An Escape for Mum and Dad
Monday - Margaret River and Geographe Bay
Yesterday (Sunday) we took the 4-hour drive South to Margaret River and did a Bush Tucker wine tour. We participated in tastings at 4 wineries, Bootleg Brewery, the chocolate factory and Fonti cheese farm. Yum! A fabulous day. For lunch, we enjoyed a cold plate that included hibiscus petals, corned kangaroo, salad, turkey (which is rare -- here, the Aussies love their ham, but typically only eat turkey at Christmas time), sun dried tomatoes, fresh breads, chutneys, pesto, and other condiments, kalamata olives, marinated mushrooms, and a bunch of other stuff I can't recall at the moment. I do know there was a witchety worm, that someone ate in exchange for a bottle of wine (!). We were hte only Americans on teh tour, which was great because we got to meet a lot of locals. We were pretty tired after all that wine, so we just walked to the grocery for some nibbles, and headed back to our room at the B&B to enjoy a DVD ("Narnia.")
Today we struck out on our own -- The morning began with a gourmet breakfast at the B&B (Margaret River Guest House - Chris and his wife were absolutely Divine hosts) and then off for our journey to the Southwest corner of Australia.
First stop was Leeuwin Cove Lighthouse -- so named for a certain man named Leeuwin, he was (we were told) the first person to circumnavigate Australia, and he began his journey from this cove. The lighthouse is still operational today, and despite its 100 years of service, a ridiculous amount of ships have wrecked in the submerged rocks near the lighthouse (but none have run aground, so that's something, I suppose). The views from the rocks just beyond the lighthouse are absolutely breathtaking.
This is the spot where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. The shades of green are so gorgeous, they don't even look real. We shot some video for my online TV show (Be-Do-Have It ALL) and we had to tear ourselves away from the spot in order to carry on with our day.
After a quick chat with Trudy from the lighthouse gift shop, we decided to skip the nearby cave tour in lieu of whale watching -- and what a good call that was. About 5 mins from the lighthouse, we stopped at Flinder's Bay and saw at least 3 whales (they come into the bay to calf) less than 50 meters offshore. Gorgeous! Shot some more video and loads of still pix of the bay and of these magestic creatures.
Next stop was Augusta for some fish and chips -- we were told that we simply MUST sample some Augusta Whiting, so that's exactly what we had. Delish! I also tried my first "corn jack" which was quite yummy. Somehow I think my descriptino won't really do it justice, but here goes anyway: imagine creamed corn rolled in a dense wrap and deep-fried. I'm telling you, between pineapple fritters and corn jacks, the Deep South in the U.S. is really missing out. Growing up in New Orleans, I thought I'd eaten everything fried that could possibly BE fried, but mmmmm-mmmmmm-mmmmmmm these were tasty.
After lunch we headed up to 2 wineries -- just to "swish and spit" since we were both expecting to take turns driving the long way back to Currambine. Voyager is the "swankiest" of the Margaret River vineyards, and it certainly had the most decadent cellar door. Tastings are enjoyed in Reidel glasses, no less. They have a Cabernet-Sauvignon-Merlot that is absolutely divine. Yummy.
Last stop for the daylight hours was Leeuwin Winery, where a charming bloke served us some quite tasty wines. Fortunately, this winery has a distributor in the U.S. who ships to Colorado (hooray!) which is a dang good thing, because we absolutely fell in love wiht their Art Series Chardonnay. This is the first oaked Chardonnay (French Oak actually) that I ever fell in love with. At $85AUS a bottle, it's definitely worth every penny.
In fact, I couldn't bring myslef to taste anything else after that Chardonnay -- I just wanted to let it linger on my palate.
Yeah, it was THAT good.
Today was also my first real attempt at driving on the left-hand side of the road. Actually, it was quite simple -- the only thing that messed me up was that the turn signal is on the right of hte steering wheel. So I put my windshield wipers on quite a bit to signal that I was changing lanes. Ah, well.
Just before we reached Perth (remember, we were driving up North from the southwestern tip of Oz to Currambine, which is north of Perth -- a 4 hour drive altogether), I noticed how clear the night sky was, and I suggested that we pull over to enjoy teh stars.
Holy cow -- I don't think I've ever seen so many stars! Western Australia has (what I call) Big Sky, like Colorado, and getting away from the lights of the city means you can see billions upon billions of stars. Magnificent!
We arrived back at the house in Currambine just in time to kiss the girls goodnight. Penny said they were both excellent while we were away, so it sounds like everyone had a great time.
