Waves

The town is called Margaret River but to surfers around the world it is a WAVE. It breaks around a horseshoe shaped reef which reaches out into the Indian Ocean to draw powerful swells that provide big, consistent surfing waves. The headland at surfers point acts as a natural amphitheater so when the swell is up and the offshore breeze is blowing you are surrounded by the wild waves and reefs that now define the West Australian surfing experience.

• 

• 

• 

The experience is not one that can just been seen but must be felt by getting on a board and paddling out…however, the three Martini’s won’t be partaking in this beauty of the Margaret River. We will stay with the wine experience and watch the surfers catch the waves! We can watch a sunset and take in the surfers and their craft. We will also be able to avoid the Sharks. It was shocking to see the Shark Warning system…It makes me wonder if they have a tsunami warning system?

“Crank up the Vee Dub and head to Margs”…duh we rented a Toyota not the same panache!

As the book Margaret River Stories says, “The big difference between a rodeo and surfing is that there is no starting gate. Out in the ocean the ring is full of bulls running wild. The real skill in surfing is to get close enough to jump onto the beast’s back without being gored. A surfer wants to go out there and catch a beast to feel its power and ride it. The best surfers do it with style. ”

New World, New Waves…the reason for Margaret River’s prominence in the surfing world is obvious when you look at the map. At the bottom south western corner in one of the most geographically remote places (our “V that shall not be named” social distancing area seems so appropriate), the Cape region juts defiantly into the vastness of the Indian Ocean. We’ve all heard of those roaring forties, those wild winds that propelled the earliest explorers in their wooden ships across the unknown expanse of the Indian Ocean to collide often tragically with the scarred landscape of our Margaret River West Coast – giving surfers the waves they want to ride.

On an early blog I mentioned the pole sticking out of the water near our sunset rock with wire keeping people out. When reading Margaret River Stories I ran across a tragedy in 1996 where three schools of local school children were competing in surfing. It was raining and students were sheltered under a limestone cliff. The cliff gave way and 9 people died that day. Hence, that must be the reason that major limestone cliff areas in Margaret River are cordoned off. The nearest major north south road near us is called Cave Road for a reason. Limestone creates marvelous caves. We are waiting for the shire to open up so we can go visit the local caves!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Enjoy the last weekend in April! We continue to enjoy the beaches, the weather and the people of southwestern Western Australia including the surfers off our beach. This state has only had 1 case of the “V which shall not be named” in the last four days. People are happy that no one could come into the state either driving or flying for the last three weeks and that the lock down has worked! We’ll be waiting until mid May for any restrictions to be opened up – but we all feel safe, keep our distance and no one really wears a mask.

We imagine mid May we might be able to drive to the next “shire” and do more site seeing as Western Australia may open its regional borders. We still have no clue when international or national flights may begin again at Perth – we aren’t even allowed to drive to Perth right now.

Knowing the stores shelves are full of food and any necessary supplies, that there are 5 bottle shops and various cellar doors to accumulated wine and that the best local restaurants have all started opening and have amazing takeout just 10 minutes from our home, makes us extremely happy to be sheltering in place here in Margs. Let us know how you all are surviving this panic pandemic.