Time out weekend - Margaret River, Western Australia.

This week we have a change of pace from the last few weeks of 4WD touring and bush camping in the eastern wheatbelt and southern goldfields - but I will be back to show you some more of this fascinating area very soon. 

Last weekend we had a time out weekend - a time to slow down, sit, walk in the bush, stroll on the beach, explore a couple of caves, do some wine tasting, eat out, and generally relax. 
Here is some late afternoon autumn light over the grape vines. The leaves are browning off now that the grape pick is done and late autumn is here. 

The place? Harmony Forest, a few kilometres along Sebbes Road, only about 16kms south of Margaret River in the heart of the spectacular Capes region of Western Australia.

The setting? Eight self contained cottages are set in natural bushland backing onto a vineyard. You really don't have to leave for the whole weekend if you don't want to!

Did we like it? Yes! Absolutely beautiful. The cottages, the location, the peace, the tranquility. All perfect. 

Below you can see what greets you when you enter the property. Can you see the little building in the middle RHS? This is "reception". Just open the door, pick up the phone, pick up the map, they tell you which cottage is yours, and where the key is. Simple! no fuss. 

Our cottage was beautiful. Set in Kari and Jarrah forest. There are only eight cottages on the property all separated by about 100 metres of bush. You can't see your neighbours at all - so very private. The cottages are beautiful inside and out. Oh my gosh, I love the light coming through these windows! I wish I had them at home!

You are free to walk along the bush tracks (varying length trails), and around the vineyard (although not through the vines as they are fenced by a very high fence to keep out the kangaroos). It is autumn here and so the vines are browning off and dropping their leaves. It would be fascinating to visit when they are harvesting the grapes for wine making. We sampled Harmony Forest's 2010 Private Select Merlo - beautiful - and bought another bottle to bring home with us.  Merlot grapes were first planted here in 1999. They currently supply grapes to some of the most respected wineries in the region. 

If you have the energy you can walk 8km along a sand track to the Boranup Gallery - a wonderful place to see local artisans exquisite work.But don't forget, you have to do the return 8km walk too!  Between the vineyard and our cottage was a little bridge through the trees and over the creek (middle RHS). Bottom left is a cockatoo feather I found.

Here are some kangaroos we saw when we went walking around the vineyard late one afternoon. You can see the high fence keeping them out of the vineyard on the right.

 On Saturday we had breakfast at the Lake Cave cafe (this was part of the package). And then walked it off exploring Mammoth Cave and Calgardup Cave - I will be back another day to tell you about the caves of the Capes.  We had a picnic lunch sitting on the beachfront at Prevelly - the surf was up! Afternoon tea at the gorgeous Voyager Estate (very elegant) (and just one of the many wineries dotted throughout the Capes) and then dinner that night at the Karridale Tavern (excellent food and good value for money - and only 10-15 minutes from our cottage). 

But for simplicity how about afternoon drinks at this spot.... (we saw this on our walk this morning)

I hope you have enjoyed this small taste of what the spectacular Capes region of the south west of Western Australia has to offer. The Capes spreads from Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin. It is home to many wineries, breweries, artisans, restaurants, the Cape to Cape walking trail, caves, The Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park, and a premier surfing region. There are many different accommodation options - from bush camping to 5 star - the choice is yours!

I am so lucky to have this very beautiful corner of our state within only a couple of hours from home. I will be back to show you some more another day.

To finish......the morning view from our porch at Harmony Forest........can you feel the peace and tranquility.........  

 Do you have a special place you like to go for a "get away from it all" weekend?

Thank you for stopping by dear reader. I look forward to hearing from you. 

I am joining wonderful contributors from around the world at Mosaic Monday, Our World Tuesday and Travel Photo Thursday. Please click on the links to see more - Mosaic Monday  
Our World Tuesday
Travel Photo Thursday 

 Want to find out more about Harmony Forest?  Please click on the link here - Harmony Forest  . I can thoroughly recommend Harmony Forest for a weekend getaway. (and no they are not paying me to say so!)

