Okay so forewarning I’ve been drinking a lot of expensive Margaret River wine before writing this!
We checked out of our accomodation (air bnb escape hatch in Margaret river – would stay again) before we 10am and headed to the chocolate factory for delicious fresh waffles for breakfast. There are lots of in town options if you prefer! Brumby’s, the town bakery, the other town bakery, the mosaic cafe to name a few!
We then drove another 25ish kms to Ngilgi (pronounced Ni-lgi) cave. This came up in my research as a hidden gem – not as big as the main show caves but lots of hidden pathways and you can go the whole way to the bottom! We pre-booked. B says “pretty cool, I was impressed”. I say that I was not expecting to be able to do the 370 steps up and back but I managed it due to the number of rest points!
After Ngilgi Cave we headed to Cape Naturaliste with a stop off at Sugarloaf Rock sightseeing point (best at sunset apparently). It was still cool to look at in the day time and less busy.
After visiting the rock we paid $15 each to do the lighthouse tour. This was prebooked which turned out to be lucky as it filled up. We were able to learn the history of the area and climb up to the viewing platform (approx (59 very narrow and steep steps). Everyone went very slow up the stairs so it was not obvious I was limping at this point!
At 2:15pm we left Cape Naturliste and headed to Injidup Spa and Resort about 25 mins back towards Yallingup. This is an ADULT ONLY resort (they take that seriously) with 10 private villas that all have ocean view decks and plunge pools. Ummm it’s a bit amazing! We are so far very impressed. You are near other villas (shared walls) but you can’t really tell.
We checked in at 3pm, had a massage from 3:30-5pm then had a grazing platter and complimentary bottle of wine while watching the sunset in our private pool and deck.
Today we started the day by attempting to visit Gnarabup Beach. That was an epic fail as both the car park and over flow car park were totally full and people were illegally parking everywhere. Apparently 35C heat + a mask mandate means everyone goes to the beach! We gave up and went to Cheeky Monkey Brewing Company for lunch. Our review was basically visit for the beer, not the food. We had a quesadilla and fried chicken and both were below average.
After the brewery we visited the Margaret River Chocolate Company again to try out truffles. Then we also visited their attached cellar door and and the well known Providore shop where we sampled some delicious wine and chocolate liquer as well as purchasing some tasty looking meat rubs and candied nuts.
After a nap, we headed off to Arc of Iris for dinner which comes highly recommended on all the food review sites. I was glad we booked as even though they weren’t very busy, only bookings got to sit inside. Even with the aircon on (2 split systems) the number of people and the open kitchen meant it was very warm in the restaurant. We ended up skipping dessert and another drink as it was so hot. B had the ribs and I had the steak, both were very good.
Tomorrow we check out of our air bnb and then have a day off sightseeing before we check into the next accomodation. I have booked Ngilgi Cave and Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse but may not be able to do either with how bruised and swollen my knee is from my tumble the other day. Either way, B can tourist for both of us!
Today initially intended to have breakfast at the Margaret River Bakery (directly opposite our accomodation) however the line was literally in the car park and I wasn’t waiting that long. We went next door to the very cute Mosaic Cafe which had perfectly good breakfast snacks and coffee….and no line!
The we headed off for a 30 min drive to Canal Rocks. Now, Canal Rocks was not on my original list of things to do as it has been closed for long periods over the last few years due to extensive storm damage. I saw on a travel page late last night some recent photos and it seems open so I thought we could try! Thousands of years of the Indian Ocean surging and crashing against this section of granite coastline has chiselled out a narrow channel between the granite rocks. A short boardwalk has been built to cross on to the rocks and you can climb around on them.
We got there around 10:40am so it was fairly quiet but by the time we climbed back an hour later it was getting busy and passing people on the boardwalk was squishy.
B went full mountain goat and climbed all the way out, I took it a lot slower (and utilised the help of a dad who was getting his 5yo daughter across) but made it most of the way! Well, until literally the last 5 metres back to the boardwalk when I slipped and bashed my knee.
