Southern Exposure

On Tuesday we headed south to the Margaret River area - about three hours south of Perth in the southwest corner of Australia. This scenic area runs between two capes, Cape Naturliste on the north, and Cape Leeuwin on the south. It has lots of great wineries, hiking trails, beaches, craft shops, galleries and restaurants - like a combination of Napa, Santa Cruz and Mendocino all in one - very beautiful.
Map for you geography buffs.


Not to be confused with Bad End):
We stayed in Jenny's friend Jenny's place just outside of the town of Margaret River. Beautiful cabin in the woods. I enjoyed my stay there so much, I wrote them a little poem in their guest book - except I thought the house was called Bad End, not Bag End - so they now have a lovely poem about Bad End. Makes for a more interesting poem anyway. Those wacky Canadians.
Our country retreat.
Noddy (Jenny's car) really enjoyed the trip too, all that off-roading - now he's a dirty, noddy boy.

Flora and Fauna (wild and not so wild):
It's spring in Australia so it's a great time to be in the country - everything is still green and blooming.

I think that I have never seen a billboard as lovely as a tree...
The trees around the cabin were eucalyptus so the smell was incredible. There is also a protected forest down by Cape Leeuwin, lots of Karri which I think are like a mahogony and there are trees they call black boys-which everyone seems to agree is a non-PC name, but no one seems to know what the real name is.
View of the Eucalyptus trees from the cabin
Protected forest - I think Paul Collins might have actually been tied to one of these trees when he helped save the forest-yay Paul.
Black Boys with Girl in Black.

He loves me, he loves me not...
Western Australia is known for its wildflowers - the colors are really beautiful. My tour guide has been good enough to point them out as we drive - however, since they are all over, I have had to ask her to stop before I stick some of the 'kangaroo paw' and 'egg and bacon' in her mouth.

On Friday we stopped by Jenny's highschool gym teacher's house in Margaret River for tea. Her garden was amazing - not wild, but still amazing.
Babes in the garden (not wildflowers)

The birds and the bees...
I've never heard so many birds and many sound so different from anything I've heard before. Our first night there, I heard some birds that sounded sort of familiar - could it be, yes it was the famous Kookaburras and they really do sound like they are laughing. However I wasn't laughing when they were singing outside my window at 5am!
Kooku trivia: baby kukoburras eat their smaller siblings so they can get more to eat - glad I wasn't a kooka burra, at least my brother and sister only gave me detention.

On our Bushtucker tour (info to come), we saw a bunch of bee hives. They assured me nobody had been stung in the 15 years they have been doing the hike, but I was still very happy when we left the area.
That's a lotta beeswax.

We saw lots of other animals on the trip, sadly, many of them were on the road sleeping. We had a rough encounter with a Goanna on the road, but when we went back to find him, he was wondering into the bush so we think he was ok - just a flesh wound.

Here's a shot of a cute Australian blue tongued lizard we saw.
Say cheese.

Bushtucker Tour:
On Wednesday we went on the Bushtucker Tour. You paddle up the Margaret River and learn about native plants, eat native foods and learn the history of the area.
We paddled up the river in canoes (not as sexy as Jeff's canoe, but still very nice), and then stopped for lunch.

After washing our hands with a leaf that turned into soap, we sat down to eat our lunch which consisted of all native foods to the area - emu, kangaroo, wild turkey, hybiscus, bush plums, grains that tasted like cocoa, leaves that helped memory (of course I can't remember the name), little black chili things, something that tasted a cross between a nut and a potatoe, psuedo bush olives, some other herbs and fruits I can't remember and wigidy grubs - yes you read correctly, GRUBS and yes, I ate them! Not even Jenny, my native tour guide, would try them, but I wanted to experience the true aboriginal culinary gamat and so I threw some of those suckers on bread, eyeballs and all, and I have to say, they tasted totally gross!
Our aboriginal feast.











mmmm wigidy grubs.

After lunch we hiked up along a cliff to see all the various edible and medicinal plants, and then went, by the bee hives to a cave where Helen (our bushtucker leader) told us about the history of the area - tsunami 60,000 years ago resulted in limestone in the area, aboriginals lived in that very cave for years, then the Bussel family showed up used cave as honeymoon spot and food storage. Mother Bussel was Ellen Margaret Bussel - lots of things named after them - Busselton, Margaret River... She had 13 kids and adopted 2 more aboriginal kids - she was one tough chica.
at the cave.
Hangin out by the river - I can see Jessie and Sydney and Dallas and Jackson and Stephanie...

