WELCOME
Foodies, you will feel like you’ve discovered a new nirvana as you eat and drink your way through the region. Find family-run boutique wineries, artisan producers and farm gates, and cute country cafes. Pack an esky to keep purchases fresh that could include fresh Harvey citrus fruits, crunchy Donnybrook apples as well as other farm-fresh produce, homemade jams and condiments, olive oil, dips, fresh cheese, handmade crackers, bakery goodies, wine, craft beer, spirits and more.
The pretty Ferguson Valley, tucked just 20 minutes in land from Bunbury, offers stunning road trip views of undulating green hills and vineyards. The wineries in this lesser-known region produce exceptional, and very good value, wines and will leave you wondering why you haven’t been sooner (and have you planning a return trip). In the surrounding charming towns, each with its own characteristics, you’ll find unique shops, quirky attractions, unexpected gems, and at every stop, a warm welcome from the locals.
To make the most of your trip, be sure to book ahead to avoid disappointment. Download our handy map to help you find our hidden treasures and read on for more detail.
There are many worthy yet under-the-radar foodie experiences to discover in Bunbury Geographe. Taste your way through Harvey, less than an hour and half from Perth, sip your way through the Ferguson Valley and wander through some charming country towns.
Please be patient with tourism and hospitality operators in the region as they recover from the pandemic.
DAY ONE: PERTH TO HARVEY REGION
Bring:
- Breakfast provisions – stop at the renowned Crooked Carrot on the way to pick up some homemade goodies
- Esky or cooler bag
- Grazing / light dinner provisions (optional, or pick some up during your travels)
Book ahead:
- Accommodation for two nights at Evedon Lakeside Retreat, Peppermint Lane B&B or elsewhere
- Vineyard 28 tasting experience or check out their picnic experience
- Old Coast Road Brewery for lunch
- St Duke’s Distillery for a gin tasting at Harvey Cheese
A taste of the Mediterranean
Starting from Perth, leave around 9.30am and drive south for an hour and 20 minutes to Vineyard 28 in the Harvey Region for a little taste of Italy. Check the website for the experiences available and booking ahead is essential.
Drive about 15 minutes to Old Coast Road Brewery for lunch. The family-friendly brewery has a menu that’s full of tasty hearty dishes as well as lighter bites. Think smoky barbeque pork ribs, woodfired pizza, Szechuan squid and plenty of vegan options too like tofu Thai salad. Samples the 12 brews available including bitter ale, wheat beer, amber ale, kolsh, stout and saison, and two ciders made from Donnybrook Apples including one with ginger and pear. Owners Andrew and Ivanka have Italian and Croatian heritage and pay homage to their roots with a 1000-tree olive grove reminiscent of those in the Mediterranean. There’s mini golf and kids games, and keep an eye on their Facebook page for events and markets.
After lunch, drive about 15 minutes to Harvey town and visit Geo Vino owned by the Sorgiovanni family for a wine tasting and pick up some local produce, meat and cheeses for snacks and perhaps for light dinner in your accommodation. Just four minutes’ drive away is Harvey River Estate, a great place to stop for a guided wine tasting and to see the famous Big Orange, which you can climb. It’s also under ownership of the Sorgiovanni family (Kevin), a family with a long and significant history in the region’s agricultural story which includes one of WA’s biggest milk and juice producers, Harvey Fresh. Harvey River Estate began producing wine in 1999 and focus on minimal intervention, and making wines that people want to drink.
Next stop seven minutes along South Western Highway is the next foodie stop, Harvey Cheese. The family-owned gourmet cheese makers use time-honoured methods and the freshest creamiest local milk. After a tasting, take away some delicious cheese – we love the OMG white mould – to add to a grazing plate at your accommodation. Also, check the website for cheese making classes. All the leftover whey from the cheese making is put to good use at sister business St Duke’s Distillery. It’s fermented for a week, boiled, put through a condenser and cooled down. The 96 per cent alcohol is then put through a charcoal filter, water is added and once it’s distilled with botanicals from neighbouring properties, the end result is gin. Tastings are available from Friday to Sunday and it’s a good idea to book ahead.
Drive a minute up the road to Brugan Brewery which is just behind the historic Wokalup Tavern. Beer tasting gets interesting here with a vanilla porter, dark lager and citrus sour just some of the brews on offer. Take home a growler or two of your favourites.
Where to stay
An easy 25-minute drive on to the Ferguson Valley where you’ll find accommodation options. Book ahead for a cabin at Evedon Lakeside Retreat set on 320 acres and it also has a restaurant on site (open for breakfast and lunch Thursday to Monday and dinner only on Friday and Saturday). You can pre-order a breakfast tray and hampers too.
There is also accommodation at the elegant and romantic Peppermint Lane Lodge B&B https://peppermintlanelodge.com.au.
DAY TWO: FERGUSON VALLEY
Have a hearty breakfast at your accommodation because today’s eating schedule is a late lunch, and if you have an esky, bring that to pick up some things for a light grazing dinner at your accommodation.
Book ahead:
- Tour – see below
- Willow Bridge wine tasting
- Hackersley Estate or Willow Bridge Estate for a lunch
Take a tour
Why not make this a day where everyone can relax by booking a tour (and we recommend to book ahead).
Good Vibes has Funky Fergy group tour that is a mix of wineries and breweries and The Valley, which they describe as a low key tour. Traaverse offers a Ferguson Valley wine tour that includes either a visit to the Wellington Dam or Gnomesville.
Self drive
If you have a designated driver and would like to explore the Ferguson Valley wineries independently, here’s a good way to navigate your way through the region.
