This is an updated travel experience to Margaret River covering two trips; trip 1 was in March 2019 and trip 2 was in December 2019. Trip 1 was 4 adults and 3 children (2.5 years – 5 years) and trip 2 was with 2 adults and a 3 year old. Trip 2 could easily have been with the same group as in trip 1.
Transport
We took a plane from Singapore to Perth and rented a car in Perth airport.
Reason
Margaret River has everything; amazing beaches with beautiful azure blue sea both for the surfer and sun seeker. World class wine and vineries, beer and food. Shopping and magnificent nature and people are so kind and welcoming.
Itinerary
Driving from Perth airport to Margaret River takes approx. 3 hours. When having driven for 1.5 hours stop at The Crokked Carrot for coffee, snack and play ground.
Accommodations:
Glamping
We booked Glamping tents through http://www.wildgoosecamping.com.au, which was set up at http://tauntonfarm.com.au. We choose the farm for the child friend activities such as a giant jumping pillow and daily animal feeding. The canvas glamping tents were very nice with real comfortable beds, covers and blankets. The décor was also lovely – as we would say in Danish “hyggelig”. Wild Goose Glamping provided cooking utensils. Luckily we brought warm clothes since it was cold in the evenings and at night.
Airbnb with a view
After 3 days of Glamping during trip 1 we went to our next location an Airbnb in Yallingup (the house is called breathtaking view @ Yallingup). A house with an amazing view of Yallingup bay and at the same time very well equipped with rooms for all of us. The house was ½ hour drive from our Glamping tents, but surprisingly it was a lot warmer in the evenings by the ocean.
Holiday house (Location, location, location)
The surfside house faces the parking lot in Yallingup. It can seem negative that unit faces the parking lot, but surprisingly it was not. In December the sun rises at 5 o’clock and it was nice waking up to the surfers preparing for their morning on the water. Idyllic morning yoga at 7 o’clock on the grass area in front of the beach (a Christmas holiday activity) and a fantastic playground as well. Great coffee not to be forgotten. We could not ask for more.
We only have positive things to say about Yallingup since the playground gave us hours of fun. We bought breakfast and lots of coffee at Shaana’s. Wednesday Shaana only serve takeaway. Everything is closed on December 25 and December 26.
The last night for trip 1 we spend at Scarborough Beach. We really liked the area with beach, playground and climbing.
For trip 2 we spend the last night at Tradewinds Hotel in Fremantle. It is a little out of Fremantle but it is a new and clean. Since we were driving the location it did not matter. We had lunch in Fremantle at Moore & Moore Cafe. Highly recommendable. We enjoyed dinner and the view at Bib & Tucker in North Fremantle overlooking the beach.
In the area we went to the following food/beverage places:
Cheeky Monkey Brewery & Cidery – we choose the place for its playground. Very family friendly ambience. Despite the brewery name it is also possible to do wine tasting. We really enjoyed this place. .
At Providorewe bought nice wine, snacks etc.
Margaret River Chocolate Company is not to be missed. A woods in the back are fun to play in. We ate the chocolate we bought too fast and should have bought more!
The grounds of Watershed Premium Winesand the wine tasting building are just beautiful. The winery has a small playground which the kids enjoyed. The lunch was very nice and healthy as well as their chardonnay.
Swings & Roundabouts Winery has a big lawn with games, balls to play with etc. They make great firewood pizza and the adults also enjoyed the wine.
Aravina Estate is also a nice place to bring family. The fine dining can satisfy the adults and the playground will give the children a lot of fun. Aravina Estate has an impressive surf gallery with a vintage sports car collection.
Petra Olive Oil Estate was only open during trip 2 and we bought nice olive oil. We also got to see the kangaroos that’s roaming the estate.
We went to Barnyard1978 Food Wine Honey Store for coffee and cake, but we could easily have eaten lunch there. It is possible to taste the honey before buying which we enjoyed. They are also selling homemade pasta and tomato sauce which we cooked ourselves and it was amazing. There is also a small playground.
Cullen wine a biodynamic vinery with a restaurant. We only bough very nice wine. Trying the restaurant is on our want to go list.
We also stopped at Thompson Estate for very good wine. The tasting is in a very lovely authentic tasting room.
We had lunch at Rustico at Hay Shed Hill Wines. Lovely tapas in very nice setting overlooking the vineyards.
Goanna Gallery & Buch Café is hiding in authentic bushland and is service amazing breakfast and lunch. Small play area for children.
We were lucky to come by Yallingup Woodfired Bakery and bough their last sourdough bread in their morning batch. We were told that they were baking again for 3 pm but they would sell out very quickly.
We could have visited many more winery and lunch places in Margaret River that we did not have time visit. Despite having been 2 times in 2019 we will for sure go back to Margaret River. It is truly and amazing region.
Sightseeing in the area:
Ngiligi Caves was interesting to visit, but due to my age I did not get much out of the visit.
Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse was under construction when we visited but it was worth the trip since we combined it with lunch at Bunker’s Bay Beach House. Bunker Bay is an amazing beautiful beach.
Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is also worth a visit. On our way back to Yallingup we stopped at beautiful Hamelin Bay and stopped for lunch at White Elephant café overlooking Gnarabup beach.
Busselton train and playground are also hours of entertainment for small children since the train ride took 45 minutes. The jetty is 1.7 km long and the train is very slow. We had lunch at the Equinox Restaurant, which we cannot recommend but we also got used to very high standards at the wineries in Margaret River.
What makes Margaret River so special? We agree that it has something for the entire family to enjoy it a truly family inclusive area.