10 things to do in Yallingup without going to the beach! - Western Australia

Some people would think it would be impossible to go to Yallingup without going to the beach. But trust me you can.

The Yallingup-Margaret River region in Western Australia's south west corner is well known internationally for the great surf.

In fact in April  "The top 32 ranked male and top 18 ranked female surfers in the world will descend upon the Margaret River Region to surf its world-class waves in April for the Drug Aware Margaret River Surf Pro. The event is expected to see thousands of spectators flock to Surfer’s Point in Prevelly to watch the world’s best surfer’s take on the famous Margaret River Mainbreak". Click here to read more -  Margaret River Surf

But what if you are not into surfing? I know I’m not. I never did master being comfortable in big waves. Give me a quiet sheltered cove like Meelup Beach any day.  

Please click on "read more" to keep reading and seeing more

We have gorgeous beaches here in Western Australia. Kilometres of white sand and clear blue water. And with most Western Australians living close to our coast it is not surprising that Western Australian’s love the beach. I’ve blogged recently about the Meelup Beaches - Australia Day on the Beach and the around the Busselton Jetty swim, but, do not stress, there is still plenty to do in this corner of our south-west without going near the beach. 

My sister and brother-in-law have been holidaying at Smith’s Beach just south of Yallingup for a couple of weeks during the summer for the last few years, and as it is only about an hour from our home we usually visit them over the weekend to do a lunch-winery-gallery day with them. 

They stay at the Canal Rocks Beachfront Apartments -   It is perfectly located just across the road from Smith's Beach.  We stayed there a couple of years ago in mid winter in July.  I blogged about it here - Oceans Edge

Yes, Yallingup is great to visit in winter too!

But what can you do on a summer’s day in Yallingup without going to the beach? 





1.      Breakfast - There are lots of great places for breakfast in the Busselton, Yallingup area. This one - "The Goose" is located just off the end of the Busselton Jetty on the way to Yallingup. Don't you think this looks like a great way to start the day?

2.       Ok this one is near the beach, but the breeze was up, so after we met up with our family we took a short drive out to Canal Rocks. There is a wheel-chair friendly boardwalk so you can go out to see the surf rushing through the canal. Fantastic on a really windy day!

3.      Pre-lunch Wine tasting?  House of Cards Winery, which was new to us, is located at 1/33220 Caves Road just south of Quinninup Road.  All the grapes come from their single vineyard on Caves Road. Owners Travis and Elizabeth Wray say "Our name House of Cards was inspired by the gamble that winemakers and growers take every vintage - you have to play the hand that you are dealt".

We will certainly be adding House of Cards to our visit list next time. Check out their artisans gallery while you are there for a special gift.

As you can see the grapes are ready for the vintage pick. Don't they look delicious!

4.       While you are at House of Cards, pop next door to Gabriel Chocolate. There are a few chocolate establishments popping up around the region, and we hadn’t visited Gabriel’s before.  They have just won 7 gold medals and 4 silver medals at the Sydney Royal Chocolate Awards. I am not surprised.  Their chocolate was delicious. The chocolate pods are sourced from all around the world – PNG, Madagascar, Peru, Ecudor to name a few - each with their own unique taste.  There is a café and a cup of delicious hot chocolate would be wonderful here in winter, or buy their chocolate twirlers to take home and make your own hot chocolate. Yum!

5.      There are plenty of dining options. Our favourite is Woody Nook on Metricup Road.  This is a very friendly family owned vineyard, winery and café with a full range of great tasting wines. Our son loves their port.  I suggest you do a wine tasting first to select a wine to go with your lunch. Their rustic undercover outdoor café is a lovely place for lunch and conversation with a few wines. I find the menu is not over-pretentious or over-priced like some winery menus can be. For us they tick all the boxes.  My sister and I shared a delicious taste plate which you can see below, and we thought good value at $27 each. 

6.      Dessert – time for dessert. So off we went to Millers Ice Cream located on a dairy farm on Wirring Road near Cowaramup. Yes that’s right – Cowaramup – the place where they have cows in the main street. No kidding. Cowaramup (known as Cow Town by locals) is home to a wonderful herd of 42 lifesized fibreglass Friesian cows and calves wandering the streets, parks and shops of the town. They love their cows in Cowaramup and celebrate each year with the Deja Moo country fair. Cowaramup got its name from the cowara parrot (nothing to do with cows at all!)

 
But back to the icecream. The Millers are third generation dairy farmers. They opened their icecream shop in Wirring Road in December 2010 and have been making and scooping icecream ever since with milk fresh from their own cows.

I had the Irish Cream icecream, delicious! Check out their huge range of flavours on their website - Miller's icecream flavours.  Millers also have shops in Margaret River, Xscape at the Cape near Dunsborough, and Millers Rockingham. Don’t want icecream? You can have scones and cream from their café instead. There are picnic tables and a children’s playground to keep the children amused.

7.      By now we were looking forward to a coffee.  We had noticed that Cape Lavender had opened a Tea House on the corner of Caves and Canal Rocks Roads. So we stopped in and enjoyed a Devonshire tea and browsed through the extensive range of lavender products. I adore lavender, but the perfume of the lavender became a little overpowering after a while in the small restaurant. There are tables on the patio if you prefer.  You can try lavender scones. Yes you can eat lavender! I've made lavender Melting Moment biscuits from a recipe from my Mum. 
I had to resist buying this tea and coffee set. Don't you just love the lavender pattern.

8.      If you are in the Yallingup area with children you might like to go to the Yallingup Maze.  Located on Caves Road we have taken our grand-children there a couple of times. The maze is made of wooden panels that are changed around from time to time. The challenge is to make it to the 4 numbered towers. There is a high area in the middle where you can go to check out your location or to find the way out if you get lost! In the cafe the owners have cleverly laid out puzzles and games on all the tables – a very clever marketing strategy – as it is difficult to resist buying one of their extensive range of games for your children after they have played with them.

 I wouldn’t advise going to the Yallingup Maze in summer, but it is a great place on a cooler cloudy day.

9.      And if it gets too hot in summer above ground then escape the heat underground by visiting the Ngilgi Caves.  The Caves are part of an extensive cave system along the Naturaliste-Leeuwin ridge.

10.    If you want to do something more active you can walk part of the Cape to Cape Track which runs 135km between Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin. This trek takes several days so might be a stretch in mid summer, but you could easily do a day walk as there are many places along the way where you can join the track.  You will have fantastic coastal views, but choose a cooler day and make sure you wear a hat, sunscreen, sturdy walking boots and carry plenty of water.

  
Besides the surf, the Yallingup-Margaret Reiver region is famous for its wines and there are more wineries and galleries than you can ever hope to visit in only one day. So stay a week! It would take another whole blog post (or 2 or 3) to tell you all about them.

There is plenty to do in the Yallingup region without going to the beach and getting sand in your bathers. 

For more information on Yallingup, visit - Margaret River.com

You might also like -

 Yallingup and the Capes - History for me and surfing for him

  Time out weekend - Margaret River wine region
Deep in the Boranup Kari Forest - Capes, WA

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