Newsletter 14.

Perth to Margaret River.

Monday 26^th October, as we left Perth the rain became a rather constant companion and the cold by then, we were getting used to. The suitcase had been opened and the winter coats and long pants have come out of mothballs. We headed south on the Kwinana Freeway, which is freeway No 2, this eventually took us into Rockingham a smallish coastal town some 26klm south of Fremantle. From there we continued down the coast stopping to look at the beautiful ocean vista, amazed at how busy and built up these towns were as it became very difficult to decipher where one town ended and another began. Mandurah arrived before we knew it and again where does this town begin and end. The gardens along this stretch of land began to fascinate us and we noted people’s obsession with Roses, in all shapes and color. The competition seems fierce! We found a caravan park at Falcon called Miami Holiday Park, an interesting place that I feel I should not comment on other than to say ‘it’s old and needs a huge make over or bulldozer’. We managed to acquire a ‘lakeside’ site, now that means if you stand on a seat you may see the lake through high reeds and paper barks, however there was a walk we took the next day that was very pretty. We snuggled in with a couple of videos and a great take away pizza and had an enjoyable evening. One of the movies we watched was the long awaited, My year without sex. We have been trying to catch this movie for some time however it’s now out on DVD. It’s a great movie written and directed by the talented Sara Watts, she also wrote and directed Look both ways, and in so many ways both movies are very similar. She certainly has a style all her own as a film director and is married to the actor William McGinnis. They have a unique quality that I feel is synonymous with Australian working class culture.

Tuesday 27^th, heading down the Bunbury Highway, you enter The Lakes district with Peel Inlet on the left while the Indian Ocean is on the right of a narrow strip of land, once again, a very pretty area with lots of new development. Peel Inlet flows into Harvey Estuary to the south as the country unfolds into quiet farmland. On the right Lake Clifton runs parallel to the highway and then Lake Preston runs through to the town of Myalup. These are large mostly shallow lakes that provide a sanctuary to a great deal of bird life, ducks a plenty. We drove into the town of Myalup and also Binningup to check out suitable spots to stop for the evening, however probably because it was raining and cold nothing really appealed so we continued down the highway to Australind, a town on Leschenault Inlet. We eventually settled on one of the only two parks in town Australind Tourist Park right on the highway and ‘oh’ how noisy it was.

Wednesday 28^th we woke to gale force winds buffeting the van and discovered our large back window had a leak. Trying to open our door proved to be a challenge as the wind was blowing against it forcing it shut, however we did manage to get out of there and headed very slowly into Bunbury and then down the Bussell Highway to Capel, Ludlow and on to Busselton. As we got away from the coast we were able to shelter a little from the wind and noted that the highway had a corridor of tall trees running beside it, which helped a huge amount with the swaying of the van. Busselton is a lovely town with many residence who love to garden. Gardens full of Roses and other assorted flowers giving us a welcome feeling despite the inclement weather. With caravan parks a plenty, once again Wendal was able to help us sort out the Cat friendly Parks which narrowed it down to just three. After driving by the suitable parks we settled on Sandybay Holiday Park at Broadwater, a suburb of Busselton. Busselton is best known for having supposedly the longest timber jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. Sandybay would have to be the nicest park we have stayed in since arriving in WA. It’s set behind small wooded sand dunes on the edge of a clear blue sheltered bay. About 80% of the park is given over to small Swiss style chalets for holiday people to enjoy. They even have their own fireplaces. Further 10% to permanent caravans, and the remainder to we transients. The grounds are beautiful with lots of trees, manicured lawns and very pretty gardens. The ladies who manage the place are also very nice and informative and extremely helpful.

Thursday 29^th. The sun is shining so it’s a good chance for some sight seeing. Driving west on Caves Road we arrived at Dunsborough, a very pretty but expensive town as we were later to find out when enquiring about real estate. On to Eagle Bay, a drive through heaven we discovered Meelup Beach Road, we will include photos at this point as words cannot describe how beautiful this place is, spectacular bush lands bordering exquisitely sculptured bays.

On to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse and we were disappointment in so far as you cannot get close enough to really view the lighthouse without a payment of $15 per person, seems a bit expensive. We were however able to walk onto the headland which offers a 360 deg view. While we were out on the cape we visited our first winery Wise Estate a lovely building and beautiful setting but didn’t care much for the wine. I believe it’s a very popular spot for weddings. Back to Dunsborough for lunch and then on to some more wineries for the obligatory tasting. Virgin Block Winery took our fancy first, probably because of the winery’s crest, which is a picture of one of the owner’s daughters. Also a lovely building but the wine was not to my palate. Windance Winery situated across the road has its cellar door in a very ordinary old shed with no frills but the wine was wonderful and has won many awards. The girl who attended us is the daughter of the owners and very lovely, it would seem they put their energy into the wine and not the façade. Laurance Winery deserves a photo, it’s a very over the top showpiece. The inside of the building is magnificent all the major beams are from the old Woolamaloo wharf in Sydney. We are told the Laurance family built Sea World and Dreamworld on the Gold Coast. I may add that this was the only winery we came across that required payment for tasting their wines, $2 per tasting. Our very favorite winery for the day was Wills Domain run by a lovely young couple who were very hospitable. Darren the owner, works the vines from his wheelchair while his lovely wife Kristin runs the cellar door, they also have a young son who keeps them both on their toes. Their wines are beautiful and I would recommend all visitors to this area to go visit them.

