Times traveller Nicki Güles reports from the Outback:

I spent three days on tour this week with a crazy and entertaining tour guide named Neil McLeod.

He comes from a little town called Margaret River, about three hours south of Perth, and now known for award-winning wines.

McLeod loves showing people around his “back yard” which includes a dairy farm once owned by his grandparents and now occupied by kangaroos.

The McLeods came here in the 1800s – his grandfather had a creek named after him – and Neil still lives on the old farm, along with the ‘roos.

A tour guide of over 25 years, Neil knows his stuff and his tour commentary is laced with anecdotes about his childhood here.

The first people to grow backyard vines in the neighbourhood of some of the world’s best Chardonnays were the Italians, the first of whom arrived as prisoners of war during the Second World War.

After the war the Italian labourers were given incentives by the Australian government in the 1950s and 1960s to come and work the land.

Driving past the old school bus stop, Neil, now 56, tells a story about the poor Palazzola children he used to watch every morning running blisteringly fast towards the school bus.

“A few metres after them ran Mrs Palazzola, cracking a whip, and shouting: ‘Getta to school! Getta to school!’, and the whip would go bang! bang! bang!,” Neil recalled, pointing out their old farmhouse.

Neil does a tremendous tour and not just of the wineries and wine tastings which include the spectacular Leeuwin Estate, from which producer comes Australia’s best chardonnay, the multi-award-winning 2006 Art Series.

He also does a kangaroo safari on his farm which he says was in response to numerous requests from guests who had only ever seen the animals lying dead on the highway.

Also included in the tour is a trip to the spectacular Lake Caves, Australia’s Leeuwin lighthouse which overlooks the meeting place of the Southern and Indian oceans, and a trip to a brewery and chocolate factory.

The picture, taken on the kangaroo tour, demonstrating his somewhat risky method of “brewing tea in a billy” which he had boiling on a fire on his farm.

To see what else Neil gets up to, go to www.toursmargaretriver.com.au.

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