Painting

Top 3 coastal destinations for creativity in Margaret River, 2018

Image: @amazing_wa

1. Indijup Natural Spa

One of the most stunning places to visit - for dramatic rocks, sweeping vistas and amazing ocean aqua blue colours is the north tip of Indijup Beach. There is a bit of a goat track from the north-most parking spot, which leads the painting enthusiast to a natural spa... If you have some good walking shoes and strong ankles you can crab climb to the swimming hole - feel the rush of the waves as they flood over the barrier rocks and bubble up dow into the 'spa'. 

If you have an enthusiasm for photography and people watching you might find it reminds you of an exotic European swimming site - full of backpackers accents from far afield and often quite busy with children and scoop nets. 

The view down to Injidup beach's clean sweeping sands is framed by granite orange rocks and low coastal wildflowers in the Spring.

2. Flinders Bay 

Flinders Bay's old boat ramp and the remains of the old railway bridge that brought the big trees out of Boranup Forest further North, provide  a great location for a rock pool hunt with children at low tide where, if you are lucky you'll find purple, red and orange  starfish and lime green Sea Hairs. Further around the corner, find Grannies Pool - hidden and perfectly flat and warm when there is no wind. The swimming is good in high summer and even in winter as this part of the coast often sees a warmer water temp than further up the coast. The Fishing boats at the Boat Marina (drive south towards the lighthouse 2 mins) provide some great sketching opportunities - and a little further on enjoy the Lighthouse (10 min drive)  and the stunning dramatic coastline that leads to it.  For a fabulous stretch of Rock and dramatic landscape Vistas, park at Quarry Bay and climb up onto the rocks heading towards the light house... the rocks here are enormous and stretch over a huge area, Texture, shape and colour variations are wonderful and you can feel like an explorer on another planet. Take your charcoal and a sketching board  and some strong bulldog clips if its windy - you'll have a wonderful time.

 

3. Contos Beach

For a spectacular birds eye view over this stunning beach, park to the very side of the Contos beach road (be careful not to damage the flora!) where you see the Cape to Cape walking track cross over sign. A short walk about 150m will bring you to the cliff top.  At the right time of the year you'll see whales spouting and big schools of fish. To find this road turn off Caves Road into the Lake Caves/ Contos Campsite access road. Swimming at Contos is not recommended as it has dramatic rips.