Suggestions for Canal Rocks:
⁃ wear sneakers rather than thongs. You can do it in thongs but once you get to the end you will feel more comfortable on the rocks in sneakers. There is nowhere to swim here (just a little bit of an area to paddle around the rocks) so we left our thongs in the car and bath swapped shoes in the car park
⁃ If you are not willing to climb on the rocks the boardwalk is very short and you’ll end up sort of standing on a small rock, blocking everyone’s way. So be prepared to either climb on then or go back to avoid bottle necks
⁃ Be prepared for sun. So much sun. Haha this is Australia in summer so slip, slop, slap!
⁃ There is a public toilet here and a fairly large car park so lots of space
Canal Rocks is only a 4 min drive past iconic Smith’s Beach so we stopped there for a dip on the way back. It was a very nice looking beach but we both agreed we preferred Hamelin Bay yesterday.
Driving back towards Margaret River along Caves Road there were a few wineries so we stopped in at Vasse Felix (the oldest winery in the region) for a cellar door tasting. B liked the wine so much he bought a whole bunch to take home! It’s a beautiful venue and one day we will have to return to try their award winning restaurant.
We snuck into the Margaret River Bakery before it shut at 2pm for a snack – the bacon toastie was pretty good but we agreed not worth waiting an hour in the crazy line from this morning.
We then got changed and headed off to Passel Estate, a small family owned winery who also dedicate part of their land to western ringtail possum rehabilitation after bushfires. We paid for an experience where we got to your the vineyard, see the possum rehab area, have cheese and wine and recorded a complimentary bottle as well as donating a chunk of the ticket to their possum rehabilitation program. We got a bonus extended tour further into the bush to see some 200+ year old grass trees as well!
Dinner tonight was some chocolate from Margaret river chocolate company and B ate some cheese from the dairy farm. I was full from the delicious cheese platter at Passel Estate!
P.S. The mask mandate is back as of last night and applies to us so we have been wearing those indoors (as required) but they are not required outside.
Ah, glorious sleep ins with no dogs waking us up in search of breakfast.
Initially we were going to go on a bit of an adventure today to Boranup Forest and Hamelin Bay but the weather was very overcast so instead we decided to visit some attractions closer to town and see what the clouds did. This had the double advantage of me also keeping my poor, sad, day 2 sunburn indoors to start off with.
We started the morning at Margaret River Chocolate Company. You best believe chocolate samples for breakfast was a thing! I do remember coming here both with my primary school camp 20+ years ago and with some friends around 2005ish – the building certainly stands out as distinct. The fresh banana waffles were delicious.
After the chocolate factory, we headed to the Margaret River Dairy Company. I’ve actually never been here before and didn’t know much about it but on arrival, realised we regularly buy their Camembert cheese at our local shops. While there we learnt that they still practice traditional cheese making approaches from back in the 1800s and also bought a cheese sample pack. I had to have my photo taken with the “cow-ntess” of course!
After stocking up on chocolate and cheese, we returned to the holiday apartment. We decided that the clouds looked like they were going away so changed into bathers and drove the 30 mins south to Hamelin Bay which is a gorgeous beach. There were amazing rock formations (geology nerd here) and wild stingrays that came in to the shallows for pats and treats! It was a bit windy so there were not heaps of stingrays but enough I got some photos and had a little touch before I panicked and moved away haha. The stingrays usually only come in if it is calm so they were a bit skittish and hard to photograph.
On the way back from Hamelin Bay we were going to stop at the Boranup Forest lookout but this was completely closed (both viewing stations) due to the recent bushfire. The drive through the area was very sad as we saw all the burnt out areas and closed off roads that went for kilometres.
We stopped at Xanadu Winery on the way back into Margaret River and they were hosting a Sunday session! There was wine tastings, snacks, wine by the glass, live music and outdoor games for people to play. We did a tasting, bought some wine and enjoyed the shade for awhile. I also patted ALL THE DOGS so once again, dogs win over people.