You can find out just about all you want to know about living and touring in Western Australia's south west by going to Jo Castro's fabulous site - ZigaZag - please click on the link here - Zigazag - Living in Western Australia


You may also like -please click on the links - 


The oceans edge - Yallingup, Western Australia
Walking the Capes - Cape Naturaliste, Western Australia

Weekend in Perth, Western Australia

On Saturday I was privileged to attend a one day workshop in our State capital, Perth, with one of Australia's leading panoramic landscape photographers - Ken Duncan. He has worked on projects all over the world, including on major film sets. But this passion is Australian landscapes, working with World Vision, and currently with Australian indigenous people. What a wonderful inspiring speaker Ken was - I was thrilled to be able to hear a master photographer speak.  And how much I still have to learn! 
(Scroll down to the bottom of this post to find the link to Ken's website)

Whenever we go to Perth it seems it is to visit family or friends or for business reasons - however this weekend we had a little time to explore Perth as a "tourist" and I realized how long it has been since we have done that. We only had a day, but I managed to capture a few images to share with you. I think we need to do this again some time soon!

In the mosaic below you can see - from top left - a view over beautiful Queens Gardens which was not far from our hotel (and incidentally where we had our wedding photos taken years ago!), statue of Peter Pan in Queens Gardens - a replica of one in Kensington Gardens London given to the children of Perth in 1927, a view along the Esplanade on the Swan River foreshore (these are hotels and apartments looking over the park to the river), walking along the Swan River - at the end of the path is the Barrack Street jetty where the ferrys leave from and where there are restaurants (on Sunday morning there were lots of people out and about along the river, walking, jogging, bike riding, having breakfast, fishing or just sitting enjoying the view), children's playground in Kings Park Perth (it was such a beautiful day the park was packed with picnickers), a Rosella feeding on Flame Tree blossom (can you see him?), vegetable gardens in the Perth Cultural precinct (amazing to see beds of vegetables and fruit trees in the centre of Perth - they are encouraging home gardens), Kangaroo Paw wildflowers in Kings Park (it is the time of the wildflower festival), another view in Queens Gardens, a table made from strips of plywood, on display in the Art Galleries Your Collection 1800-today exhibition, and the cover of one of Ken Duncan's books.

Below are some more sights around Perth - from top left - Government House (where the WA Governor lives), an old church in St George's Tce (it is for sale - I think street people have been squatting there), the Perth railway station, looking across the Swan River to South Perth, the Bell Tower (home of the 12 Swan Bells - one of the world's largest musical instruments), view from the ferry going across the Swan River (we had a late breakfast at the "Bell House" on the South Perth jetty that you can see in this picture), the Supreme Court, St George's Cathedral, Kangaroos in St George's Tce!, happy football fans, the view from our hotel, St George's Tce on a quiet Sunday morning, an art work made from Western Australian mineral rocks, view of Perth from Kings Park, view from the ferry going across the Swan River from South Perth to the city.

The happy football fans are my nephew and his wife, and our youngest son Mark who had just been to see their football team, The West Coast Eagles, win one of the final rounds of the Australian football season.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and take some time to visit your capital city as a tourist.

Here is another pic - we went out to dinner at Burswood and then took a stroll around the Casino - no didn't spend any money or try to win any - just interesting looking. And then we had sat and had a drink at a place just off the lobby and people watched.  I only had my mobile phone with me, it's new, (as I didn't know if cameras were allowed in the casino) and I have never taken a phone photo before, let alone upload one - but here is is - where we were sitting is a very high "atrium" type ceiling, you can see the lifts going up and down as they are inside the building but outside the wall (if you know what I mean), and there were these big "sails" - I rather like the effect. What do you think?

If you would like to know something about Ken Duncan, please go to his web site - Ken Duncan

To learn more about Perth click on the link - Experience Perth

I am linking up with Mosaic Monday. Click on the link to see the work of Mary and other wonderful contributors - Mosaic Monday

Have you been to Perth Western Australia or Perth UK or Perth Tasmania?
I look forward to hearing from you.

And finally a beautiful sunset we saw on our way home - taken through the car window as we drove along.
Ken says, if you see something and it tells you to photograph it, then do it!