WILD AT HEART

IT’S BEEN SOME TIME SINCE I’ve clambered onboard a wine bus and ticked off cellar doors one after another. In more recent times, I’ve favoured wine-paired degustations stretching across languorous afternoons at fancy winery restaurants. Either way, the resulting buzz is sometimes not all that dissimilar. Enter WA’s lengthy border closures and a time of unexpected stillness and reflection that, as for many Australians, shifted my priorities. During the slow-down, I noticed nature’s seasons like never before and thought deeply about my impact on the Earth – and my own body. Coming out the other side, I’m no longer interested in unnecessary excess. Instead, I’m pursuing conscious escapes where I rest, revive and reconnect with nature, and my clear-eyed self.

You could be forgiven for assuming that the Margaret River Region’s glamorous reputation and weekend hotspot status means there’s little room for green leanings. But beneath the slick surface is a place rife with good-for-the-Earth experiences that go well beyond brown-paper menus. Think forested e-bike roams between vineyards, off-grid dining experiences where food waste goes to the pigs (who later