Dinner tonight was only a 2 min walk and was at the highly recommended La Scarpetta Trattoria. Again, I booked ahead using their online booking system since I wasn’t sure how busy this time of year gets down here – while we were there they turned multiple people away so booking ahead was a good call! This is not the cheapest place to eat ($30 a main) but the food was fresh and tasty.
A note before we get started: CARRY YOUR SUNSCREEN WITH YOU IN WA SUMMERS. I am so very sunburnt today.
We started out at 8am to ensure we beat the traffic and had time to wander around Busselton foreshore before our jetty train trip to the underwater observatory. We have both been to Busselton before but don’t really remember it as it was many years ago….and we had never been on the jetty train!
The drive from Perth was about 2hrs 40 mins and we arrived with plenty of time so had some nibbles and drinks at the Shelter Brewing Company. It did seem very decadent to enjoy a cider and a beer at 10:30am. Normal people would sit there and “people watch” but I dog watched instead….so many dogs! The views around the brewery and foreshore are lovely. We didn’t go in the water (a bit cold) but there were lots of kids swimming in the enclosed beach net and jumping off the platforms.
The jetty train (return trip) and underwater observatory tour cost was $36 each to prebook online. The trips going out there still had a few tickets left when we arrived but as it’s school holidays and summer, they were very close to full. The train is electric and solar powered – very cool. It takes you the length of the jetty (1.8kms) with a little commentary about the local area as you travel. At the other end of the jetty is the underwater observatory which is one of only six in the world.
When you get off the train you head inside for your observatory tour. I felt this part was a bit unorganised while we were there – the guide kept telling everyone to be quiet and stay with her as we circled down but there wasn’t enough space on each landing as the tour had so many people so neither kids or adults were listening to her. We ended up staying at the back of the group and just coming down one level at a time behind them. It is very interesting to learn about the artificial reef and how it attracts the fish, you also get to see the fish swimming around and how they change as the levels change while looking through viewing windows. They told us there is a “special needs” seal who sometimes comes and says hello but we didn’t get to see her.
They give you an hour at the observatory but even if you stop at every level and look at each window it won’t take that long. We ended up with 40 mins left so walked up to the end of the jetty for some photos and then waited to catch the train back. Quite a few people from our train opted to walk back the 1.8kms rather than wait ages but I had forgotten sunscreen so we just waited in the shade instead.
We then headed onwards to Margaret River! We stopped at Candy Cow in Cowamarup (a town which embraces its name through the placement of SO MANY GIANT COW STATUES around the place) and bought some snacks while cow-spotting just a few of the 42 life sized fibreglass cows in the local herd.
We are spending the first few nights at an air bnb at Margaret’s Forest Holiday Apartments right in the centre of town. Even though it’s in the town centre, it’s surrounded by bush and is very quiet. There are two balconies we can sit on to enjoy nature (and wine) as well as a fully self contained kitchen. The pricing was very reasonable at $149 a night.
Dinner tonight was prebooked at “Morries” which came highly recommended for their tapas selection and cocktails. Morrie’s was about a 9 min walk from our accomodation at the “other end” of the town strip. They were full (Saturday night) so I was glad we had booked and they also have a 2hr window to be aware of. We tried 4 of their cocktails between us and they were all very good – properly made and no “glossing over” the alcohol amounts. We also tried 4 different tapas dishes and our thoughts are below. We give this place an 8/10 and would return. Bs only issue was the pork belly and mine was the same issue at every place down here – which is they are seriously understaffed so service is a bit of a disaster.
Croquettes: mmmm cheesey melty goodness
Pork belly: the sauce was nice but the pork belly bites were a little dry
Beef cheeks: this dish was melt in your mouth delicious
White chocolate brownie dessert: even with a GF brownie this was still pretty good
Pending Covid 19 restriction changes (thanks naughty backpackers who brought delta back in) we are off to Margaret River in the southwest of WA for a week later this month!
