Discover Cowaramup: History, Cycling and Local Flavours

Cowaramup offers unusual discoveries spanning local history, cycling and regional flavours. On the self-guided Cowaramup Heritage Trail, you’ll encounter historic sites and hidden places; the Wadandi Track runs for 25 kilometres from Cowaramup through Margaret River to Witchcliffe. There are also cow sculptures, tastings and insights into local history. Which of these aspects interests you most may also play a role in choosing where to stay on your holiday.

Explore local history at your own pace

The Cowaramup Heritage Trail is a self-guided route through attractions, hidden places and historic sites in Cowaramup. It tells the story of the town’s beginnings as a settlement under the Group Settlement Scheme in the early 1920s. Dairy farming and timber work shaped the foundations of this settlement’s history, offering a glimpse of the work that helped shape Cowaramup in its early development.

The name also refers to the Wadandi language: “cowara” means purple-crowned lorikeet, while “up” means “place of”. Another historic site marked on the Heritage Trail is the 23 Mile Well. Established in 1894, it was an important supply point for travellers and livestock on the route between Busselton and Augusta. In this way, the trail connects the town’s history with an earlier route through the region.

Experience the Wadandi Track on foot or by bike

The Wadandi Track runs for 25 kilometres from Cowaramup through Margaret River to Witchcliffe. It passes through forests and farmland, with scenic spots along the way where you can stop. The trail is relatively flat and can be explored on foot or by bike. It is also suitable as an introduction to cycling off sealed roads.

The track offers a different way to experience the area from the historic sites in town: the focus along the way is on the landscape and getting active. You may find Cowaramup especially appealing if you’d like to combine local history with active time outdoors. When choosing a holiday apartment or holiday home in Cowaramup, you can consider whether these kinds of discoveries suit the holiday you have in mind.

Brewery, olive farm and regional produce

The Cowaramup Brewing Company offers tastings of handcrafted ales and lagers, as well as meals focused on regional produce. Behind-the-scenes tours give visitors the opportunity to meet the brewer, visit the hop garden and learn more about the brewing process. It’s a way to learn about beer not only by tasting it, but also by seeing how it’s made.

Another focus for food lovers is Olio Bello, a 320-acre certified organic olive farm in Cowaramup. The farm includes a gourmet tasting room, farm shop and Mediterranean café. There you can experience a range of olive oils and try farm-made spreads, chutneys, dips, marinated olives, sauces and tapenades. The café serves a farm-to-plate menu inspired by olive oil, regional produce and the seasons. The brewery tour and olive tasting offer different highlights: one focuses on the brewing process and hops, the other on olive oil and products made from it.

Cow sculptures offer a playful discovery

There are 42 life-sized fibreglass models of Friesian cows and calves in Cowaramup. Visitors can take photos with the sculptures and search among them for the hidden Molly Moo Cow. This search gives a walk around town a specific goal and offers a different kind of discovery from the historic sites on the Heritage Trail.

Whether you’d like to spend your trip exploring history, cycling, regional produce or the cow sculptures, Cowaramup brings together these different reasons to visit without requiring you to turn them into a single itinerary. Choose a holiday rental in Cowaramup if you’d like the town itself to be the starting point for your explorations; you can decide which experiences to include based on your interests.

More places at this level: Gnarabup, Augusta, Witchcliffe.

Return to the higher-level travel overview: Shire of Augusta-Margaret River.