The sun was shining when we woke to a beautiful day in Gracetown WA.

After breakfast we went out to the beach at Gracetown to check out the surf first before heading out for the day to explore Margaret River.

The surf was not particularly big and Gordie decided he was not going to go in til maybe later today as it was predicted that the swell would pick up.

There was a surf school and a lot of female surfers out in the mid section…

Some of the surfers were catching some good waves on the point.

We went back to the caravan park and picked up the others  – first stop Bettenay Wines and Nougat…

Bettenay Winery had some beautiful sculptures in the grounds…

We all sampled some of the nougats and wines then made a few purchases.. taking advantage of the buy 4 get 1 free for the nougat bars – amazing flavours such as pistachio and rosewater, vanilla bean and almond….

Next stop was Margaret River Providores where we spent some considerable time sampling sauces, jams, syrups and spreads.

In the carpark was a very apt rego number on one of the patrons vehicles….

They had a huge range of produce – something for everyone… so we selected our produce then sat down for coffee in the beautiful gardens…

On to Fishbone Wines where we had planned to have lunch – it looked like a great place to eat with a huge fishtank in the middle of the restaurant area but unfortunately, they could not accommodate the 8 of us for lunch…

We went across the road to the Margaret River Chocolate Company to see if we could get in for lunch there (much to Trev’s disappointment NOT) – we were able to order lunches there – gourmet toasties for most of us – Beryl opted for pulled pork nachos which most of us had not seen on the menu…

After sampling some free chocolate (Trev, Klaus and Gordie had more than their fair share…) and purchasing some “Mother’s Day Gifts” we were back on the road and arrived at The Grove Distillery and Brewery for some gin, port and whisky tasting… but no purchases. The grounds were beautifully landscaped with a great pond and water feature…

Our last stop was Knottinghill Wines where Gordie, Kerry and Dave did a wine tasting and made a purchase or two.

On the way home we stopped so Gordie and Trev could pick up some firewood for tonight’s fire.

Trev and Gordie then had a quick swim at Gracetown Beach….

We had nibblies around the fire instead of dinner as everyone was full after the day’s samplings…

That night it had been predicted that the Aurora Australis would be able to be seen in Southwest WA so I planned with Trev to go out to Cape Leeuwin National Park headland at Gracetown to look south as there would be no ambient light at that area and should provide a good view.

We got to the carpark at 2200hrs and as we got out of the car with the camera we could see a glow beginning towards the south – I took a shot with the camera and was so surprised to see the vivid red/orange glow of the aurora.

I spent the next 35-40 minutes taking pics of this amazing phenomenon…. We were so fortunate to arrive when we did to capture this rare event….