WHERE TO STAY

INJIDUP has one of the most dramatic settings of any Margaret River accommodation option but it is hardly alone in the ultra-luxury hotel game. Farther north along the Cape to Cape Track is Smiths Beach Resort, which looks out over a well-known surf beach and offers everything from two-room cabins to four-bedroom beach houses. Inland, Forest Rise Chalets has free-standing cabins that are nestled into a fairyland-like forest, where kangaroos lope through trees in front of your bedroom window. There are also many glamping companies in the area.

Budget options are plentiful, as well. Camp sites abound, including the region’s many national parks. A little way up the coast from the luxe Smiths Beach Resort is Yallingup Beach Holiday Park, where cabins rent for as little as A$90 (R884) a night or about $63, and camp sites are even cheaper. Margaret River is home to a host of cheerful motels with reasonable rates.

Perth’s hotel rooms are not as full as a decade ago. Western Australia’s tourism board and IMG are both looking for ways to expand the success of the Gourmet Escape to other areas of the state. This year, the festival will expand from four to 10 days and events will take place in Perth, Margaret River and the Swan Valley, a wine-growing region north-east of Perth. Whether they will find the same success in other parts of the state remains to be seen. Margaret River owes a lot to the Gourmet Escape but its newfound popularity is undoubtedly due to the trees, light and astonishing ocean.