Kangaroos near Margaret River

Barrel Room wine tasting, Cullen Wines

Sugarloaf Rock, near Yallingup

Surfing at Gracetown

Lake Cave

Calcified waterwheel, Cape Leeuwin

Geographe Bay from Cape Naturaliste lighthouse

Meelup Beach. Geographe Bay

Blackwood River, Alexandra Bridge

Canal Rocks

Once a quiet surfing spot and service town to a prosperous farming community, Margaret River is these days the ultimate smorgasbord of good food, fine wine and spectacular coastal scenery. Margaret River emerged as WA's leading and one of Australia's top red wine producing regions in the 1980s, and as a result, is one of WA's most well known destinations. Margaret River is also an ideal base to discover the coastal scenery of WA's picturesque south-west corner.

Where is it?: Western Australia: South West Margaret River is 268 km south of Perth via the Old Coast Road and Bussell Highway.

Events:

March: Margaret River Wine Region Festival

About Margaret River

Margaret River is a town that has made itself the hub of one of the most picturesque farming regions in Western Australia. For many years it was much like dozens of other small towns in the state's South West, a support centre for farms (mostly dairy) and a thriving local timber industry. Back then, the only visitors were Perth holidaymakers attracted by the picture-postcard coastal scenery and a number of limestone show caves in the area.
The sleepy town began to awaken in the 1960s when a very astute family began to grow vines there. The vines produced a fine drop of wine and the rest, as they say, is history. Around the same time, the surfing craze had reached the West. Perth's surfing community headed south in search of the perfect wave - and found it on the near-shore reefs off the coast of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge. They discovered that the waters around the mouth of the Margaret River produces some of Australia's biggest big surf, and the waves keep rolling in for much of the year.

Together, wine and surf have turned Margaret River into one of WA's premier tourism successes. The main street has a vitality which comes from being a very attractive, trendy shopping venue, with the range of services available attracting a steady and lively custom. Conscious decisions by the local authority have led to low key development being the norm, there are no skyscrapers here. The laid back charm of the South West pretty much remains though the town has a definite up-market feel about it.
But there is more to Margaret River than wineries and surf beaches. It is at the centre of the south-west corner of the continent, and as such, the town makes the ideal base from which to explore this very attractive corner of the country. To its north, Yallingup offers great surfing and is also the home to the first of numerous underground caves, part of the cave system which works its way south to Augusta. Further south are the huge karri forests of Manjimup and Pemberton. There are many scenic drives through karri country, which are covered in wildflowers during the spring.
From the still, clear waters of Geographe Bay in the north to the Cape Leeuwin in the south where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean, the coastline which surrounds the Margaret River region on three sides is very scenic. Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste each have historic lighthouses which are open for inspection. Between them are headlands, surf beaches and rocky promontories that are fun to explore and perfect to photograph.

Regional Drives: South West Corner, WA; South Coast, WA

Caves of the Margaret River area

The south west of Western Australia has some of the thickest limestone of the Leeuwin Naturaliste Ridge, but despite this, very few large caves or extensive systems have been found, probably because there are very few streams to allow for the development of large systems. A number of caves have been lit and are open for inspection.

Yallingup Caves
Yallingup Cave, near Yallingup township and 8km west from Dunsborough, is also known Ngilgis Cave. Ngilgi is a local Aboriginal name given to the cave; a legend recounts the Dreamtime origins of the cave in terms of a vicious fight between a bad spirits that lived inside the cave and a good spirit Ngilgi who lived in the ocean. Whilst searching for stray horses, Edward Dawson discovered the cave in 1899. He began taking tourists through the cave in 1900. The tours were so popular that Caves House Hotel was built to accommodate the many visitors that would travel by horse and cart from Busselton. Today, the cave is open every day and tours are self-paced with guides available to answer questions. Visitors can view the First Chamber, the Main Chamber and the Amphitheatre. The cave is noted for its impressive Mother-of-Pearl and Oriental Shawls and the red and orange coloured Arabs Tent.

