Busselton, Australia

Located on Geographe Bay, is the town of Busselton, a vibrant coastal city on the southwest region of Western Australia. It serves as the primary gateway to the world famous Margaret River wine region. It is also a top holiday destination in Australia. The area has been inhabited for 40,000 years by the Noongar Aboriginal people. The area was settled by French settlers in 1832. Many of the towns still have their Aboriginal names and those that end in “up” indicate they are near water.

The population of the area is 34,000 but during holidays it can almost triple. There were many hotels, campgrounds and air b and b’s. We anchored and had to tender in to the town. They have a jetty that extends out into the bay that is almost 1.5 kilometers long. They run a train on it to bring people to the end, where there is a natural aquarium.

The timber industry is big in this part of Australia with very little farming. There are, however, many wineries, some huge and some boutique.

Many of the housing subdivisions are named for a sailer who went overboard and was never found, Vasse. There is a winery named for him as well. This was the most city like town since Melbourne.

Margaret River was named for the cousin of Mr. Bussel, who was the person the town was named for. Margaret River, in the 1960s was a hippie community. Then it was discovered that grapes grew well in this area and the wineries followed. Many of the wineries not only do tastings, but have locals who live nearby providing B and Bs. They coordinate these wine tours. Margaret River also holds a big surfing competition annually.

We were on a tasting tour, beer, chocolate and wine. The beer was at the Cheeky Monkey brewery established in 2010. We had the option to taste 4 beers. The only one I liked was the ginger beer. Most of the people I sat with were beer fans and liked more than I did.

The second stop was at the Margaret River Chocolate Company. It was not really a tasting, just a shopping opportunity with a taste of the chocolate before you bought. Disappointing 😞. This enterprise was established in the 1990s because of the wineries.

Our last stop was at Aravina Winery. It was established in 2010. It was situated on beautiful grounds. It is supposedly a popular wedding venue. We tasted 5 wines, 1 sparkling, 2 white and 2 red. None appealed to me, but one of my table mates told me about a wine I might like and have been having it nightly at dinner since. Check out – Viognier.