Another spectacular couple of days!
Yesterday (Sunday) we took the 4-hour drive South to Margaret River and did a Bush Tucker wine tour. We participated in tastings at 4 wineries, Bootleg Brewery, the chocolate factory and Fonti cheese farm. Yum! A fabulous day. For lunch, we enjoyed a cold plate that included hibiscus petals, corned kangaroo, salad, turkey (which is rare -- here, the Aussies love their ham, but typically only eat turkey at Christmas time), sun dried tomatoes, fresh breads, chutneys, pesto, and other condiments, kalamata olives, marinated mushrooms, and a bunch of other stuff I can't recall at the moment. I do know there was a witchety worm, that someone ate in exchange for a bottle of wine (!). We were hte only Americans on teh tour, which was great because we got to meet a lot of locals. We were pretty tired after all that wine, so we just walked to the grocery for some nibbles, and headed back to our room at the B&B to enjoy a DVD ("Narnia.")
Today we struck out on our own -- The morning began with a gourmet breakfast at the B&B (Margaret River Guest House - Chris and his wife were absolutely Divine hosts) and then off for our journey to the Southwest corner of Australia.
First stop was Leeuwin Cove Lighthouse -- so named for a certain man named Leeuwin, he was (we were told) the first person to circumnavigate Australia, and he began his journey from this cove. The lighthouse is still operational today, and despite its 100 years of service, a ridiculous amount of ships have wrecked in the submerged rocks near the lighthouse (but none have run aground, so that's something, I suppose). The views from the rocks just beyond the lighthouse are absolutely breathtaking.
This is the spot where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. The shades of green are so gorgeous, they don't even look real. We shot some video for my online TV show (Be-Do-Have It ALL) and we had to tear ourselves away from the spot in order to carry on with our day.
After a quick chat with Trudy from the lighthouse gift shop, we decided to skip the nearby cave tour in lieu of whale watching -- and what a good call that was. About 5 mins from the lighthouse, we stopped at Flinder's Bay and saw at least 3 whales (they come into the bay to calf) less than 50 meters offshore. Gorgeous! Shot some more video and loads of still pix of the bay and of these magestic creatures.
Next stop was Augusta for some fish and chips -- we were told that we simply MUST sample some Augusta Whiting, so that's exactly what we had. Delish! I also tried my first "corn jack" which was quite yummy. Somehow I think my descriptino won't really do it justice, but here goes anyway: imagine creamed corn rolled in a dense wrap and deep-fried. I'm telling you, between pineapple fritters and corn jacks, the Deep South in the U.S. is really missing out. Growing up in New Orleans, I thought I'd eaten everything fried that could possibly BE fried, but mmmmm-mmmmmm-mmmmmmm these were tasty.
After lunch we headed up to 2 wineries -- just to "swish and spit" since we were both expecting to take turns driving the long way back to Currambine. Voyager is the "swankiest" of the Margaret River vineyards, and it certainly had the most decadent cellar door. Tastings are enjoyed in Reidel glasses, no less. They have a Cabernet-Sauvignon-Merlot that is absolutely divine. Yummy.
Last stop for the daylight hours was Leeuwin Winery, where a charming bloke served us some quite tasty wines. Fortunately, this winery has a distributor in the U.S. who ships to Colorado (hooray!) which is a dang good thing, because we absolutely fell in love wiht their Art Series Chardonnay. This is the first oaked Chardonnay (French Oak actually) that I ever fell in love with. At $85AUS a bottle, it's definitely worth every penny.
In fact, I couldn't bring myslef to taste anything else after that Chardonnay -- I just wanted to let it linger on my palate.
Yeah, it was THAT good.
Today was also my first real attempt at driving on the left-hand side of the road. Actually, it was quite simple -- the only thing that messed me up was that the turn signal is on the right of hte steering wheel. So I put my windshield wipers on quite a bit to signal that I was changing lanes. Ah, well.
Just before we reached Perth (remember, we were driving up North from the southwestern tip of Oz to Currambine, which is north of Perth -- a 4 hour drive altogether), I noticed how clear the night sky was, and I suggested that we pull over to enjoy teh stars.
Holy cow -- I don't think I've ever seen so many stars! Western Australia has (what I call) Big Sky, like Colorado, and getting away from the lights of the city means you can see billions upon billions of stars. Magnificent!
We arrived back at the house in Currambine just in time to kiss the girls goodnight. Penny said they were both excellent while we were away, so it sounds like everyone had a great time.
Another spectacular couple of days!
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