Our second week in Margaret River was spent visiting more wineries (!), the better known ones being Vasse Felix, Cape Mentelle, Mad Fish and Leeuwin. We were quite impressed by the different styles of buildings, gardens and restaurants incorporated in the large operations. We have also enjoyed the wines and tried some of the varieties not often seen in the retail outlets.
We have visited Prevelly Beach which is at the mouth of the Margaret River. The day we did this was very windy and we have probably taken more photographs of waves crashing into rocks in the last week than in the last 20 years - beautiful and powerful. We also visited the Mammoth Cave which does not have much colour but is better known for its fossils. The cave is in the middle of a Marri forest (not a spelling mistake) and the walk through this was delightful.
As the election was getting close we drove to Bunbury to the AEC Divisional office to vote so we had a look around this rather nice township. We climbed its viewing tower (another 100 steps on top of the 170 that it took to get out of Mammoth Cave), walked the mangrove boardwalk and visited Capel Vale winery on the way back.
On the days we were not feeling energetic we took short walks along the River bank and visited local galleries where we did see some rather lovely paintings, jarrah furniture, colourful glass and exquisite jewellery. Had we won lotto it would have been fun shopping, as it was we just admired.
The other area we visited was Cape Naturaliste where we walked out to the whale watch viewing platform and did see three whales making their way south. From that point we drove through Dunsborough which was already filling up with "Schoolies" (Western Australia's Gold Coast) on to Busselton. The jetty was 1.7km long and we got our exercise walking to the end and back. In addition we visited the Underwater Observatory which descended 30ft and we could see the beautifully coloured coral and sponges attached to the piers. Several largish schools of fish swam past as well as many small coloured/striped specimens
The whole strip from the tip of Cape Naturaliste to Busselton is in expansion mode. There are more caravan parks along the sea shore than you can poke a stick at and each religious/school group seems to have camping areas for members to use.
The end of next week takes us on to Pemberton where the really big trees start.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
Margaret River
It was a pleasant drive down to the township of Margaret River on Sunday. A little reminiscent of Bowral/Berrima with many galleries and tourist retailers. There are apparently 91 wineries in the area but we may need to be a little selective or the boutique prices may blow our budget out of the water.
Our park is 800 m from the town centre and there is both a Coles and an IGA in town. To date we have taken a tour which covered the wineries of Watershed, Redgate and Bettenay and the Venison farm which does produce very tasty salami, cheese kransky, cabana and Choritsos as well as pate and fresh meat. We were also taken to the Margaret River
Cheese Factory but there was nothing there that was not available in the supermarkets, the Chocolate Factory which while providing tasty chocolate was certainly priced expensively e.g. 100g dark chocolate $5.95. As a bonus (!) we visited the Lavender farm and whilst the lavender infused wines did not appeal to our taste buds there was a very pleasant garden (there are apparently 98 different lavender varieties) and an enormous range of lavender products. The final stop was the Colonial brewery where there were 5 different beer varieties available for tasting. As we are more prone to the fruit of the grape we did not indulge here but according to those who like beer, the experience was interesting.
This morning we took off for the 50Km drive down to Augusta and the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. We were fortunate to strike a really lovely day and the meeting of the Indian and Southern Oceans was quite spectacular especially viewed from the top of the lighthouse (176 steps thank you very much). There was also a fossilised waterwheel to see which had provided fresh water from a spring for the three lighthousekeeper families back in 1895.
The drive back through the karri forest was magnificent and made one feel quite insignificant.
We look forward to much more meandering in this area.
Our park is 800 m from the town centre and there is both a Coles and an IGA in town. To date we have taken a tour which covered the wineries of Watershed, Redgate and Bettenay and the Venison farm which does produce very tasty salami, cheese kransky, cabana and Choritsos as well as pate and fresh meat. We were also taken to the Margaret River
Cheese Factory but there was nothing there that was not available in the supermarkets, the Chocolate Factory which while providing tasty chocolate was certainly priced expensively e.g. 100g dark chocolate $5.95. As a bonus (!) we visited the Lavender farm and whilst the lavender infused wines did not appeal to our taste buds there was a very pleasant garden (there are apparently 98 different lavender varieties) and an enormous range of lavender products. The final stop was the Colonial brewery where there were 5 different beer varieties available for tasting. As we are more prone to the fruit of the grape we did not indulge here but according to those who like beer, the experience was interesting.
This morning we took off for the 50Km drive down to Augusta and the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. We were fortunate to strike a really lovely day and the meeting of the Indian and Southern Oceans was quite spectacular especially viewed from the top of the lighthouse (176 steps thank you very much). There was also a fossilised waterwheel to see which had provided fresh water from a spring for the three lighthousekeeper families back in 1895.
The drive back through the karri forest was magnificent and made one feel quite insignificant.
We look forward to much more meandering in this area.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Fremantle continued
We have found that staying in one place for a substantial period of time certainly gives a better insight into how it would be to live there. The past couple of weeks have been spent doing the normal maintenance of cleaning, shopping, washing (ironing) etc.
We also took a tour to New Norcia as you will note from the photographs and found that whilst it is religion based and there were many chapels to visit, religion as such certainly was not imposed.
The artworks were admirable, the hand pressed metal ceilings beautiful as were the wood carvings and peace reigned. In addition we took the ferry from Fremantle to Perth on a brilliant sunny morning, wandered around the city and then took the train back. The Botanical Gardens and Kings Park are wonderfully set out with the aerial Walkway, shady paths, bubbling brooks and fountains.
We have had fish and chips on the pier and cooked prawns on the George Foreman.
We propose to head off to the Margaret River on Sunday to sample their fare!!
We also took a tour to New Norcia as you will note from the photographs and found that whilst it is religion based and there were many chapels to visit, religion as such certainly was not imposed.
The artworks were admirable, the hand pressed metal ceilings beautiful as were the wood carvings and peace reigned. In addition we took the ferry from Fremantle to Perth on a brilliant sunny morning, wandered around the city and then took the train back. The Botanical Gardens and Kings Park are wonderfully set out with the aerial Walkway, shady paths, bubbling brooks and fountains.
We have had fish and chips on the pier and cooked prawns on the George Foreman.
We propose to head off to the Margaret River on Sunday to sample their fare!!
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