Start with a -26 minute drive to the Wellington Dam Wall where you can stretch your legs and widen your eyes in amazement and appreciation when you see the unlikely place for incredible work of public art. he world’s largest dam mural covering 8000m2 titled ‘Reflections’ is by Australian artist Guido Van Helten, depicting local life from yesteryear that includes portraits of migrants, Aboriginal children and locals. The best view of mural is from the WaterCorp lookout. Collie also has an incredible mural trail you can check out too.
From Wellington Dam, drive 16 minutes to King Jarrah , a majestic Jarrah tree that stands 36 metres tall and is estimated to be between 300 and 500 years old. Take a walk through the nearby Wellington Discovery Forest and you might even find a friendly kangaroo to pose with for a selfie.
Start your wine tasting less than 17 minutes’ drive away at Willow Bridge Estate (open 10.30am) – book ahead online to avoid waiting to taste their wines. There are several wine series from the young and exceptional value to preservative free and sparkling, all produced with fruit from the vineyard that was established in 1997.
For lunch choose from Green Door Wines or Hackersley. The focal point of the family-run Green Door Wines just 4 minutes away cellar door is the grand green door, imported from Fez, Morocco and the Moorish theme runs through the winery which produces predominantly Spanish/European wine varietals. Open from 11am, taste and sip, snack and graze and sit back and relax just as the Spanish do and enjoy the stunning views of the Darling Scarp and the coast.
Alternatively, just 12 minutes’ drive is Hackersley Estate which is also a great option for lunch offering a fixed three course feast with a menu that changes every eight weeks. It’ll be hard to tear yourself away from Halliday 5 Star Winery and its tranquil ambience heightened by rolling green views.
After lunch take a short drive down Wellington Mill Road to Gnomesville, a quirky little place filled with thousands of gnomes, one of the world’s biggest communities of gnomes – it’s where gnomes go to live happily ever after. Be sure to check out the ‘Gnoman Empire’.
A short drive to the next stop, St Aidan Wines a family run boutique winery, restaurant and events centre. After tasting Saint Aidan wine they describe as “art in a bottle”, it’s another good option for lunch with a seasonal menu designed around local ingredients. Alternatively, come prepared and fire up the provided gas barbeque and picnic on the banks of the Ferguson River. Check the website for events that include watercolour painting classes, wine and yoga, and there are outdoor movie screenings in the warmer months.
One minute away is Bush Shack Brewery that specialises in all-natural, unfiltered beers, ciders and flavoured alcoholic drinks. Think chilli beer, chocolate milk stout, strawberry blonde hazy pale ale, twisted lemon lager, ginger hard cider, and black cherry bliss inspired by retro cherry cola just to name a few.
On to Ferguson Falls Winery, a four-minute drive from the brewery, for the final wine tasting of the day. It’s the region’s oldest vineyard and the Giumelli family has lived in Geographe for over 120 years. Originally from Northern Italy, you can expect a few Italian varietals and there’s a café too serving pizza, if you can fit anything else in. On weekends the kitchen closes at 3pm, but you can ask what’s available to take home to have for dinner later.
Relax and sleep
After a big and wonderful day out, it’s time to return to your accommodation. Evedon Lakeside Retreat is a 13-minute drive. Spend an evening relaxing, sipping wine or beer that you picked up during the day and grazing on morsels from the region, a pre-ordered hamper from Evedon or your own provisions. Alternatively, book into the restaurant for dinner.
DAY THREE: DONNYBROOK, CAPEL AND RETURN TO PERTH
Check out of Evedon Lakeside Retreat or your accommodation and drive about 25 minutes to Coffee Joy in Boyanup for a cup of Rubra Coffee, WA’s most awarded coffee roaster. There’s a simple menu of toasties, muffins and raw treats. Check Facebook or the website for updates on the monthly Boyanup Farmers Market held on the fourth Sunday of the month, 8am to 12pm, and load up the esky with farm-fresh produce from honey to pecans to olive oil to fresh vegetables and fruit and so much more. Meander through the Boyanup township and pop into the South West Rail and Heritage Centre which includes a miniature railways models.
Drive for 21-minutes to Donnybrook, park the car and explore this cute country town, that’s famous for apples. Grab some morning tea at one of the quaint cafes on the main street, check out the craft collective and call into the Fruit Barn for local fresh apples and other produce – this is the place to fill your esky.
A two-minute drive from the town of Donnybrook is Coughlan Estate which has some of the oldest vines in the Geographe region. The self-sustaining winery has solar panels embedded into its structure which also provides a large surface area for collecting rainwater. There’s straw bale cellar door coated in lime render has good thermal properties and upcycled and recycled materials such as the old Bunbury bank bench is now the tasting bar. During a wine tasting, check out the art on display. There’s several of other wineries nearby including Thomson Brook (11 mins), Barrecas (8 mins) and Oakway Estate (15 mins) too.
Less than 25 minutes away is Smallwater Estate, the most awarded boutique winery in Geographe wine region. The cellar door overlooks a dam where they farm marron some and there’s vistas of rolling hills beyond. Smallwater Estate supplied grapes to Cape Mentelle for many years before making their own wine – try the Zinfandel.
On to Balingup, a 16-minute drive, for lunch. The award-winning pies are famous at the Mushroom Café, or head to the popular Olde Shed Café or a bite to eat. Take a stroll through town, shop at the boutiques and gift stores and call into the Tinderbox, a small manufacturer of aromatherapy products and herbal remedies established over 40 years ago.
Back to the city
Take a 30-minute return scenic drive along the Balingup / Nannup Road (Tourist Drive 251) for magnificent country views before making your way back to the city.
Time to head back to Perth, allow two hours and 40 minutes.
