7. Swans escape to the Avon - Perth to York and back!
The Perth region covers two lovely valleys named after the rivers that run through them - the Swan Valley and the Avon Valley - and there is a great deal you could do on your Swans escape to the Avon Escape - so it requires careful planning. You could just laze around and relax with a great meal and a beaut Australian wine or beer - alternatively there are many things (perhaps too many) that you could do. So we will provide some tastes of the Valley for you to assess.
Now neither the Swan not the the Avon are particularly large rivers and are not the massive watercourses that some of Western Australia's mighty northern rivers become in the wet - but the Avon drains about 121,000 square kilometres of WA's agricultural region and reaches beyond Southern Cross. It changes it's name to the Swan River at Woorooloo Brook and then flows down into the Swan Valley and on to the lovely capital city of Perth (see photo) before flowing out to the sea at the famous port city of Fremantle.
The Swan Valley is the closest to Perth and the Swan Valley begins about 30 minutes drive from Perth. It has been a grape growing area for many years but over the last two decades has developed a substantial number of tourist attractions serving Perth visitors and locals alike. So of course it is busy on weekends and in many ways the best time to go (if you want the place pretty much to yourself) is midweek - just check that the things you want to do are available as they are not all open all of the time. Some of the better tours like Sandalfords Winemaker for the Day are only available on weekends and that one is only available on Saturdays.
There are some excellent wineries, restaurants, micro breweries, chocolate and cheese factories and other attractions for you to chose from here .
Now if you think you can only escape the clutches of the Jailors for a couple of nights the Swans escape to the Avon is a nice simple escape for you to trial your escape procedure with.
There are so many alternatives available to you in these lovely valleys that it can be difficult to select just a few so we have recommended just a few for you to consider - if you want to consider others have a look around our site and to gain a more complete understanding of what is available another good option is the Swan Valley Tourism Association website the URL for which is:
http://www.swanvalley.com.au/
and the Swan Valley Visitor Centre address is at the Historic Guildford Courthouse c.1866 Cnr Meadow and Swan Streets GUILDFORD Mail: PO Box 196 MIDLAND WA 6936 Phone: +61 8 9379 9400 Fax: +61 8 9379 9477 Email: visitorcentre@swan.wa.gov.au
The Visitor Centre is the starting point of our Swans escape to Ningaloo package and so for more information about that you could have a look at that itinerary and the early parts of day one of the first episode in our exciting DriveWA series with IPTV and Loco TV which will be on the website soon. Come back soon and see if it is available perhaps. You will enjoy it.
We recommend that you make a leisurely start to the day on day one and drive to the Sandalford Winery via the Swan Valley Visitors center - just to see if there is something else you might like to consider and also because the centre and the historical area around it is a great place to wander around.
Sandalford gets our recommendation as they are so professional, their product is first class and they have been great to deal with in compiling these escapes and information for them. We would recommend you do their winemakers tour:
http://www.sandalford.com/Cellar-Door/winemaker-for-a-day.html
In this excellent tour you learn how to blend wine and get the opportunity to blend some of your own which some of their wine experts will blend and then emjoy a sumptuous meal in their lovely restaurant. Its a great morning and early afternoon entertainment from 11am to 2pm Saturdays.
Bookings are essential to ensure that you do not miss out. We would recommend lunch there on day 1 anyway and an hour or so browsing their retail area and lovely tasting room.
They also run winery tours every day of the week at 11am and 2pm so even if you are not there saturday or cannot get into the winemaker for a day tour there is another tour you can take wrapped around a lunch in the restaurant.
When we were there filming the Swans escape to Ningaloo footage we sampled a number of their wines and the food and it was all very very good - the Sandalford red we purchased was divine and their sticky (desert wine) was outstanding.

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Quellington School House
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Lancelin Lodge YHA
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Goomalling Museum
Once a school it now displays the history of the town. more
Brookton Telecentre
Community Telecentres can be used to access Telephone, Fax, Email and Internet services and are independent incorporated bodies owned by the community. They provides services which stimulate the creative use of telecommunications and computer technology for information access, education, employment, training and business enterprise. more
Cape Peron
Cape Peron is one of the best places for shore diving and snorkelling and has ideal beaches for children. The water is dotted with reefs, caves and swim-throughs making it a great area to explore. more
Accommodation West
Located at the world-renowned Scarborough Beach in Western Australia. more
Rottnest Bayseeker Service
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Explore WA including: North West, Coral Coast, Golden Outback, Perth and South West.
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