Sean Blocksidge — The Story Behind Margaret River Discovery Co.
Sean Blocksidge is the founder, owner and sole guide of Margaret River Discovery Co. — a one-man tourism business that came within two weeks of closing, then went on to become one of Australia’s most consistently acclaimed tour experiences.
His story began in semi-rural Wanneroo, on the northern outskirts of Perth, where childhood adventures — and regular misadventures — involved exploring drains, catching snakes in swamps and racing skateboards down the freshly laid, skin-shredding asphalt of the expanding suburbs.
Sean’s parents kept moving further from the city to maintain their connection with the Australian bush. Along the way, the family accumulated a joey kangaroo, a goat, a sheep, several dogs, parrots, mice, hermit crabs and the occasional itinerant lizard. The pet cemetery was extensive. But so too was Sean’s growing affinity with nature, wildlife and wild places.
That connection eventually led him into tourism and hospitality. After studying business and wine appreciation, Sean spent years learning the art of five-star service with Hyatt Hotels before managing a major hotel and helping transform one of Margaret River’s leading wineries into an award-winning tourism destination.
He also travelled extensively, circling the world three times and spending a suspicious amount of time in Canada attempting to convert very average skateboarding skills into equally questionable snowboarding ability.
The adventures continued: a near-drowning, a fractured skull, becoming somewhat lost in the Yukon wilderness, sheltering in a snow cave, several encounters with bears and being chased by a tiger snake and a rattlesnake on two different continents. Remarkably, none of these incidents required stitches.
The lessons lasted: take calculated risks, make the most of every day — and always carry a GPS.
Starting Small, Thinking Big
In 2007, Sean decided to take his biggest calculated risk yet.
After years of helping build successful tourism businesses for other people, he invested everything into creating a tour company of his own. Margaret River Discovery Co. began operating in 2008, just as the Global Financial Crisis arrived.
The timing was dreadful.
Despite careful planning, thousands of dollars spent on advertising produced almost no bookings. During its first year, the business lost close to $100,000 and came within two weeks of shutting down.
The only thing that worked was word of mouth.
From the outset, the Margaret River Discovery Tour was unlike anything else in the region. There were no large buses, no crowded cellar doors and no wine-soaked circuit through half a dozen wineries. Instead, Sean took a maximum of six guests canoeing, hiking, exploring remote bushland by luxury 4WD and behind the scenes of Margaret River’s wine industry.
It was personal, immersive and deeply connected to place.
It was also difficult to explain. Most visitors thought they wanted a conventional wine tour because that was what they already understood. Sean was offering something entirely different:
The tour for people who don’t do tours.
The Reviews That Changed Everything
While the bank balance suggested the business was failing, early guest reviews on a relatively new travel website called Tripadvisor told a very different story.
Guests wrote passionately about the authenticity of the experience, Sean’s storytelling and the feeling that they had discovered a Margaret River most visitors never get to see.
Then the Tripadvisor algorithm kicked in.
Margaret River Discovery Co. climbed to the number-one-ranked tour in Margaret River — and then, extraordinarily, reached number one in Australia, outranking national icons including the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb and the National Gallery of Australia.
The media noticed. Bookings flooded in. And the little one-man business that had nearly disappeared became one of Australia’s great tourism survival stories.
Eighteen years later, Margaret River Discovery Co. has never surrendered its position as Margaret River’s number-one-ranked tour experience.
That consistency has not come from a large team, a fleet of vehicles or a big marketing budget. Sean still personally hosts every tour, drives every kilometre and carries responsibility for every detail of the guest experience.
An Experience That Could Only Exist Here
Sean believes the strongest tourism experiences are inseparable from the places that create them.
Margaret River Discovery Co. exists because of Margaret River. The experience is shaped by this landscape, this community and this remarkable meeting point of river, forest, wine and wild coastline.
The day begins with a peaceful paddle along the pristine upper reaches of Wooditjup Bilya, the Margaret River. There are no crowds and no noise — just calm water, towering trees and the sounds of the surrounding bush.