We are spending 4 nights in a lovely little air bnb unit at Margaret’s Forest Holiday Apartments in town where we plan to do all our touristing. It’s about 200m from Settlers Tavern so very central.
We then move and stay 3 nights at Injidup Retreat and Spa which is a 10 villa, adults only retreat where each villa has a private plunge pool and view of the ocean! I had to book 6 months ago to get a vacancy. This will be the relaxing part of our trip with lots of eating, wine, enjoying the view and a few massages booked in.
My list of things I would like to try and do in the Margaret River and Busselton region is lengthy….so we won’t get through everything. I’m hoping we can do half though:
Visit Settlers tavern
Busselton – burnt ends rib co and the Beer Farm
Swings and roundabouts winery – swings and stories wine tasting and platter
Busselton jetty and centre. I want to go on the train!!!
Eat at some of the recommended Margaret River “in town” eateries including : el Toro restaurant, Morries, Arc of Iris, La Scarpetta Trattoria, Margaret river bakery and Egberts
A cave tour (B has never done one)
Cape naturaliste lighthouse tour
Sugarloaf rock – sightseeing point
Winery tour – already booked, includes Yallingup cheese company. It was only an extra $50 to do a private tour so that’s what I went with
Visit Cowamarup and get photos with the cows
Boranup lookout – sightseeing point
Boranup maze (I think this may have been renamed but it still seems to exist)
Hamelin bay beach – stingrays
Margaret river sculpture park
Margaret river chocolate company
Margaret river dairy company
Injidup natural spa – sightseeing point
Passel estate wines – they do great things for possum rehabilitation in the region, save the possums!
Well – it’s been awhile! Long story short Covid 19 has obviously put a stop to pretty much all interstate and international travel. In the midst of border closures and changing quarantine requirements across Australia in 2021 we moved back to Perth (from the ACT) and have settled back here permanently. Hooray! We also lost one of our beloved furry family member Jet to cancer and later adopted a new furry baby named Sasha (pictured below).
On to the touristy blog post….for Christmas in 2021, Bs nana gave us tickets to visit the bell tower in Perth. She particularly wanted us to visit the Anzac Bell which has a lot of significance to her. i had never seen the bell as it was only installed in 2018 and I do think it’s kinda cool she was there the day they installed it and got to give it a hug and have photos with it.
For those who don’t know what the bell tower is….it’s basically a giant tower filled with bells which was built by the government when I was in primary school. I haven’t been to visit it since my first year of high school when entry used to be free! So more than twenty years ago now.
The bell tower is located on the recently rebuilt Elizabeth quay area (right in the middle) which is pretty fly looking these days. We enjoyed a drink and a little wander along the river before heading in with our prepaid $10 general entry tickets. Masks are mandatory here at the moment so as you can see, we were all masked up.
The bell tower has 6 levels. We walked up the stairs but there is a small lift. A few of the levels have some interesting info about bells, time and the tower to read and learn.
We walked up each level and spent some time on the observation deck at the top.
Not my best photo ever! It was 40C and I was struggling in the heat
The Anzac bell only rings at a specific time (midday) on 4 days of the week. We moved on to level 4 about 10 mins beforehand to get a good spot. It rang for around 1 min and it was impressive to watch.
After visiting the bell tower (which took an hour in total) we walked about a kilometre up the road and had Tony Roma’s for lunch. Yum!
Things to be aware of:
There is a cost to enter starting from $10 and going up to $50 ish for tours
We went on a day it wasn’t busy, I can imagine it gets quite crowded in there and holy crap was it hot! Worth being aware of before you go
The bells only ring at certain times on certain days, check the website before visiting
There are lots of places to eat, have a drink and sit on the river nearby
I have been lobbying B to stay here since it first opened in 2014 but he’s always said no because the cost is….to be blunt….totally insane. He finally agreed given we have had to cancel all our other travel this year and I have had some extra unexpected income recently which paid for half of it.