Ocean views and Beauty Beaches:
Thursday we drove up to the north cape, Cape Leeuwin, to go for a bit of a hike and see if we could see any whales. Unfortunately, no whales to be seen, but the views were spectacular.

After our walk, we stopped at Bunker Bay for a little refreshment










Is it time to eat yet?
The food here is quite yummy, lots of farms in the area with all kinds of tasty treats. The restaurants all serve food from the region so it's all very fresh and delicious.

We stopped in at the Candy Cow in Cowaramup, it's pronounced co-war-a-mup, but I like to call it cow-a-ram-up just to irritate Jenny. They had about 25 different kinds of fudge! Had to sample a bit just to keep my energy up.

This was one of my favorite stops - picked up a cheesy knife rack to go with my leaning tower of cheesa.

Lunch at Lamonts - delish!
The waitress at Lamonts recommended a glass of reisling and I hesitated, not that sweet fruity wine, well, if I can eat grubs, guess I can try some reisling - it too was delicious - dry and crisp - yumminess in a glass.

We had lots of other great meals inclucing dinner at Wino's in Margaret River - felt it was an appropriate spot for us. Great food and cute little Canadian surfer boy waiters - can't beat that.

Wine Wednesay (and Thursday and Friday):
Margaret River seems to be rapidly growing as a tourist spot for wine tasting, very much like Napa. Many of the wineries have built fancy tasting rooms with beatiful gardens and ponds. You can still find the 'backshed' wineries, but you have to look for them, just like Napa. The good news is that you don't have to pay for any tastings here, although, I'm sure that will change eventually.

There are some tasty wines here - whites were mostly Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon or Verdelho. I really liked the Verdelhos, very dry and crisp. Great on those hot days.

The reds were mostly Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz (same as Syrah) - no Zins (so sad). The area is still pretty new as a wine region so lots of old vines, but fairly new wines. It's also a cooler coastal climate so not a lot of the big smooth aged reds that I like but still lots of tasty stuff. Many of the reds I tasted were very peppery - fiesty.











The skipper didn't do any tasting - safety never takes a holiday

Some wineries we visited (the ones I remember)
Swings and Roundabouts - I had 'The Italian' - isa gooda vino
Mad Fish
Were Estate
Woody Nook - also great little lunch spot
Windance - Jenny knew the owner so I had to buy a bottle

Knotting Hill Winery

Other alcoholic adventures:
The Grove Winery, which did have a Zin/Cab blend which was nice, also had the Margaret River Liquer Factory which had a long list of specialty flavoried liquers which you could also taste - the coconut and the lime were both yummy and gave me a nice little afternoon pickup. They had a great bottle of limoncello in a santa claus botthe that I really wanted to get for my aunt Vilma - but it was too big to carry (sorry AV).

The Yahava Coffee House next door did espresso tastings so the skipper was able to get an afternoon pickup too.

There are a few breweries in the area too - so many choices!
Bootleg Brewery - that's my kind of beer garden.

After a busy few days of walking and drinking, it was time to head back to Perth.
The last winery.
We decided to take Pusey Road back to the highway. After lots of wine and coffee, it just seemed like it was a given.

Jake and other Little Creatures:
Although we were both exhausted when we got back to Perth on Friday night, we decided to stop to get a bite at Little Creatures where Jake worked (Jenny's 23 year-old #3 son). LC is a big brewary/restaurant hot spot in Freemantle (artsy town just south of Cottesloe-posting to come) with a big patio on the water. Jake had finished working and was sitting with a whole group of cute girls (two of which were ex-girlfriends of older brother Chris) - very like Jake. He is quite the character, very sweet and charming with a unique fashion sense. I think he takes after his mom.



Well that's about it for my trip south.
Yesterday I went swimming on Cotteslo beach - clear cool water, so nice, a few hours later a shark was spotted and everyone was cleared out of the water - don't think I'm going to swim today.

Last night we went to the big Latin Festival in Freemantle - Jenny is now hooked on salsa dancing and has recruited a large group to go dancing again this week.

Life is never dull.
Check in with you again soon.
Miss you all.

PS - HAPPY BIRTHDAY DALLAS!!