Friday 30^th, It’s raining again so decided to catch up with this blog before I forget what we did do and or what has happened. The afternoon has fined up enough for Ken to take the sailing dingy off the roof of the car for an airing, hope he has fun.

Saturday 31^st, It’s raining again, I think it’s time to leavethis lovely spot before we start growing roots. We decided to take in a movie so headed into Busselton to see ‘Julie and Julia’, highly recommend this movie particularly to anyone who loves food; we both enjoyed it more than we had anticipated.

Sunday 1^st November. After hitching up the caravan we headed out of town south to Margaret River. Very pretty drive through wooded farmland then on to cleared pastures and then wineries. Ken had decided he wanted to stay out of town at Big Valley Farm some 10 klm east of the town of Margaret River. The farm is a working sheep farm, which offers camping with power, water and the usual facilities for $10 per person per night. It is extremely pretty place to be, with wooded rolling hills and sheep dotted all over the countryside. It’s very, very cold here in the late afternoons and at night, I need my gloves and hat when we are out side, I am not used to it.

Monday 2^nd, We took a drive to Cape Leeuwin, the most south westerly point on the Australian continent, very windy and cold but very beautiful. Those lovely wild flowers even manage to grow in these very harsh conditions in this case many differing shades of pink and white appeared everywhere. The lighthouse is on a flat low headland so it’s tall against the backdrop of the Southern Ocean. There are some very old buildings of which one has been renovated into a restaurant, which happen to be serving warm soup for lunch on a very cold day, hard to refuse. Heading back up the coast stopped at Baranup Gallery, it houses some of the most beautiful wooden furniture we have ever seen, lots of other things to look at as well such as paintings and jewelry. Hamelin Bay a small coastal town was our next stop, fortunately it was protected from the wind, very pretty place and wonderful coastline. Our winery for the day was Voyager Winery with its old English buildings and magnificent gardens. Hopefully we can insert photos of this place, as it is something to be seen, however again the wines didn’t do much for our palate.

Tuesday 3^rd, We began the day by walking around the town of Margaret River and looking at the shops. I managed to pick up a couple of books that I had been looking for so was pleased with my purchases. We discovered it was Melbourne Cup day, ‘is that what all the people are doing in the Pub/Tavern’, we chose the bakery for lunch, which proved a good decision. Margaret River Bakery has the most beautiful, delicious cakes, tarts and bread that I have eaten in a long time and I ate too much and suffered the too full feeling after. Time for more wineries so Howard Park & Madfish Winery was our first choice, next was Vasse Flex Winery then Cullen Winery on to Gralyn Estate where we couldn’t resist some white Port and then finally Evans & Tate Winery where I purchased a couple of bottles of wonderful Chardonnay, no more wine please.

Wednesday 4^th, Our first port of call was the Margaret River Cheese Factory very yummy cheeses. Polandri Estate was our first winery for the day, very nice wines and yes we did purchase some. On to the Chocolate Factory and we were disappointed with the quality and felt it was very commercial, lots of gift packaging with huge price tags, sorry you all missed out. On to the Hayshed Hill Winery, which appeared to be, a great place for lunch with wood fired pizzas etc, but didn’t care for the wines. Next stop a small winery called Wilespie and I honestly thought every wine I tried at this place was off, or shall I say, passed its prime or used buy date. The young lady working the cellar door told me they supplied Rockpool Restaurant, in Sydney, something wrong there. Next stop was a Ken interest, Bootleg Brewery Estate however he was disappointed that the tasting was quite expensive, so he decided on a six-pack of mixed beer to go. Kneedeep Winery was just down the road so by this stage the car just pulled in by it’s own accord. This winery has a lovely restaurant with a lovely price tag if you wish to partake, and it seemed very popular by the amount of seats that were occupied. We were by this stage over lunch and almost anything else but managed to have one more tasting each and departed. On we went to Laurance Wines, which we had visited on Thursday but had not taken any photos and I felt they were important, as it’s a showpiece. A few quick photos and heading back home we happened upon Sandalford Winery, and Ken’s call to stop for yet another drop and this time he enjoyed a Merlot and bought a bottle. Coffee sounded good to me so on to Yahava, where we were able to sample some delicious coffees. A nice gentleman behind the counter appreciated my love of coffee and introduced us to some yummy blends and essence. We left there with some fine examples of the coffee we had just tasted and a bottle of French Vanilla coffee essence, which along with our White Port sounds like a great way to end an evening.

I do have to stop this blog somewhere and I guess now is a good time. It’s already to long and my dearest Kenny is complaining that I am going into to much detail. What do you think dear reader? Actually he is just annoyed because it takes him awhile to edit it and there is so much else to do now that he is retired. I hope you are all having heaps of fun and look forward to sharing some of my photos with you. Love Elizabeth