So many wines, so little time!

---

Day 225 (05.11.07)

Having had a bit of a lazy morning we dragged ourselves out of bed and grabbed a bit of brekkie. We had nothing planned for today but a bit of a wander around town and planning the rest of our time here in Margaret River.

We went into town and stopped off at the tourist information where we got the details we needed and made some calls to book our activities for the following days. Job nearly done, as we still had to ring that afternoon to confirm some elements, we went to the supermarket for a food shop.

On our way home however we did make a stop at the 'fudge factory' at the top of town. Taking full advantage of the free tasters (returning at least 5 times before we left) we saw them making some of the sweets and couldn't resist in buying a bar before we left, it was delicious!

We got some lunch and then took up some very comfy positions in the hammocks by the pool to catch up with our books.

We had hired a car for the following day and the fella we had hired the car from had come around to drop it off on his way home. After signing the relevant forms Mark gave him a lift home. When we got there he asked if Mark had seen any Kangaroos yet. After learning he hadn't he took Mark to his back garden where there were about 40 hopping around. One of them was his pet Kangaroo called Jack which Mark was able to give a bit of a scratch behind the ears - very soft! Chrissie was very envious when Mark returned to the hostel!

Day 226 (06.11.07)

Getting up early to make the most of our day with the car we left Margaret River and headed North towards Dunsborough. We had packed food for brekkie and lunch and went out to the point at Cape Naturaliste nearby to have something to eat and soak up the view.

At this time of year there are a lot of Whales migrating to the warm waters off the WA coast with a number of coastal towns offering the chance to go out and see the massive animals. Having asked around we had been told that Dunsborough was one of the best places to see them. So today we were booked onto a boat destined for a Whale Spotting trip.

Before we went over to the boat however, we were able to see 4 distant sightings of Whales from our breakfast spot, however as we were attacked by flies we abandoned the idea of having something to eat there and went back to the safety of the car - much nicer!

We picked up our boat and set off into the bay where the Whales can be spotted. After a short time on the water the driver had spoken to a research boat and we were in luck, a Blue Whale was in the bay, this was a really rare occurrence as it is mostly humpbacks seen in the bay. The captain went as fast as possible across the bay to catch up with it before it left into deeper waters where it would disappear. Even with the large swells making it an interesting and white knuckle journey we made it there to see the Whale come up for air a number of times about 20m away - amazing - we had see the biggest animal on the face of the planet!

Once we had reached the edge of the shallower water as predicted the whale went into the deeper water and vanished.

We then made our way back along the bay we had come, this time in the search of a pod of Humpback Whales. The Captain was fantastic and in constant communication with the research boats that were out there in order to see as much as possible.

Spotting a pod of three we followed them from a distance seeing them coming up for breath about 30m away from us. Then, without warning, one of them fully breached rising completely out of the water and landing with a massive splash back into the sea. It was such an incredible sight, just like something out of a wildlife documentary, that Mark who had the camera missed getting a pic - but it will be a memory never forgotten!

Throughout the 3 hours we were on the boat we followed that pod and found some more who decided to show off by breaching for us and others who got a bit curious and came up right next to the boat truly showing us their size. Following the final pod we had reached our time limit and started to turn back to the beach. Just as we did the last pod put on a truly impressive show jumping out of the water just where we had been - if only we had stayed for another couple of mins - but we couldn't complain - an amazing experience!

We'd like to say a massive thank you to Helen (Reller), Yum Yum and Ben who gave us some Aussie dollars for our wedding pressie. We decided to use it on this trip - hope you approve guys!

Back in the car we picked up a picnic from the supermarket stopping in the bush to eat before wending our way back to Margaret River.

Margaret River is renowned for it's wineries and we thought it only right that we make an effort to find out why. We still had a lot of the day left and decided to stop in at a number of the wineries on the way back through. We were doing an organized tour of the regions wineries the following day but thought it couldn't hurt to get in a bit of practice.

Our first stop was a lovely little vineyard where we tried a number of their white wines - one of which was delicious, but as it was our first stop we thought we'd try a couple more before buying a bottle (or 2).

