Australia

by: Zoie Clift

I traveled from Little Rock, Arkansas, USA, to Western Australia--in a town called Margaret River. It's quite an adventure out there and you literally feel at the end of the earth. But it's great!

Flying into Perth and then renting a car to drive the 170 miles to the tiny town well known as being a wine and surf mecca I found this to be the case! Many popular wine and surf festivals take place here annually.

Hamelin Bay is known for it's stingrays and there are tons of the them gliding through the water there. The Boranup Forest offers scenes of some of the best Karri forest in Western Australia. Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse marks the spot where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet.

Because the town is off the beaten path, a visitor will find themselves enjoying miles of beaches and coastline mostly to themselves, even in the high season of summer. The coastline is filled with beaches and the interior is filled with many many wineries so a popular plan is usually to spend the mornings and evening at the beach and spend the afternoon touring the wineries and wonderful landscape.

Speaking of wineries,  I saw my first Kangaroo at in the vineyards of a winery I was touring. It was just me and my brother there and we saw him seeking some shade in the grape vines. I snapped a shot of him bouncing away. It was my first Kangaroo sighting in Australia so that it was in a winery in the middle of the day ( is so hot out they usually only come out early mornings and late evening) made it even more special.