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Published: September 1st 2008
Dude...where's my wine?
Look closely at this picture and you will see something fishy going on between Jase & JeffSince our last update (yes, it’s been a while) not only have we moved house, both had birthdays, celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary, Jeff has a new job…we have also had 2 lots of visitors from “over East” as it’s commonly referred to here!
Early in April we welcomed fellow alcoholics and great mates Jason & Suzzanne to our shores for just under a week. With such a small window of opportunity to play up we hit it hard, fast & steadily crammed as much good-time in as we could. Mostly we spent the hours wiling away in their apartment, catching up on all the goss and laughing till our bellies hurt. Naturally we did venture out on a couple of occasions to taste the delights of Margs, including the local bambi farm where we bought steaks for dinner one night.
One of the days was spent on a wine tour with the “Wine For Dudes”. Here we visited about 5 different wineries, got to do some wine blending (obviously involved LOTS of tasting just to get it right), lunch on a grassy knoll, chocolate & cheese factories and last but not least the Bootleg Brewery. After the
Back Seat Tuffies
What happens on the tour STAYS on the tour brewery it’s all a bit of the blur, however the beer tasting plate was a welcome palate cleanser after a day of fine wine.
We also managed to get out to more local brewery Colonial where Jase started his bottle collection for his new bar at home. The Growler went down a treat, we just hope the bottle made it home in one piece in his luggage…forgot to ask you about that Jase! So after days and days of too much food and drink, they wearily drove back to Perth to board their night time flight, while Jeff and I attended our last night of the wine appreciation course we have been doing at TAFE. JUST what we needed…NOT! More wine after a week or so of pure gluttony!
The course went for 6 weeks over which time we learned how to taste, smell, judge & pontificate like professionals! Each week covered one or two varieties of wine, with the last night being fortifieds & bubblies. Bubbly tends to be one of those drinks that just get guzzled, it was amazing to actually take some time and pick out different characters & smells that you never knew were
there. Naturally we passed the course with flying colours (must be all that previous experience!) and have enrolled for the advanced course coming up in October.
As some of you already know, Jeff has laid down his tools yet again and started his new job at Leeuwin Estate. He is in the vineyard team so at the moment they are pruning, rolling the vines onto trellis for the upcoming season & spraying for weed control. He is loving it immensely, even happy working in the rain! He recently got a well-earned pay rise and in a couple of weeks (once he’s been there 3 months) he goes onto the staff discount program…..all wine & meals half price. Uh oh. Perhaps we will need to get a wine rack installed in the bus when we leave.
Tab is still working at the same café, and recently one of the girls left so she’s getting plenty of hours & still enjoying it heaps. It’s the quietest time in Margs now (about 7000 people more are in town over the summer) so work should only get busier as the year goes on.
We also went to the Margaret River Wine
Wine Blending
Things got serious in this class...can you imagine if we all went to school together? Utter chaos! Festival in April which was unreal. It was held in a big Marquee with about 30 different wineries in attendance and a couple of breweries too. From Occy’s Brewery in Busselton we tried their Lime & Salt beer, sounds bizarre but was delicious…a new breakfast beer for sure. Dunno if they retail beer or if you can only get it at the Brewery, but if you find it give it a try. Luckily we got the last 2 seats on the first bus out to Cowaramup where it was held, and also a bus home again so no driving was required. We have never seen such a large collection of drunk people all in one spot, we fitted in very well! After getting the 5pm bus back into Margs we met up with a mate at the local Inn where we only lasted about an hour. Home to bed was gold.
As you will see from the photos we momentarily had a return of Bucket Head. Silly boy decided to throw his weight around in the neighbourhood and get part of his ear ripped off in the process. Of course it happened at about 8pm so the vets was
The chicks
Suzz & Tab channel their inner ABBA closed, we patched him up, sent him to bed with bucket and straight to the vets the next morning. Thinking the worst…stitches & anaesthetic etc…the vet promptly chopped off the hangy bit, stopped the bleeding and sent him home with anti-biotics. For those of you that haven’t guessed, Oscar is our problem child. If there is trouble to be had, it’s him that will find it!