We meandered our way around another four stops trying the local red and white wines warming up for the following day. As Mark was driving, Chrissie had a merry time both with her tasters and the rest of Mark's - good work!

As time was ticking on we gradually made our way back to the hostel and a relaxing evening.

Day 226 (07.11.07)

Firstly we'd like send a huge thank you to Neil and Hazel for buying us a wedding prezzie that they knew we'd love (and they would too) - a day of tasting wine, cheese and chocolate - mmmmmmmm! Cheers!

As you can gather from our previous day, Margaret River is a famous wine growing region with over 90 vineyards in the region. We were on a trip which was going to take us to some of the most established of these amongst other stops.

As our mini bus stopped we met Wally, the driver, who had a great sense of humour and the three other people on our tour. The others were an interesting bunch, our driver even apologized for them at one point, but we found them hilarious! Two Americans and one Ozzie who were distant relations and they were crackers!

Anyhow - our tour started with a stop at the cheese factory where after tasting as many of the cheeses as possible we caved and bought some. It had been a long time since we had eaten proper cheese and this stuff was amazing! Next we had a visit to a local chocolatier - very nice but on this occasion we were strong and only ate a bar's worth of chocolate each in free tasters while we were there.

Now the warm up for the day was over, we went to our first Winery - Willespie. This was a smallish family run vineyard where we had a great chat to the guy behind the bar who explained the proper way to taste the wine and about the wine making process which was really interesting. The wines were also great and as we had got on well with the guy behind the bar he took us all through to the area where they store the barrels.

One down and it was time for lunch. Lunch was at Cape Lavender, another wine producing company who produce wine infused with lavender - an interesting concept that we were not so sure about, but managed another glass of it with lunch - well we thought it would be rude not to!

Making our way now back toward Margaret River we made another stop, this time at Lenton Brae. The wines here were great and we were taken through them by a really enthusiastic guy who looked a little like Rolf Harris.

From here we went onto Vasse Felix. This is one of the more famous and bigger vineyards in the region claiming to be the first (original) Margaret River winery. The wine here was very good and having tried just about everything they made we bought a bottle of their white Sauvignon Blanc Semillon blend - very nice!

Our last stop as we arrived back into Margaret River itself was Cape Mentelle. It was a nice last stop but having bought one bottle we resisted buying more to add to our backpack wine cellar.

A wonderful day and the only thing missing was Neil and Hazel themselves who I'm sure would have had an equally good time!

Sorting out where to go next we called a notice on the hostel board which said two people were going south (to similar places as on our plans) and there were two places in their car. After a text message back and forth we organized to meet in the hostel that evening to chat through plans. We had realised that to get much further and to see what we wanted to see would be pretty difficult on the bus and this seemed like a good option to us.

Before dinner we met Sabine and Conrad and we planned to travel with them and see how things went - the bonus being they were really nice and we seemed to get on well.

They were planning a wine tour the following day so we set plans to leave on the 9th sharing the petrol and car hire cost.

After an evening chatting to fellow hostel members and another hearty meal we went to bed.

Day 227 (08.11.07)

We had another day in Margaret River and we had spent a lot of money on whale watching recently so we decided to have a cheap one and go for a walk along the river that the town was named for.

As we walked we passed through some stunning woodland scenery which was unmistakably 'Australian' following the winding Margaret River through to the National Park. It was a great walk and after finding loads of interesting birds, including our first kookaburra, we found a nice spot by the river for lunch.

Wandering back to the hostel stopping for another quick visit at the fudge factory we had a cuppa and a read before Sabine and Conrad returned from their day of tasting.

After a trip to the supermarket Mark and Simon (another fellow brit at the hostel) took a walk to the local bottle shop where Mark bought our first box of 'Goon' - basically translated as cheap wine in a box - 5 litres for $13!

We spent the evening doing a bit of planning with Sabine and Conrad before hitting the Goon to really get to know each other and having a great evening chatting by the pool.

---

Photos

Planning
So many wines, so little time!