Guests then travel from river to coast before visiting Yalgardup Waterfall, where local stories, raw honey and the region’s cultural and settlement history deepen their understanding of the landscape.
At Fraser Gallop Estate, Sean takes guests behind the scenes of one of Margaret River’s most acclaimed wineries for a premium tasting and private lunch among the barrels of a working winery.
The afternoon ventures off-road through bushland and remote coastal trails, finishing with a guided hike along a spectacular section of the Cape to Cape Track. Here, ancient granite meets the Southern Ocean, with seasonal whales, wildflowers and sweeping clifftop views providing a suitably dramatic finale.
Throughout the day, Sean brings the region together through the French wine concept of terroir — the relationship between geology, soil, ecology, climate and human influence that helps explain why Margaret River produces some of the world’s most consistently outstanding wine.
It is not simply a tour of Margaret River. It is an invitation to understand what makes Margaret River so remarkable.
Excellence, Done Small
At the heart of Sean’s approach is what he calls the +1 Philosophy: the commitment to deliver every part of the experience one degree better than guests expect.
Sometimes it is a wildlife encounter or a local story shared at exactly the right moment. Sometimes it is an unexpected honey tasting, a change to the itinerary based on the weather, or a collection of professional photographs arriving in a guest’s inbox that same evening.
Individually, they are small details. Together, they transform a good day into a lifelong memory.
This relentless focus on the guest experience has helped the business operate at 94% year-round occupancy while maintaining a strict maximum of six guests. It has also produced a perfect 100% ReviewPro guest sentiment score and a number-one ranking among hundreds of Western Australian tourism operators.
Behind every part of the experience — from the first email to the final photograph — is the consistency and personal care that comes from remaining proudly owner-operated.
It’s tourism delivered on a small scale, with genuine attention, connection and heart.
A Bigger Purpose, A Smaller Footprint
Sean’s original vision extended beyond creating a successful tour. He wanted to prove that small-scale tourism could be commercially successful while also protecting landscapes, supporting local businesses and strengthening the community around it.
That vision is guided by one enduring principle:
Travel should give more than it takes.
Over nearly two decades, Margaret River Discovery Co. has become an advocate for high-value, low-impact and regenerative tourism. Sean has collaborated with local businesses, conservation organisations, Traditional Custodians, tourism leaders and government agencies to encourage a more thoughtful way of experiencing Margaret River.
The business remains intentionally small, flexible and locally connected. It treads lightly, buys locally, shares genuine stories and encourages visitors to care more deeply about the place they have come to see.
For Sean, this is Australian tourism at its best: authentic, sustainable, high-value and deeply human.
Recognition
- Margaret River’s number-one-ranked tour experience on Tripadvisor for 18 consecutive years
- Gold — Best Tour Operator, WA Tourism Awards 2024 and 2025
- Bronze — Tours and Transport Operators, Australian Tourism Awards
- Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Best of the Best — Top 10 Experiences in Australia
- Recognition among the top 1% of experiences worldwide on Tripadvisor
- Number-one tour experience in Western Australia on Tripadvisor
- FACET Golden Guide of the Year, 2010
- Western Australian 40under40 Award
- RedBalloon Best of Australia recognition
- A perfect 100% ReviewPro guest sentiment score
Deeper Reach, Not Greater Scale
The future of Margaret River Discovery Co. is not about more buses, more departures or more guests.
Sean is not interested in building an empire. Growth will come through deeper connection: stronger partnerships, continuous learning, better storytelling and the constant refinement of an already extraordinary guest experience.
The business will remain proudly boutique, personal and owner-led.
Because after nearly two decades, Sean still believes the best tourism experiences are not defined by how many people they reach, but by how deeply they affect the people who experience them.
“I feel incredibly privileged to share this place. I’m not chasing scale — I’m chasing soul. Because when it’s done well, small tourism can leave the biggest impact.”