Jamala Wildlife Lodge is based at Canberra Zoo. They have a variety of accomodation but I’ve always wanted to stay in a “jungle bungalow” which is approx $2000 a night. I told you….the pricing is totally bonkers! Their website says “The Jungle Bungalows are luxurious individual suites adjoining a variety of enclosures throughout the property. A glass wall is all that will separate you from a pride of lions, cheetahs, tiger or a Malayan sun bear! Regardless of whether you are relaxing in your lounge area, resting in bed or taking a leisurely bath, you will only be a heartbeat away from these amazing creatures. All rooms feature king beds, bath robes, indulgent bath tubs, optional climate control, complimentary wireless internet, music system with MP3 input, television with complimentary Foxtel and premium TV.”
So, we booked in for a night during the September school holidays. They sent us a lot of information beforehand and were very responsive to queries. The schedules they use at the moment are slightly adjusted due to covid 19 but this was our pre-prepared schedule! We also added two extra experiences to this – giraffe encounter and white lion feeding – which were booked in on day 1.
We arrived at 1pm to check in and were provided with afternoon tea at the Ushaka Lodge which was delicious. The lodge has a beautiful view over the local land and there were also some lemurs just….hanging out. Jamala provide a self guided tour for the afternoon session but we headed off on our own tour as there was giraffe feeding to be done! We fed Shabu the male giraffe and also got to meet his lady friend and 1 year old calf.
After the giraffe feeding, we met the zoo staff at one of the gazebos and collected our bungalow keys. For most people this meant from 3-7pm they hang out in their bungalow with their animals. We took a brief detour on the way back to the bungalow to feed Jake the white lion, and meet his sister Mishka.
After feeding Jake the very hungry (and demanding!) white lion with his keeper Ryan – the zoo owners son – we headed to Jungle Bungalow 5 with Mya and Melita the toddler tiger twins! I was a teeny, tiny bit excited when we walked in to this….hi there 2 year old 120kg tiger friend!!
When we were in the bath they mostly laid here and watched us….or wrestled each other!
We settled in with a bubble bath, watching tigers wrestle/nap and some champagne to tide us over until dinner. Just before 7pm we were collected and taken to the rainforest cave for dinner alongside the white lions and hyenas. The dinner and drinks were all included and the food was mostly very good – B got unlucky with a not so great steak but mine was delicious – and the paired drink options were all good quality. I haven’t been so full in ages!
This collage shows some of the afternoon tea snacks on day 1, dinner canapés + main + dessert and our breakfast choices the next day!
After dinner, they drive you back to hang out and watch your animal friends some more before you tuck in for bed next to them!
Our morning tiger view
We then woke up to sleepy tigers quite early (6:30am!) and some small pastries before heading off on an animal tour and feeding experience. We got to see dingos howl, monkeys use tools, lemurs wrestle for snacks and learn about how they are combating the rhino horn trade.
After the tour, we had breakfast (more delicious food in the rainbow cave) followed by another 90 mins of hanging out with our tiger friends and people watching because this time…we could see all the people looking into the enclosure from the viewing spots! they had privacy barriers up from 3pm the day before but they do warn you they take them down in the morning.
Verdict
A few people on Facebook asked me “was it worth the money?”. I think the answer to this has a few parts. First of all, there are not many (f any) places with this level of experience and accomodation in Australia. So choices are limited. It’s also in very high demand, usually getting in during school holidays is pretty dang hard to do! There is also the aspect here of this particular facility being wholly privately owned and funded and the work they do is amazing….we feel it’s worth paying the premium to support such a dedicated organisation and staff.
Secondly, it’s definitely not an every day thing. We had 2 overseas trips planned this year and haven’t gone on either which is how I was able to convince B to even consider this amount for one night lol. So when asking was it worth it, B said he felt it was a fantastic one-off experience that was worth doing but not something we would repeat.
Finally, we chose to go top tier with the experience on advice from others. There are rooms at the lodge for approximately $1200 a night and the giraffe treehouse is $1500 a night. The advice we had from people who had stayed in these rooms was if you’re only doing it once….go all out. Geez, I am glad we listened!
