What’s New This Spring

This year we’re in for a treat with new and exhilarating tours, decadent and delicious food and wine experiences and an artisanal gallery perfect for a spot of shopping.

Read on to find out what’s new this spring in the Margaret River Region.

Feel the exhilarating rush of wind in your face as you explore spectacular bays, coastline, and countryside from the back of a chopper style trike motorcycle. Ben and Cheryl of Coastal Trike Tours welcome adventure-lovers aged 8+ and happily accommodate guests with special requirements, making it a thrilling way to see this beautiful region. Scenic and wine tours available.

Relive the adrenaline high felt by RAAF pilots with a Tiger Moth Adventure Flight on the new 40-minute Busselton to Dunsborough flight. Discover just how magnificent Geographe Bay is from the sky as you track across the ocean taking in Meelup and Castle Rock from above – look out for whales during spring – then return inland above wineries and countryside.

Journey to the beautiful Blackwood Valley or discover the golden triangle wineries between Nannup, Bridgetown and Balingup. Time Travel Tours and Transport specialise in sharing with guests the epic rolling hills, quality produce and heritage timber towns on their new farm to forest and private wine tours. And if you’re hiking the Bibulmun Track or riding the Munda Biddi Trail, rely on Time Travel Tours for shuttles and support in their airconditioned 13-seater bus.

If yoga with an ocean view wasn’t blissful enough (it’s at Dunsborough Yacht Club overlooking the bay) Devahiti Yoga now offer a mobile Body Work, Energy Healing and Sound Bowl Massage package. Suitable for all ages and abilities, Mandy will come to your accommodation to help you feel refreshed and strong.

Native orchids bloom ten months a year, but spring is certainly peak time in the south west with glorious colour blossoming in the forest and bush. Margaret River Exposed, South West Eco Discoveries and Margaret River Discovery Co are the wildflower specialists and will take you to the best spots on their boutique tours during spring.

The Dunsborough and Busselton whale watching season is back. Around 35,000 humpbacks, a few hundred blue whales and a growing population of southern right whales visit Geographe Bay each spring during their annual migration, and a whale watching charter tour is the best way to see them up close. Join Jet Adventures, Naturaliste Charters, Legend Charters or Whale Watch WA for Dunsborough departures, or All Sea Charters Whale Watching for tours from Busselton.

Love chocolate, coffee and chilled out surf vibes? Yallingup Chocolate features delectable treats from Western Australia’s most revered chocolatiers, and it just opened adjacent to Commonage Coffee Co. A farm shed has been expertly transformed into a modern, light-filled space with a blush-pink concrete floor and neat rows of their signature pink chocolate tins. Chocolate bars are wrapped in Ric Chan’s Yallingup surf photos from the 1960s and 70s. Hot tip: after shopping, stay for a warm almond croissant and a coffee next door.

While iconic Busselton restaurant The Goose suffered a terrible fire earlier in the year, they’ve set up two excellent food ventures while the restaurant is rebuilt. The Gosling is a food and coffee van on the Busselton foreshore serving burgers, loaded fries and other yummy treats. Bodega is a smart Spanish-inspired restaurant serving brunch and coffee by day, then tapas and cocktails at night. While we can’t get to Barcelona right now, Manchego croquettes and sangria at Bodega might just quell the wanderlust.

Speaking of delicious Spanish fare, Rustico at Hay Shed Hill just launched a vegan degustation menu to complement their popular lunches and cater to vegetarian and vegan diners. While the ‘traditional’ menu is known and loved for succulent pork belly, lobster profiteroles and burrata la delizia, the vegan menu caters to our plant-loving friends with beautiful dishes such as beetroot carpaccio, roasted Jerusalem artichoke with truffle and bombe Alaska for dessert.

Back to Busselton, the Rocky Ridge Cellar Door has Margaret River Burger Co grilling and flipping burgers every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If you haven’t yet been, you can choose from 20+ beers to make your own beer tasting paddle to enjoy on the deck in beautiful spring sunshine. Once purely a beer (and stout) paradise, you can now grab a glass of LS Merchants wine.

The Local Margaret River is the place to indulge in a spot of shopping and find lovely mementos of your holiday. The Local brings together the region’s best artisans and their beautiful wares; think local photography, homewares, Amato Vino wine, linocut artworks, ‘make your own’ macrame plant hanger kits and essential oils crafted in Dunsborough. Artists represented include photographer Martine Perret, Jamie Roper, Caroline Juniper, jeweller Nicola Macklin and resin artist Honor Denby.

Next door, Café Mosaic is where ‘coffee meets art’ and features a scrumptious array of fresh cakes, cookies and slices as well as a quiet, dog-friendly courtyard and waterfall garden at the rear. Enjoy a brew while wandering through and browsing The Local next door.