Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
Cape Freycinet not being an actual cape does not make it a “lesser” place.
This post’s photos look like they must have been taken at two rather different locations and/or on quite different days.
I took them within three minutes of each other, and my two vantage points were only a few paces apart.
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The photo shows one of our favourite coastal locations in the Margaret River region, as it was at 4. 42 pm on 21 August 2025.
Cape Freycinet is wonderfully wild, and presents a different “face” on each and every occasion.
It is also easily reached; the whole drive is 2WD- friendly and takes a deal less than one hour, mostly south along Caves Road, from Margaret River – or north along Caves Road, from Augusta.
Only the final few kilometres are unsealed.
Either way, one turns off Caves Road into the well-maintained Conto Road, adjacent to Lake Cave.
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This post includes both musical and “word power” bonuses.
The afternoon of 21 August 2025 was not “stormy” in the Margaret River region, but local waters were turbulent.
In 1876 this was also true, as November transitioned to December…and the SS Georgette developed an irreparable leak
Over the ensuing hours a lifeboat was smashed, several people drowned, and several others were successfully transferred to the captain’s gig (ship’s boat/tender) which then managed to reach another Margaret River beach.
Meanwhile, the other fifty or so passengers and crew were heading south, on a sinking ship.
Its captain then attempted to strand the Georgette on Calgardup Bay’s Redgate Beach.
Here, a “miraculous”/“heroic” rescue was undertaken by two equally courageous local people.
The white one’s heroism was hailed, worldwide.
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If one is based in or near to Pemberton for some days, but not staying in or near to Margaret River – or vice versa – one ought take advantage of the fact that each is within easy day-tripping distance of the other.
On 21 August 2025 we drove over to enjoy lunch at a favourite Margaret River winery, and then visit a couple of favourite, still-wild coastal places.
Redgate Beach is less than 15 ks southwest of the Margaret River township, via sealed roads.
That afternoon’s waves were neither particularly large, by local standards, nor surfer-friendly.
However, the sea was very lively, as was the conspicuously-fresh air…and Redgate looked typically-splendid.
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Both photos were taken late on a winter’s afternoon, near Margaret River.
Running on sand, through shallow water, is a pleasure enjoyed by many humans, horses and dogs.
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Natalie and Walt have just unwittingly delayed the promised leopard post!
(it will be the next one, I promise)
The photo alludes to one of my favourite Walt Whitman poems, from Leaves of Grass.
Most printed interviews with musicians are time-wasting, publicist-driven piffle.
A notable exception is The New Yorker interview, published today – worth reading, whether or not you admire/know Natalie Merchant’s singing/songs.
There aren’t a lot of people writing love songs to Walt Whitman.
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Above: dude running after “his” dog, as rain dimples the surface of Smiths Beach’s shallows,
Below: Big, wintry sky, Indian Ocean.
Both are colour photos, taken when shades of grey “ruled”, briefly.
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A surfer-dude’s dog has no difficulty amusing itself, alone on the shore, whilst its “owner” is “out there”, riding the waves.
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…most people who visit Margaret River – frequent visitors included – have never set foot in, laid eyes on, or paddled a canoe, in some of the area’s choicest places.
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Four kilometres south of the little town of Augusta is Cape Leeuwin, atop which sits the Australian mainland’s tallest lighthouse.
The much-promoted notion that this is where two oceans meet is highly debatable; arguably, the Indian Ocean laps both sides of Cape Leeuwin.
Regardless, it is our continent’s bottom left hand “corner”, and the Augusta/Leeuwin “corner” is a wonderful place.
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