakombi.blogspot.com) towing our caravan to far north Queensland and across to the Northern Territory. We want our children to discover the beauty of Australia, to really appreciate nature and each other and to create memories that will last a life time - that's the plan anyway!
As our trip continues, we thought it was about time we gave a little update on 
Yours in the great outdoors,