Margaret River Caves
A system of limestone caves are located in the Margaret River area, starting at Calgardup Brook and finishing at Ellensbrook. Mammoth Cave, 21km south or fifteen minutes drive from the Margaret River township, offers an ultra modern self-guided tour through the massive caverns and tunnels. Discovered by Tim Connelly around 1900, some of the most valuable fossils in the southwest were found here. The remains of a Tasmanian devil, a Tasmanian tiger and a giant kangaroo have been found inside Mammoth Cave. These species have been extinct in this part of Australia for centuries. A total of over 10,000bones were found inside the cave, some fossils over 35.000years old. Its massive cavern, unusual stone formations, newly built boardwalks and CD-ROM headsets will make your experience a safe and educational one.
Just 2km south of Mammoth Cave lies Lake Cave, the most delicate and pretty of the entire southwest caves. With its specially designed coloured feature lighting, impressive natural entrance, and boardwalks, Lake Cave is a must-see for the Margaret River Area. Its most outstanding feature is the unique, suspended table formation that was originally two massive columns joined by a sheet of calcite on the cave floor. Over time, the stream has washed away the bottom of the sheet, leaving a thin table suspended a short distance above the water. It looks spectacular reflecting in the dark, icy waters of the lake in the main cavern.

Augusta Caves
Jewel Cave, 37km south of Margaret River Township along Caves Road, contains a number of interesting crystalline formations including the Waterfall, the Organ Pipe and the worlds largest straw stalactite in a tourist cave. The mangled forms of helictites- twisted, contorted stalactites that appear to defy gravity by growing sideways and upwards will amaze you and when the lights go out you get a real feel for the isolation of this stupendous underground landscape.

Boranup lies within the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park between Caves Road and the coast, and creates a powerful contrast with the rest of the coastline. Tall pale-barked karri trees, reaching 60 metres or more high, dominate the hilly slopes and valleys. Gravel roads suitable for two-wheel-drive vehicles wind through the forest to picnic and camping spots. It's just a short walk to Boranup Lookout which gives sweeping views over the forest and the coast west along Boranup Beach to the strikingly beautiful Hamelin Bay. More >>

History: Margaret River, town and the river were named after Margaret Wyche, a cousin of the founder of Busselton, John Bussell.  The area was settled as early as the 1850’s, becoming a centre for timber cutting from the 1870’s.  By 1910, the settlement had a hostel which also doubled as a post office.
The town of Margaret River really became established after World War I with the establishment of The Group Settlement Scheme.  This was an attempt to attract migrants to Western Australia and open up the good rural land and establish a dairy industry, which attracted settlers to the town and between 1921 to 1930, over 100 settlers moved into the district. 
The group settlement scheme met with many difficulties including lack of reliable transport and its participants endured many hardships and isolation. Whilst the group settlement scheme could be described as a visionary project it failed because of inadequate planning and the poor selection of farmers who lacked training, capital and established infrastructure, inadequate assessment of the local environment and farm sizes and clearing difficulties contributed to abandonment or amalgamation of many farms.
Following the migration of surfers in the 1960s, other people who were seeking an alternative lifestyle also became attracted to the area with its green landscapes and regrowth forests. The original intention of these new arrivals was “just to be”, to plant trees and live a subsistence lifestyle, an existence made easier by cheap rents in the area in the 1970s.  These Utopian seeking families soon established a permanent presence in the community and transformed the landscape through alternative and creative industries such as value adding to the existing dairy industry, establishing art and craft galleries and introducing alternative building method including rammed earth and mud brick. 
The 1960s saw the beginnings of  the current commercial wine and gourmet produce industry that, more than anything has put Margaret River on the world map. Its climate of lower summer temperatures, higher rainfall, minimum frost and hail risk and much lower ripening period cloudiness make it ideal for viticulture.
The region owes its wine beginnings to Dr. John Gladstone who, in 1965, wrote a report, following the decline of the wine industry in the Swan Valley, suggesting that the cooler climate of the State's south-west region should be considered for growing vines. The first vineyard was established by Dr. Tom Cullen in 1967. The winery's name- Vasse Felix - recalls Thomas Timothe Vasse, a sailor on the French ship Naturaliste who was swept away from his companions in nearby Geographe Bay on 8th June 1801. Whether he died there in a welter of sand and water, or staggered ashore to be cared for (or killed) by Aborigines, Vasse’s fate was tragic enough for an unknown hand to record in the log of a later French visit to Geographe Bay, “Unhappy Vasse!”. Dr. Cullity attuned to history but hopeful that his vineyard would enjoy a better fate, called it Vasse Felix; Happy Vasse.
A further 46 vineyards being established during the following 25 years as the demand for table wines in Australia steadily increased. By the mid 1990’s Margaret River wines held 20% of the premium Australian wine market despite producing only 0.56% of Australian Wine. Margaret River is now one of the most sought after tourist destinations for its wineries, surf, galleries, gourmet foods and restaurants.