Margaret River region and southwest of WA

One of our lovely camp spots at the Mary River National Park around the Margaret River region.

I took this photo on a bush walk we done in Hamelin Bay of a red shingle backed lizard which is a member of the blue tongue lizard family... I think?

Louise up close and personal with a sting ray (you can see the shape of it just in front of Louise), many of these rays come close to the shoreline to check out the local talent.  They almost touch your feet!

Matt having a relaxing day touring the wineries, you need at least a week and a big pocket to see all the wineries.

We did sample many of the wines on offer, but, because we were toooo tight to pay $90 each for a wine tour, we opted to drive ourselves and spend the $180 we would have spent on the tour on purchasing a few bottles of vino.

So when it came to tasting the beautiful juices the grapes had to offer, we had to spit it all out into one of those spit bins, mind you some drops did accidentally slip down the back of our throats.

Another one of our camp spots in the Margaret River region, the coastline spreads over a length of 100km which you can also walk along a walking track.  We met 3 gentlemen doing the walk and they said it took them 6 days... phew!

Another camp spot along the coastline, just behind the vehicle there was cliff drop of around 100 metres. Louise made me  chock the rear wheels with some big rocks so we would not inadvertently roll back over the cliff during the night.

During the sunset there were two mad surfers all by themselves (this area is known for great white sharks) and all of a sudden a pod of Dolphins come cruising past, you can imagine the body language on these surfers when they realised it was not a shark.

This shot was taken on the beach from the campsite above.

Another shot of the coastline along the Margaret River region.

Louise at a place called Prevelly, there are some really magnificent beach towns along this stretch of coastline, if you have a cool $800K or over! - and that is cheap compared to some places.

Well hello again sailors and sailor-ettes (if there is such a word),  Matt here this time...

Louise is off shopping around all the charity stores and thanks to the idea we got from our friend BB, back in Blackpool (England) when we visited him in 2009, I am currently sitting in the Albany library trying to charge up the laptop through their power point instead of having to drag out our generator in the middle of the street and annoy all locals with the sound that comes from it.

As you can all probably guess we just finished visiting the Margaret River region and boy - was it spectacular, mind you, due to my naivety I always thought Margaret river was actually on the coastline but in reality it is situated around 20km inland... DOH! Nevertheless the coastline which stretches over 100km is to die for.

Every corner you turn there is a WOW factor and the quaint beach towns which litter the coastlines are amazing also, but, unless you have either won the lotto, or are rich,  forget it.  As with most of the costal places we have visited so far in WA, the mining boom has had its impact and if you bought into these places 10-20 years ago it would make a very nice nest egg for your retirement, but then why would you want to sell being in such a nice place to begin with?

We spent a few days just cruising up and down the region checking out all the fluorescent white sandy beaches and finding any camp spots along the way, and with soooo many wineries in the area, what would it be without a day at the vine yards.

All the cellar doors we visited were very friendly and were more than happy to run you through their wine tasting list, some of the best wineries were the boutique ones run by families, we tried a chili infused wine made by one of the owners 20 year old son - for his first time, it was spot on and we had to buy a bottle.

To have a good look around the wineries (because there are so many) you would need a very strong liver and a least a week, but we gave ourselves a day and must have visited at least 10 as well as dropping into an olive oil factory and a venison farm which we have been salivating and living off their produce for the past 3 days after purchasing so much...  Lovely!

We also managed to visit Augusta along the way and as the name of the place best describes it, it is really windy there and not much else apart from a light house where if you wanted to walk in the grounds, it would set you back $15 each! I figured we can see the Byron Bay lighthouse for free, so we can wait till then.

OK folks, I will stop blabbing on and will let you all get back to your activities and sign off until our next instalment, whereby it wil most likely include places from the south coast of WA.

Hope you are all well and thank you for taking an interest in our travels.

Lots of hugs and kisses.

Matt and Louise xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox