New location for Gourmet Escape beach BBQ

Organisers of the Margaret River Gourmet Escape have been forced to change the opening night venue because of “substantial movements of sand” at Smiths Beach.

The opening night event and Gourmet Beach BBQ events have been moved to Castle Bay Beach in Meelup Regional Park.

Event director Naomi Wilson said the sand movement was caused by “recent forces of nature” in the area.

“We have been carefully monitoring Smiths Beach and waited as long as possible to make a decision, but unfortunately there is just not sufficient sand to host the event,” she said.

“We are confident that the new location will still provide the quintessential West Australian beach BBQ experience.”

This year’s Escape line-up includes iconic chef Heston Blumenthal as well as Sat Bains, Alex Atala, Neil Perry, Guillaume Brahimi and Matt Moran.

Blumenthal was forced to withdraw from last year’s event after two of his top chefs died in a traffic accident in Hong Kong.

Castle Bay Beach is located 15 minutes north of Smiths Beach.

The Gourmet Escape runs from November 22-24.

Source: The West Australian, 14 October 2013