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Published: April 17th 2010
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We arrived in Perth around 8am on Thursday morning to sunny blue skies which had been awhile after 2 hazy weeks in Hong Kong, and it was a welcome sight! Our flight from Hong Kong via Bangkok was pretty good, although we didn't manage to get much sleep in even though we had 4 seats between us. Something about sleeping on planes just doesn't seem to happen for us.
When we got into Perth we grabbed our bags and hopped in a cab and headed over to the Domestic Terminal where we were picking up Tarra who we had managed to convince (and that was pretty hard) to come over to this side of the country for 4 days before she had to head back to work after another couple weeks off for her school holidays. It was perfect timing as she flew in from Melbourne that morning and arrived 15 minutes after we did. We then went to pick up our rental car for the week and made our way down to Margaret River, with a brief pit stop in Freemantle for a little look around and a bite to eat. It felt a bit weird to be back
in Australia and driving, let alone on the opposite side of the country than we were used to which we hadn't been expecting.
We made the 3 hour drive down to Margaret River and it was pretty uneventful, minus the fact that one of us seemed to be going nuts at a different point on the ride from lack of sleep. Good thing it's wasn't all 3 of us at once! We rolled into Margaret River around 2pm and met up with Brett's boss (who isn't really like a boss) Simon and got a few supplies for the bbq and happy hour that night.
The house Simon has rented is situated on 8 acres in between the small town of Margaret River and the ocean, so needless to say we weren't roughing it. Simon's 3 teenage kids live in town when he isn't there, and are awesome. We have spent quite a bit of time with them back in Singapore last year and on our trip to Indo. They are alot of fun and the nicest kids. And the 2 boys were happy to see Brett as they had him out there digging jumps for their mountain bike
track in the bush.
Margaret River is famous for it's surf breaks which are some of the best in Australia, and also it's wine, which we would sample in the next few days... It is also famous for over 350 caves hidden below the surface of the region. The main reason for this large cave system, is the water, which over years, had seaped through the limestone ridge which stretches around 80kms up and down the coast. The first day we were here, Simon and the kids took us to one of the caves called The Great Cave. Now with no idea what to expect, and a bit of a fear of tight, dark places, bats, and other creatures, I was a little "leary" to say the least. And it didn't help when we got to the cave and were given hard hats (a.k.a. stack hats in Australia) and flashlights, a brief description of the cave and where to go, and left to fend for ourselves. And I was not the only one worrying. Tarra had managed to forget her pants back at the house and only had the skirt she was wearing. Then to top that off she
had to change from her flip flops to sneakers with her skirt on so she was not to happy. She was feeling like she should be one of those women on the train to work with there sneakers and their skirts. It was quite the look, especially considering what we were about to do, and she did managed to get some ribbing all weekend about her choice of caving attire, which only let up a bit considering she had a bit of a slip and slide in the cave and banged her leg up pretty good. Anyways, it really was amazing inside the cave. It would go from a tight, steep and narrow climb and open up into this huge cavern with the roots of the trees coming through the top. It was pitch black except for your torch (a.k.a. flashlight in Canada) and was pretty unbelievable that they just let you in their on your own. 2/3 of the cave has ladders and walkways but the last 1/3 is a bit of a scramble. It is marked at times with reflectors so you know which way to go. It really was unbelievable, and we all had a great time.
It took about an hour and half to go though the whole cave, and not one bat or creature was spotted (besides Simon's son Elijah hiding behind a rock to scare Tarra and I).
After the cave it was time for a swim, and this time it was me who forgot something. My bathing suit. What was with Tarra and I?? Needless to say it may have been a good excuse, as it was a bit cooler and a bit windy, so the 2 of us sat on the beach while all the boys and Simon's daughter Sienna went for a swim and a body surf at Contos Beach. The landscape here is quite different than the other side of Australia and is a lot more rugged looking. There are huge treed and rock cliff faces that lead down to the water with some massive waves rolling in. We haven't seen a whole lot of sun since we have been on this side, but the times we have you can see the aqua blue colors of the water popping out against the dark black areas of the deep water.
The next day Simon took us on a drive
to a few more beaches and areas before it was time to sample some more of the regions wines. We had timed our trip right because this weekend was The Wine Festival at Leeuwin Estate Winery where over 50 of the region's wineries had stalls and samples, as well as live music and food. The sun was popping out, and we had our own skipper (a.k.a. Designated Driver), Elijah, and we were ready to go. For a $30 entrance fee you got your own glass and could do tastings at any of the 50 wineries, as well as cheese, bread, olives and olive oil. We were glad we arrived around 3:30 (it was open from 11am-6pm), because after visiting a few stalls where they would give you a tasting of 8 or so different wines, we realized we needed a strategy otherwise we would be looking like many of the other people at the festival. Let's just say there were more than a handful of ladies in frocks and men stumbling, rolling around, falling over on the grass by this time. We decided we would at this point just try the Sauvignon Blanc at the more famous wineries of this
region. Well we didn't always stick to this plan... but we did sample some really good wine and had a great skipper to bring us home. And for those of you that know Brett and Tarra as the beer drinkers they are... even they were drinking (and enjoying!) wine. It was even overhead several times that afternoon by one of our team members that likes to wear a skirt when she goes crawling in caves, that a few of the different wines being consumed "were her in a bottle!". It was quite funny.
And then it was Sunday and it was time for Tarra to head back to Melbourne and back to work on Monday morning. Simon who also lives in Melbourne was heading back to work as well, so that saved us a trip back up to the Perth airport to drop her off. The house was definitely quieter after they left and the kids when back to their mom's house. And funny how after realizing we only had until Wednesday left here in Margaret River it just took a quick phone call to the airline to extend it a week...
(There are 2 pages of photos
so you will have to scroll down or click on any photo to open all in a larger window.)
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