The South West Corner of Australia is only a couple of hours from Perth.  It is a popular coastal holiday retreat.  It's easy to spoil yourself here, the area is well known for it's wineries, cheese, chocolate, caves, coastal atmosphere and good surfing. 

It is also home to Cape Leeuwin the point where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet.  There is a lighthouse here, which is still being used, for a fee you can take a tour inside.  Between the months of June and September you can spot whales in the area.

On this side of Australia you can have the privilege of watching the sun go down over the ocean.  It's quite relaxing to hang out on the beach just waiting for the sun to set.  We got out the snorkel gear and chased a few fish around the rock pools until the sun went away.

If you're into wineries, you'll love it here.  There are all sorts of tours you can take, or you can just drive around from one to the other, although the driver must be careful!  People described wine flavours and textures in a whole new language, all I knew is whether I liked it or not.  We ended up with a nice drop from Gralyn estate.  Further up the road on the way to Perth, we also dropped in on a character called John at Lake Clifton winery.  He had Strawberry, mango, plum and all sorts of flavoured wines.  He didn't whole fancy entrance and so on, just a good Aussie style bar and friendly chit chat.

The Caves are worth coming for.  You can get passes that allow entrance to a few caves at a reduced cost.  They are all very different, so you won't get bored.  Lake Cave has an interesting inverted table formation hanging from the roof.  And Mammoth cave can be explored without a tour guide.

Busselton Jetty is the longest timber jetty in Australia at 2km long.  There is a small charge to enter the jetty, just make sure you take a drink because it is a longer walk than it looks!  The easier way is to catch a little tourist tram that goes up to the underwater observatory at the end.

Sunset at Margaret River beach

Highlights for me were:

- The caves.

- Exploring around Canal rocks.

- Spoiling myself with Chocolate, Ice cream, Cheese and Wine.

- Relaxing on beaches.

Negatives.

- A bit busy compared to the coast further South.

- Terrible Terrible flies at the lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste, so we didn't even bother seeing the lighthouse.  It was like that Paul Jennings story.

- Just about everything cost something, even walking along a pier.