The Southwest Corner – Part Three (Margaret River to Augusta)

Hey! This is Part Three of our travels around the Southwest Corner of Australia. Make sure you check out Part One and Part Two, otherwise you’ll be missing out on some of our adventures, as well as maps of the region.

OK, so coincidentally, the NY Times Australia food critic has just written an article about Margaret River! Her maps are way better than mine (I mean, mine are photos of paper maps and hers were intelligently crafted by the NY Times very good graphic designers, so…). Click on over to the article if you want to read a different take on Margaret River, and here’s a low-res screen grab of those maps:

Next up on our tour of the Southwest Corner were a few of the breweries and wineries that we had heard about or seen on the map, but hadn’t had a chance to visit yet. We were slowly working our way south down the coast, and our first stop was the actual town of Margaret River, namesake of the Margaret River Region that we had already been touring for a while now.

Along the way to our campsite just outside Margaret River, we hit up Caves Road Collective, Beer Farm, and Vasse Felix winery.

Caves Road had an absolutely awesome milk stout by Blacks Brewing, along with fish tacos and a stone fruit salad that called out to us from the lunch menu. It had quite the happening vibe, being the home of a few different ventures including a distillery and a winery, along with the brewery and restaurant. Apparently these guys are fairly new on the scene – we’re looking forward to seeing more of their stuff!

Our next stop was Beer Farm, exactly what it sounds like – a craft beer bar and brewery in an old barn, situated on a former farm. I didn’t sample the wares here, but Nick enjoyed the tasting paddle, and we also spotted the place where they’re planning to put in an adult-sized slip & slide…! Should be awesome fun when it’s all set up.

Finally, Vasse Felix – if you like Australian wine, you’ve probably heard of this winery – they’re one of the big ones and I believe the first in the Margaret River region. This is one of the more “touristy” wineries, where you have to pay for tastings, and the tasting pours aren’t quite as generous as some of the smaller wineries, but it was a “must do” for us due to it having such historical significance to the region.

From Vasse Felix, we headed to our campsite at Fair Harvest Permaculture. If you don’t know what Permaculture is, don’t worry, neither did we! It’s basically farming in a completely sustainable manner. Fair Harvest offers camping in one of their beautiful grassy paddocks. Campers are asked to separate their rubbish into compost, worm food, recycling, and true rubbish, as well as conserve water (bore water is used for the showers, and rain water for drinking and washing dishes). The toilets are compost toilets, and one of the showers is even warmed by the warmth of (plant matter) compost only! Such a cool place.

Fair Harvest is only about 5km outside of Margaret River town, and provided an amazing spot for us to kick back and relax for a few days before resuming our gluttonous explorations of the area:

OK story time – Giniversity was pimping their “Christmas Gin” when we visited in mid-December. In fact, we’ve seen many “Christmas blends” being advertised from the Australian distilleries we know and love but we had never had the chance to try one. So what do you think of, when you think of a Christmas gin? If you’re like us (born and raised in the northern hemisphere), you probably think that the blend might feature spices like cinnamon and cloves and nutmeg, and maybe apple or pumpkin, or maybe some botanicals like pine. At the very least, you’d probably be imagining something warm and spiced, good for cozying up by the Christmas tree, or the fireplace.

Well you, like us, would be WRONG. Australian Christmas is in the summer, duh. Christmas gin is light and fruity and sparkly and would go well by the pool or at the beach or a family barbecue. OF COURSE.

Boy, did we feel our Canadian heritage hard on that experience.

Anyway, moving on to a winery I’d been really looking forward to – Leeuwin Estate. Nick and I developed a taste for California Cabernet Sauvignon while we lived in San Jose, and tasted a LOT of Australian cabs and shirazes in an effort to find one that hit the mark as much as Cali cabs do for us. Leeuwin Estate is one of our favourites and we were very excited to visit. It was a lovely experience, and I’m pleased to report the cabs and shirazes we tried, solidly lived up to expectations. We spent the better part of an afternoon lounging on their deck, sipping away.

After our very scientific afternoon at Leeuwin, we headed south to Augusta (at the southernmost tip of the Southwest Corner) to meet up one last time with our friends Mike and Emma, at a cabin they’d rented with a glorious view. Not a bad way to end this chapter of our travels at all.