Margaret River Heritage Trail

A few however as I've discovered over the years still exist in one way or another but like this one, are only evident when you are standing right in front of the information board. The funny thing about the Margaret River HT information board is that isn't exactly hiding from plain sight as it's clearly visible from Bussell Hwy as you drive into town. It's one of those things that because I wasn't looking for it I never noticed it and even though I would have passed it a dozen times or so since starting the website, it never caught my attention. After visiting a few places that were closed on New Year's Day and having a late lunch I made my way to the Rotary Park car park ready to explore the area and see if I could retrace the original route. The park is a great place to take the family and while I was wandering around looking at all the trail information boards from various time periods there were plenty of people around enjoying the facilities. I had a photo of the map of the heritage trail on my phone but stumbled across the original trail head complete with maps and info that was in surprisingly good condition. As I had already planned my route based off the brochure, I took a photo of the info board for reference (they differ from each other) and walked towards the Bussell Hwy bridge to begin my hike. There are plenty of paths that you can take that cross Bussell Hwy but I chose to use the original trail that goes under the bridge because I'm a bit of a troll and it's much more fun that waiting for holiday traffic. The reward for this is your first meeting with Margaret River and the lily covered surfaces that are great to photograph.

Being a dual use trail there is a warning sign for the lack of clearance under the bridge and being 6ft1 I also had to duck my head. If it wasn't for the noise coming from the highway traffic you could be forgiven for thinking you could be in the middle of the bush following an idyllic river course. There is a cool vantage point along this stretch with a fallen tree providing a nice walkway into the river (take care) and allowing you to get right out amongst it for plenty of cool photo opportunities. This whole stretch is a great introduction to the area and with the setting sun providing plenty a nice golden hue to the forest lined paths hugging the river. Around the bend you get your first glimpse of the first weir you will come across in your journeys. These weirs have been put in place to protect the river and keep it in a healthy state but also serve as a fun feature to photograph and provide access to the other side of the river. There is a car park where the weir meets the path and this is where the trail gets a bit confusing. I had two conflicting maps, one stated the trail followed the course of the river and the other had you run parallel with Carters Rd. I saw a well defined path leading next to the river and naturally thought that this was the correct way but after passing through some lovely fern lined scenes the path became harder to follow and eventually I was spat out into a clearing that bordered a nearby property.