Perth and Margaret River tips

I always use Thorntree when I'm planning a trip, so here's a review of my recent trip to help you.

Spent 9 days in WA, between mainly the above locations.

Days 1-2 spent in Fremantle. We decided to base ourselves here for our Perth stay, even though it's not near centre of town. Freo is great, particularly Little Creatures brewery and hanging around on the weekend. Stayed at Fremantle Colonial Accomodation (web: make that into one word and add .com.au) in their rooms near the centre of Freo. Nice enough place, king bed and ensuite with balcony for $150 a night. Basic facilities, no breakfast, friendly owner, 3 mins walk into town. Not many options in Freo so this was OK by me. Did a day trip into Perth on the river cruise (and back on the train) which was good, particularly King's Park. To be honest Perth city centre is fine, but quite bland. Few hours was enough, enjoyed the views from King's Park most. From Freo you can easily hop on the train and get up to Cottesloe and the beaches around there which was good for me as I surf. Didn't have a car and didn't feel like we needed one.

Days 3-4. Hired a car and drove down to Margaret River (about 4 hours or so). Stayed at Margarets Beach Resort @$200 a night for a one bedroom spa apartment. To be honest I thought this was really average - paying for location (near beach) I guess. I was expecting something reasonably luxurious, but it was really cheaply furnished and the spa was small and cheap and in a bathroom that also housed a washer and dryer. Good views but not balcony. We were supposed to spend 3 nights but only stayed 2.

Did the winery tour and recommend: Pierro, Wise Winery (Dunsborough), Cullens (for lunch more so than wine), Howards Park. Personally we preferred the smaller ones where you could have a good chat.

Days 5-6 we relocated up to Bunker Bay resort near Dusnborough. Newish 5 star resort with studio villa for @$249 (no breakfast) during the week (I think it's $349 weekends). Really great resort, right on the beach, great facilities and really well furnished, roomy, loved it. A couple of people had recommended it and I totally concur. Only issue was that the studio villas join up with larger apartments and have a shared door which should be locked but ours wasn't so when some neighbours checked in late one night they opened the door and walked in on us in bed in our studio. Luckly we were just sleeping! I made a point about this to staff but they didn't seem to care much. Apart from that it was great. Went to Ngilgi cave which is OK but if you've seen caves before this one won't impress you. Surfed at Yallingup which was quite full on with the reef and big waves.

Days 7-8 we drove down to the southern forests and stayed at Pemberton at Salitage winery. Nice accomodation with roaring wood fire. A well presented cottage was $200 a night (for 2 or 4 people). The winery there is very good, it is 10km out of Pemberton which isn't ideal but is OK. In Pemberton there isn't much to do and not many restaurants or anything in the evening. We did two walks - the Gloucster trail a 10km walk near the Gloucester Tree (the 60m high one you can climb up) which was nice but not spectacular; and the Big Brook Dam circuit around a lake which again is quite nice and shorter at 4km. Probably the best bit of Pemberton was Gloucester winery which does great winery and great food.

In fact the food was probably the highlight of the trip. Overall a very good trip with Freo and Bunker Bay resort the best biits.

FYI we did this (exc flights) for $3300 for 2 inc food, wine, accom and car hire.