Arrived in Perth from Adelaide early on Tuesday 28th Jan, pick up another car and started the drive to Margaret River taking in a few of the sea side towns on the way. Like most of Aus, these town are lightly scattered along the coast, all offering shops, cafes and restaurants, but the ones we stopeed at on this route were slightly different. They seamed more family focused and livable rather that just a pit stop for travellers or a bed for the night. There were massive parks, all filled with swings, play areas and ice cream stalls. There were even inflatables in the sea!
The houses were new and modern. And, by all accounts, these towns are full of British ex-pats.
The only downside to living here is that you might get eaten by a shark. But there are area in the warm, clear, blue sea that are surrounded by shark proff netting, making it safe.
It took us about 6 hours to drive to Margaret River, making our usual stop for lunch and coffee etc. The hotel here was Cazzie's favourite. An old manor, now used as a hotel. There were about 20 rooms, all suites, a massive garden and a pool. It was lovely and relaxing. That night, we wandered into the town for some tapas and some wine!
The Wednesday was all day wine tasting! Love doing this sort of thing. I don't claim to know much about wine, but I do know I like being driven around all day getting drunk.
The first 1/2 of the day, it was just us and the driver, and we started off by going coffee tasting. Now, I do think I know about coffee, but I now know I don't. I told our coffee tasting expert that I have a Nespresso machine, thinking that made me sophisticated, which proved to be a great source of amusement for him. We were taken through how to make, brew and taste coffee. We bought a bag of beans for trying out when we are back home.
Then it was onto wine tasting. Visited some amazing wineries and tasted some great wine, with the best place being the first.
In the afternoon we were joined by 2 other couples, took in 2 more vineyards, a cheese shop, a chocolate factory and an olive making farm before spotting a few kangeroos on the short drive home! This area is known for producing some amazing red wines, so we picked up a couple of bottles.
That night we decided to BBQ at the hotel and sample some of our new purchases.
We checked out the next day and decided to visit some of the underground caves in the area which was a great experience. Very different from above ground!
It was then onto Perth. A smaller city than Sydney and Melbourne, but one that I quite liked. It's got all the shops, resaurants, parks and bars, without being too busy or crowded. There is also a very cool rooftop bar culture here, of which we frequented many. Spend 3 days here and there's not much to tell that I've not said before. We did take the ferry to Fremantle, a suburb about 30 mins outside of Perth. During the ferry ride, we saw some spectacular houses, with the most expensive being $57 million.
Fremantle is, like so many places in Aus, a very cool, relaxed area. Loved it here. Grabbed some lunch, a few beers and wandered around visiting the local brewery, pier, beach and even the prison.
We are both glad we included Perth and Margaret River in our trip as it was well worth it!
Love
Stuoobs
xxx