Last weekend we went out to try Biggies BBQ in Wamboin, NSW. It’s about a 35 minute drive from our house on the north side of Canberra. It’s literally about 5 minutes past the ACT/NSW border which is why i am still counting it as Canberra!
The location for Biggies BBQ is at Norton Road Wines which is a gorgeous location. It seems they do weddings and events as well. We booked for lunch at 12:30 and arrived a little early to sit at the tasting area and taste some wines. They mostly specialise in reds and we ended up buying a rose and a Pinot noir from them.
Then it was BBQ time! There are very few – if any – places left in Canberra that do southern BBQ these days so B was very excited. I thought the brisket and pork belly were AMAZING but the ribs were not tender enough for my taste. We will definitely return though! This platter was $50 and we added the Mac and cheese for an extra $5 . They also serve local beers.
I was so excited to see my fur babies again today!
Our trip home was a bloody long one! It’s always challenging coming home/going to Niseko due to the Japan domestic travel legs but because we were flying Air Asia it was even longer than usual. On the plus side, the flat beds were once again very comfortable and I had no knee issues because we didn’t spent 12-15hrs in economy.
We left our lovely Freedom Inn hosts with a parting Australian gift of caramello koalas. While we love this accomodation, I am not sure if we will ever return. The large attraction here for B is that you have access to Hanazono lifts early every day and there is very little accomodation on this side of Niseko so its super quiet until around 11am….however as of yesterday a GIANT Park Hyatt hotel has opened on this side of the resort. That, combined with the increase in smaller accomodation venues nearby, means those quiet lift days will be long gone as Hanazono just doesn’t have the infrastructure to support an influx of that many people. It’s just so pretty though! And I really like the small, no drunken idiots feel they accomplish most of the time.
We departed Freedom Inn for Sapporo using a 2hr private transfer as the coach was going to be problematic in terms of timing. It cost a fair bit more than the coach but the stress was hugely reduced around making flights etc. The transfer dropped us at Sapporo’s New Chitose airport and then we flew on a domestic JAL flight to Osaka.
We accessed the public landside lounge there and it was great for a few hours rest while we waited for the air Asia checkin to open. I really wanted to buy duty free in Osaka (ummm hello sake and umeshu!) but had read a lot of things online saying Australian laws now say it will be confiscated if you are transiting in between where you buy it and your Australian destination. Dammit. I used our 6hr stop over here to sit on hold to NRMA insurance in Australia as both our cars have been damaged in a hail storm back home. I did eventually get through. Position 20 was a great improvement from the day before where I was position 189 and the wait time was over 16000 minutes.
From Osaka we flew with flat beds to KL overnight, then had a brief stop before we transited on to Sydney. The air Asia lounge at KL is pretty shit, we highly recommend the SamaSama lounge if you can afford the $30AUD. You get bette power point access, free food and more comfortable chairs. Plus better toilet and shower facilities. This time around we stuck to our included air Asia lounge access since it was only a short stop over. We also got some duty free here – yummy umeshu (plum wine)!
At Sydney we had planned to try something new. Because our flight got in just as the last flight to Canberra for the day left, we were faced with an overnight stay and then an early flight the next day (lots of $$$) or the 11pm bus which meant a 3 hr wait, then a 3hr bus trip and then a 40 min Uber ride home at 2am. Ergh. So we were going to give RoadJet a go. Basically a private car picks you and your luggage up in Sydney and drives you to your house in Canberra. I booked and paid for it about 3 months ago and they have been great with checking in with me beforehand, reassuring me about road closures due to the fires etc. However when we landed, I got an email telling me our hire car in Canberra had been cancelled and there were literally NO HIRE CARS left within two hours of Canberra. So we cancelled road jet at the last minute, hired a car at Sydney airport for 3 weeks and drove 3hrs home.
We finally arrived home just before 1am this morning. Our next few days will be filled with continuing to sort out insurance as it seems there is a good chance both our cars are likely to be write offs….but at least no bushfires came through!
Mel's Travel Blog 