Dunsborough, Yallingup, Margaret River

West Australian Christmas Bush by the roadside

The colours of the westcoast are to be seen to be believed. Yes, at Osprey Bay at Cape Range National Park I was already very impressed with the clearness of the ocean, the abundance of creatures in the water and now I am even more impressed with the variety of shades of turquoise and blues that are reflected from the beaches and the white sands on the local beaches along this fabulous coastline around Dunsborough and Yallingup that we drove down to from the current campground.

Jo and I with Geographe Bay as a backdrop

"Meelup Beach" does stand out with vivid water colours and even though its Christmas Holidays time, not really crowded either.


Views from Meelup Beach

The biggest town in the area is obviously Busselton with around 35 000 people living there. There is a large industrial area and all the big stores like Woollies and Coles the most obvious ones with their large parking lots.
Dunsborough, about 25km further along the coast, by comparison is much smaller, but also spacious and well laid out, lots of flowers on the round abouts, everything ship shape and clean. Both towns are at the southern most end of "Geographe Bay" (named by french explorers) and because of this, are facing north rather than west and are therefore protected from the prevailing south-westerly winds by the headland that stretches further west to "Cape Naturaliste". The waters in that part of the bay are unusually calm due to this. Once I drive on from Cape Naturaliste, after visiting the Lighthouse that was completed in 1903, the bays facing west again, it becomes apparent that there is quite a bit of surf running.

Facing west, just south of Yallingup

There are more than 100 wineries in this part of WA all the way down to Margaret River and beyond. The wines produced here are all excellent, probably also to do with the large deposits of limestone in the ground. There are also over 300 caves in the area, many open for visitors. We check out Ngilgi Cave, quite a large and very deep cave which has been an attraction since the early 1900s. It has electric lighting throughout, the visitors are not led by a guide, instead we can wander at our own pace into the depth and around the various sights.

We drive on down to Margaret River and visit the Leeuwin Estate winery for a nice lunch and a glas of their Semillon. A nice treat on a beautiful day to be in such nice surroundings.

Today is Christmas Day, a good opportunity to just rest and enjoy the day. A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU!