We’re calling it: Aussie region has one of the world’s best drives

We’re calling it – Western Australia is home to one of the greatest driving routes in the world.

Victoria’s Great Ocean Road, Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, the route through the Canadian Rockies, the winding roads of the Italian countryside – they are settings for some of the best driving holidays in the world. But Western Australia’s South West is right up there with them.

Through the forests near Pemberton.Credit: Frances Andrijich

Margaret River, with its famous wineries and surf gets a lot of the attention – and it’s well deserved. But the wider region, all 23,000 square kilometres of it, has everything you need for a wonderful multi-day motoring experience: places to stay and eat, things to see and do and excellent roads with plenty of service stations.

The South West Edge, a route from Perth to Esperance is touted as a 12-day motoring epic that could easily warrant twice that if you take your time.

But three smaller regions within the wider South West: Bunbury Geographe, Margaret River Region, and Southern Forests are an accessible long weekend or week’s drive. You can do one, two, or all three. You can fly into Busselton from Melbourne or Sydney and squiggle about the countryside or, like me, set off from Perth and do a loop. Either way, this is an easy driving sojourn full of delicious gastronomy, cute villages and warm welcomes, and like all great drives, some seriously staggering scenery.

DAY 1

Perth to Bunbury 2 hours, 167 kilometres

It’s a grey morning when I arrive in the city of Bunbury, a busy mining port and the area’s main service centre. I board a charter boat on the foreshore of Koombana Bay for a dolphin siting cruise.

The guide informs us we won’t be venturing far from land due to prevailing inclemency. On some tours, that would be a disappointment.

But this tour offered by the Bunbury Dolphin Discovery Centre (dolphindiscovery.com.au) is to see some famously sociable bottlenose dolphins who, as usual, are hanging out by the shore, too.

Dolphin tour at Busselton.Credit: Tourism Western Australia

The wind picks up and the rain comes sideways but who cares? There are dolphins everywhere, and one right near us starts playing “occy hockey”, as the ecstatic guide calls it – thrashing an octopus about to kill it before consumption – an apparently rare spectacle. And it’s all happening a stone’s throw from the main part of town.

Bunbury to Ferguson Valley, 17 minutes, 14.7 kilometres

The Ferguson Valley is a pastoral perfection as I enter it. Spring rains have rendered fields green as Ireland.

It’s no wonder Perth residents do weekends here, adding in the boutique wineries and delicious eats, winding roads proffering dreamy vistas of majestic trees dipping into babbling streams, and plump cattle grazing on gently sloping hillsides.

My first stop is Green Door Wines (greendoorwines.com.au) at Henty, where a glass of bright late-picked Verdelho is a blast-from-the-past $8 and the tasting platter is generous. Then there’s the view from the elevated cellar door: peaceful vineyards and paddocks to the horizon, worth the price of lunch alone.

Nearby in Henty, the family-owned Willow Bridge Estate (willowbridge.com.au) exports globally from its site high on the western watershed of the Darling Ranges, with covetable coastal exposure and the cooling afternoon breezes that brings.

I follow the signs across the vineyards to my accommodation for the night, a tiny house called Henry by Hidden Cabins (hiddencabins.com.au), ensconced romantically on a lake where the back-block vines meet bushland.

Inside the tiny house at Henry by Hidden Cabins

I’m just in time to settle into an Adirondack chair and watch the sun go down over the lake. I cook a simple meal on the Weber, start the potbelly stove inside, and relish sleeping in beautiful linen bedding to the whispers of the bushland.

In the morning it is time to push on – but everyone tells me I can’t leave the area without visiting the Wellington Dam Mural – magnificent and worth the detour – and Gnomesville (gnomesville.com.au).

The curious gnome home.

It takes a bit of searching as my GPS drops out, but when I do find it I’m the only one there, only one, that is, other than more than 5000 garden gnomes placed – somewhat inexplicably in an otherwise unremarkable intersection – by a growing number of visitors.

DAY 2

Ferguson Valley to Dunsborough, 70 minutes, 90 kilometres

Dunsborough is a sea changer’s heaven. A little bit Byron Bay in both its laid back vibe and concentration of boho boutiques, it’s still, though, an old-fashioned surfer town. If influencers have discovered it, I don’t cross paths with them.

The coastline in this area, mostly part of Geographe Bay, is a series of uncrowded white-sand beaches, clear turquoise water and the Meelup Regional Park abutting the ocean for nearly 12 kilometres. In the right season, it’s abundant with wildflowers.

I travel a further 34 kilometres (26 minutes) to visit The Margaret River Truffle Farm (themargaretrivertrufflefarm.com.au), where owners Ben and Charmaine Warner and their enthusiastic black lab, Alby, host a great lunch and tour.

The goods at Margaret River Truffles.

Back in Dunsborough, I check in to Southcamp (southcamp.com.au), a pub complex with a tiny-house hotel attached. These cabins are luxuriously appointed while giving the fun, retro caravan feels.

