Do not think Australia is all sun all the time. It rains. And it’s windy. Sometimes it rains a lot, and it blows a lot, as we find over the past weeks. The day before we leave Albany, just over three weeks ago, it rains so hard we stay in the caravan all day. A few days later, at Walpole the same. Thank God for Netflix. The wind brought down a branch so close to the neighbour’s head they packed up and left. Just as we finish dinner at the pub on our last night the power goes out all over the region – tree down. So we avoid the very south of the coast, deciding Windy Bay is probably not the best choice, and travel on to Margaret River. Within a day or so it’s thunder, lightening, just a little bit frightening. A veritable river forms along the grass area behind the caravan and the poor tent dwellers pack up and leave. On up the coast to Busselton, more of the same: at least one day quaking under the sound of hail on our tin roof. Now Bunbury, and yesterday the Bureau of Meteorology heralds the coldest and strongest front for Perth this season, warns of flash flooding, damaging winds and power outages, hot on the heels of the same three or four days ago. What can we say? It’s Winter, and at least the temperature is still in the high teens. And the caravan doesn’t leak.

Yet we are still having a great time, and there are enough days with few showers or gorgeous all day sun to do all the things we want to do.

The coast from Albany along to Walpole is a lovely beach/surf coast – the biggest wave surfed in Australia was off this part of the coast. If you read Tim Winton, and/or have seen the movie of Breath, the filming takes place along here. If you like watching big wave surfing, go here. But aside from the history and beauty of the coast, the Australian bush just north is more fascinating. This part of WA is home to the Tingle trees – love the name – which only grow here and are quite remarkable. Not only can they grow to 25 metres (75+ feet) tall, they have wide buttressed bases with a large hollow inside. This is created over a long period of time by fire, fungal and insect attack, yet they keep living and growing for up to 400 years. Now that’s resilience.

Many of us who drink wine know Margaret River as the main grape growing area of WA, yet its 2021 harvest tonnage is barely 24,000 tonnes, and overall makes up only about 2% of Australia’s total grape crush. I’m not sure what is smaller than boutique, but many of the 175 wine producers crush less than 50 tonnes (about 4,000 cases). Given the comparative size of the vineyards and crops, we marvel at the extravagance of some of the wineries and revel in the quality of their restaurants. It is our duty to consume a few degustation lunches with matching wines so we can judge fairly. Besides, when it’s raining, what better place than a cosy winery restaurant?

As you can see on the map above, Margaret River is about halfway along a jutting out bit of the west coast. At the south end is Cape Leeuwin where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet, and the northern end is Cape Naturaliste. In between is a stunning surf coast (the Margaret River Pro is part of the World Tour) and a landform with around 150 caves, with several open to the public. We take a tour of Jewel Cave, the largest tourist cave in WA. It boasts one of the longest stalactites in the world and there’s a lot of sparkle through the three massive chambers which extend to a depth of 253 metres.

And we go from the sublime to the ridiculous. We visit a tourist town of over ten thousand, yet there’s no businesses, no shops, no schools. You know how, back in the day, someone stole their neighbours garden gnome, took it around the world and sent photos of it back to its owners? Well Gnomesville seems to be the place every garden gnome washed up. It started when the council, against public opinion – that’s unusual – put in a roundabout. Overnight a gnome moves in. By the weekend there’s two AFL teams, wearing team guernseys, of gnomes set up in a game. This becomes a traffic hazard as everyone slows down to look. The council makes a sensible decision – that’s unusual – and moves them to the verge. So many years on they and their multinational mates sit with no gnome to go to, or from broken gnomes and every cheesy pun you can think of – so I’ll say gnome more.