Margaret River, Australia

 

    While many tourists go for Australia's eastern coast, the Margaret River region provides a great excuse to venture toward the western side of the country.

     Before we wander into the exciting parts about Margaret River, it's best to know a few historical facts. Migrants originally established the town in the 1800s for timber logging, but as time went by, settlers were attracted to the land with promises of fertile farm soil. Its name is believed to have originated from Margaret Whicher, a step-second-cousin of John Bussell (an early settler who founded the city Busselton in Western Australia).

     

   

 

     Today, Margaret River is recognized for its wineries and surfing spots. With a Mediterranean-style climate, lacking extreme summer and winter temperatures, the land provides perfect growing conditions. Since the humidity is ideal during that time, wine here results as a consistently high quality fruit of intense flavor. As for the region's surfing spots... well, even Hugh Jackman (a.k.a Wolverine from freakin' X-Men, HELLO??) has cited the surfing to be a perk of Margaret River. Movies such as Drift, starring Sam Worthington, have even filmed surf scenes in the area. Besides that, major surfing competitions are hosted around as well.

     Just for the heck of it, I thought I'd throw in a couple of fun things that are also accessible in Margaret River. One of them is cave exploring. The most popular cave to tour is the Mammoth Cave, and it's one of the few caves in the south west to still contain fossils. Aside from that, the other neat activity to investigate is the A Maze'n Margaret River. This place is scattered with gardens, mini golf courses, and contains a huge maze to solve.