Yallingup and Margaret River

After a relaxing few days enjoying Perth – shopping, sunbathing, surfing (badly), playing tennis and few fun nights out! – Anne-Marie and I drove down to Yallingup, a small seaside village to the north of the Margaret River region. This region is famous for its wines and gourmet foods. We spent a fun day visiting a range of wineries and sampling a variety of wines, some of which were absolutely delicious and only available from the cellar door. We also visited a chocolate factory, which was pretty much my idea of heaven!

The region is also famous for its surf, both at Yallingup and especially at Prevelly, where international surfing competitions are held. Unfortunately it was a very still, humid day, and there was not a single ripple on the sea, so decidedly unimpressive! The following day was sunnier and breezier though, and as we wandered along the beach at Yallingup the ocean was definitely gearing up for some bigger waves. Walking back up the dunes towards the village, we encountered a rather large, brown snake across our path – a little bit scary and a reminder that we were in Australia, not Cornwall!

On our way back to Perth, we visited Bunker Bay, a beautiful north-facing beach sheltered by Cape Naturaliste from the brunt of the ocean waves and therefore perfect for swimming. As we sunbathed and swam, we noticed the only two other people on the beach were pointing out to sea and realised that there were humpback whales frolicking out in the bay! The whales were only a couple of hundred metres from the shore, breaching, spouting water and waving their flippers, so exciting to see these huge animals in their natural environment! We then climbed up to the lookout point on the cliffs at the Cape and were able to see the whales from above, as well spotting seals basking on the rocks beneath us. Anne-Marie then kindly informed me that if there were whales in the bay, there were almost certainly sharks. I'm glad I didn't know that before I went swimming!