On the 11th of May we celebrated our 6th year anniversary…how quick was that? To us it feels like just a few years ago we boarded the boat and got hitched! Tab had to work during the day but afterwards Jeff picked her up in Boris, mini-bubblies & prawn cocktails on board and drove out to Redgate Beach to watch the sun-set. Was a perfect afternoon and a great way to celebrate not killing eachother for 6 years! Last year we celebrated in Mount Gambier, so guess we’ve come a long way since then…wonder where we’ll be next year?
Jeff’s birthday was on the 15th of May and was a pretty quiet affair. We went out for dinner on the night after which was nice and birthday boy ended up asleep in
Suzz can't quit!
Found the perfect hat for Suzz at the choccy factory...says "I'd quit chocolate but I'm no quitter!" Stay strong Suzz, don't let anyone make you give up! our beanbag, clutching a beer, by just after midnight….must be getting old!
Not long after Jeff’s birthday Tab’s parents flew into Perth for a long weekend so we took old Boris for a run up there to see them. We hadn’t seen them for almost a year so spent the weekend catching up, wining and dining and some sightseeing. Scott had to work on two of the days but was generally back at the apartment by about 4.30 which gave us plenty of time to unwind. One night we went to the Casino where the only one of us to have a win was Maria on the roulette. We had a great time, and it certainly would have been nice to have a bit longer up there with them. We hadn’t been to Perth before and found the city to be really relaxing…no hustle & bustle, just like a big country town really. It will certainly feature in our travels when we leave Margs.
A few days before Tab’s birthday we moved into a new rental property. The last one was only a 3 month lease, but this time we’ve secured a long lease…yay! Seriously the new house
Bootleg Blur
The final leg of the tour was at Bootleg....taste tester anyone? was a street and a half over from the old place so we knocked it all over in one night! Not to mention that we haven’t got much stuff! This place also has a wood fire so we’ve been out the last couple of weekends collecting jarrah which burns beautifully. Over here they have designated wood collection areas where it is perfectly legal to go to. You don’t even need to pay for a permit as long as you stick within the correct boundaries…sweet! Wish it had’ve been that easy when we lived in Monbulk and had the fire on 8 months of the year! Apparently we should be experiencing terrible weather here now, but in all honesty we have found winter here more bearable that when we lived in the Dandenongs! Perhaps we’ve just been lucky in picking our year to be here.
Tab’s birthday was a super-quiet affair also. We spent the day out getting firewood then went round to friends place for some drinks in the afternoon. It was on a Sunday so with work the next day she had to kind of behave. We were booked in to go out for dinner on the Saturday
The Growler
A welcome edition to Jase's new bar...just so happens that you buy it filled with cold beer!!! night but it was raining outside and the fire was on inside and red wine was flowing. We grabbed curry take-away instead and spent the night in…was just what the doctor ordered! Big scary birthday next year (30) so stay tuned for tears then!
The cats are all settled into our new place and have a bit more of a garden to mess around in now. They have been loving themselves sick with the fire being on all the time, we most often get home from work and Bailey is stretched out in front of it and Oscar is on the couch. Good life or what? I am definitely writing in my will that I want to come back as a cat!
So apart from working and all the other bits & pieces we’ve been doing there’s not really any “new” news. We plan on leaving Margs about May next year to head north. Oh before we forget - we are coming to Melbourne in March 2009 for pals Mick & Bek’s wedding, then again in October/Nov 2009 for Jeff’s sister Jenny’s wedding to Andy AND Jase & Suzz’s wedding too. We might even get over for xmas
Just hangin out
Bailey & his dad have some boys time this year yet, it’s just matter of finalising some things with Jeff’s new job & seeking permission. So who knows we may have 3 trips “over East” within the next year!! Better keep buying lotto tickets so we can just get our own Lear Jet or chopper, that would be tops!
By the way, we are now the proud owners of a sofa-bed…so no excuses for no visitors…well, except the expense of getting over here! No, seriously, we’d love to see anyone who happens to be visiting this part of the country, it’s been a treasure living here so far and we will be a bit sad to leave next year…but the show must go on as they say. Until our next blog, happy winter to you all! Eat comfort food, watch TV, chill out and pray for sunshine!
P.S. We enjoyed free wireless internet at our last house which we haven't got anymore. Please bear wih us while we hook something up, we might not check emails as often at the moment
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