If you’re driving from Perth to the town of Margaret River, then it should take you about 3 hours. Whilst you can steam down the road straight to Margaret River, you won’t see very much apart from trees, painted bridges and the occasional kangaroo or emu. A much better idea is to plan a couple of stops along the journey to explore more of this beautiful area. Here are some ideas for stops along the way from Perth to Margaret River.
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The drive from Perth to Margaret River
If you’re leaving early in the morning on your journey from Perth to Margaret River, you could make an early pitstop in Rockingham. Although you’ll only have been on the road for about 45 minutes, the stop will set you up well for the day with exercise and wildlife spotting before lunch.
Visit the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park, Rockingham
The Shoalwater Islands Marine Park are one of Western Australia’s most important protected marine areas, offering 6,000 hectares of islands, shallow lagoons and rocky shores, and conveniently placed on the way from Perth to Margaret River.
Sea lions lounge on Seal Island and Penguin Island is famous for its resident penguins – Little (Blue or Fairy) Penguins are the only species to live permanently in Australian waters. It is also a good destination for snorkelling, diving and potentially swimming with dolphins.
Sea Kayak to Penguin Island and Seal Island
Capricorn Sea Kayaking offers an amazing the opportunity to explore the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park on a gentle sea kayak session. Although not strenuous, the tour lasts for 6 hours, and runs from 8.00am until 2.00pm. We booked directly through the company’s website.
Once we’d met our instructor from Capricorn Kayaking and fellow kayakers outside the Penguin Island Visitor Centre, we walked with the kayaks down to the water’s edge, had a safety briefing, donned life jackets, and loaded the kayaks with supplies for lunch ready for action.
Seal Island
Our first destination was to Seal Island, home to a colony of sea lions who often come and play in the water around the kayaks.
Sadly for us, the seals did not come close to our kayaks as the water was too murky due to a stormy weather system – apparently if seals can’t see clearly through the water, to be able to spot sharks, they will stay close to the shore.
Whilst we didn’t see the seals close to the kayaks, they were lounging all over Seal Island and also swimming near the shore.
Penguin Island
The second stop on our paddle was to Penguin Island to spot the Little Penguins who live on Penguin Island and breed in burrows.
Warning – April is the time of year when the Little Penguins leave the island during the day and return at sunset, so unfortunately we weren’t able to see them. I’m not sure that was in the marketing blurb for the tour!
That said, after a relaxing picnic lunch, on our walk around Penguin Island we did see rookeries of pelicans and lots of petrified trees on the beaches.
We also learnt how to make an anti-shark raft kayak formation, so all was not wasted on the trip!
Take a boat trip to the Shoalwater Islands
If you’d prefer to visit the Shoalwater Islands as a passenger on a boat trip, rather than in a kayak, to spot the seals and birds, you can book a boat trip on Get Your Guide as follows:
Pengo’s Café by the car park at the Penguin Island Visitor Centre didn’t look particularly special, but did provide a very tasty lunch after the kayaking. My tempura prawn and ‘avo’ salad was great and set me up for the next part of the journey from Perth to Margaret River.
Visit Busselton and stroll its famous jetty
After all that exercise, you might appreciate a rest, sitting down on the 2-hour drive south to Busselton. If you want lunch when you arrive in Busselton, pick up food at The Goose or Shelter Brewing Co, both at the start of the the pier.
Busselton is home to the Busselton Jetty, a 150-year-old wooden jetty reaching 1.8 km out into the ocean from the shoreline. In fact, it’s the ‘longest timber plank pier in the Southern Hemisphere’.
You can enjoy the walk along Bussleton Jetty taking in the sights along the way, or catch the little electric train ferrying passengers to the end of jetty and back.
If you walk along the jetty, you’ll see painted distance signs on wooden planks of the jetty telling you how far you still have to walk. Depending on the time of day, you might also see people squid fishing off the pier. We tracked a shark swimming alongside the jetty as we walked.
There is an Underwater Observatory at the end of the pier.
Continue directly to Margaret River
If you’ve spent the day at the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park and then Busselton, then time may now be running away with you, so you can complete your journey from Perth to Margaret River in just 40 minutes.
As you pass through the small town of Cowaramup, look out for the life-sized models of cows throughout the town. They are everywhere!
Divert to Dunsborough and Cape Naturaliste
If, however, you didn’t stop at the Shoalwater Marine Park, then you should have some time to play with. After Busselton, you could make another pitstop from Perth to Margaret River by taking the coastal road to Dunsborough and on to Cape Naturaliste.
Ths is a very pretty area and you can visit the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse and stop at the stunning Eagle Bay Beach to dip your toes in the water.
Between Cape Naturaliste and Yallingup, there’s a natural rock pool called the Injidup Natural Spa which is fun to visit (although it can be busy on a hot day).
Mandurah, Wellington Dam and Thrombolites
An alternative route from Perth to Margaret River with interesting things to see is to stop at:
- Mandurah – where you can take a boat trip to see dolphins.
- Lake Clifton – to see ancient Thrombolites from a boardwalk.
- Bunbury – to see its chequered black and white lighthouse.
- Wellington Dam – covered in a massive mural stretching the full width of the dam.
This will be covered in a separate blog.
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