It’s a five-minute stroll to Wayfinder Cellar Door & Restaurant (wayfinderdunsborough.com.au), an architecturally elegant eatery and bar with superb service and big city-quality food.

Before hitting the road in the morning, my breakfast is at the nostalgic Little Iris Cafe (littleiris.com.au), where there’s a warming fire inside, a lovely al fresco area and excellent coffee.

If you’ve got more time than me, this is a great point from which to explore further south to Augusta, Leeuwin and of course, Margaret River.

But I’m heading east and inland, to where the karri trees grow.

DAY 3

Dunsborough to Pemberton, two hours, 162 kilometres

There are no forests like Western Australia’s Southern Forests. This region is home to the endemic karri tree, a species that grows to gigantic heights and girth, often over multiple centuries. They proliferate in a series of adjoining national parks and state forests, alongside beautiful jarrahs and fragrant native bushes and grasses – native logging is now banned in the region.

Several long roads invite exploration, and I find myself on narrow dirt roads that can take me off the beaten track but eventually, to my destination. Like the coast, you could take your time and spend days on end lost (but never really) amidst the towering karris.

The canopy in the Pemberton karri forests.Credit: Tourism Australia

Unique towns dot the area, like the heritage-filled Nannup. When I pass through, it’s Saturday and that means Nannup is one big flea market (held fortnightly).

Next, at pretty Beedelup Falls in the Greater Beedelup National Park, I take the opportunity to give a wide, towering karri tree a hug.

At Pemberton, you can climb the world’s tallest fire lookout tree, the Gloucester Tree, ride the volunteer-run Pemberton Tramway (pemtram.com.au), and hike for a short distance or long.

I opt for a gentler pursuit, lunching at Hidden River Estate (hiddenriver.com.au), an award-winning cellar door restaurant where Middle Eastern influences are a delicious point of difference across an indulgent menu that invites long lunching.

Pemberton to Peerabeelup, 30 minutes, 35 kilometres

On a picturesque bend in the Donnelly River, edged by forest lies Ampersand Estates (ampersandestates.com.au), where owners Melissa Bell and Corrie Scheepers have created a chic destination cellar door that’s busy with small parties when I arrive. There is also a distillery, two wedding venues, and three high-end holiday houses on a footprint of historic buildings.

I’m fortunate to check into the Vintner’s Residence. It’s a five-bedroom fabulousness on a rise overlooking the estate. I’m on my own, but I dream of coming back with a crew. There are spaces galore for socialising including large decks. But I contentedly cosy up under a blanket on an outdoor sofa and watch the birds and kangaroos, before cooking the provided dinner hamper (extra cost) and sleep, dreaming of tall trees.

DAY 4

Peerabeelup to Manjimup, 40 minutes, 50 kilometres

A morning truffle hunt at Australian Truffle Traders (australiantruffletraders.com) is a chance to experience Australia’s premier truffle growing region and one of Australia’s most successful truffieres. Owners Gavin and Mel Booth let us dig truffles found in real time by their pair of lively dogs and answer all our questions with a passion that’s commendable, given they run these tours regularly and live and breathe the truffle business besides. The three-hour experience concludes with lunch at Hound & Hunter Fine Foods (houndandhunter.com.au) in Manjimup, a cafe and artisan providore founded by the WA Truffle Growers Collective and run by Gavin Booth and chef and truffle grower, David Coomer.

Manjimup to Bridgetown, 30 minutes, 37 kilometres

North of Manjimup, Bridgetown, is a picturesque village on the Blackwood River full of heritage buildings and a bonhomie that culminates each year in a famous music festival, Blues at Bridgetown. The area warrants its own few days, whether in festival time or other, for the plethora of fresh produce, local wine and cider, quaint stays and walks among the karri trees. For me, it’s a break and a quick catch-up with people I know there, before pushing on to Perth.

Bridgetown to Perth, three hours, 260 kilometres

You could spread the trip back across another day or two, spending time at the beaches around Busselton, Yallingup, Mandurah, and even Fremantle, which is on the way into the WA capital.

For me, it’s a three-hour drive back, fortified by snacks bought back at Hound & Hunter, then a relaxing overnight stay at the newly renovated Pan Pacific Perth, before returning my hire car at the airport and winging my way back home.

But my trip has left me cooking up plans to return and explore the many enticing spots I missed. Like the world’s other best road trips, this is one that leaves you wanting more.

The details

Visit
Tourism Western Australia’s website has trip planning functions, and suggested itineraries ranging from day trips out of Perth to two week journeys. See westernaustralia.com

Fly
Qantas and Virgin Australia fly daily to Perth, Jetstar flies to Busselton from Sydney and Melbourne. See qantas.com, virginaustralia.com, jetstar.com

More
australiassouthwest.com

The writer travelled as a guest of Tourism Western Australia.