 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| OUR BIG TRIP MARY & OLI GOING AROUND AUSTRALIA |
SOUTHWEST WA - Page 10
08 October 2007, Monday
Continuation of the Lake & Mammoth Cave, Wildflower and Coastal Scenery story...
09 October 2007, Tuesday
Today is wine day !!! Yeah, getting drunk - he he he. A full day wine tour including 6 wineries, chocolate and cheese factory
including a very nice lunch at Voyager Estate Winery. The bus was full, all together 5 couples including us. At the beginning
of the tour, we decided not to buy too many wines, because first, we would not have that much space in the trailer and
secondly, we would not drink it anyway on the trip. First winery was Xanadu and we liked a couple of wines, so we bought
them and got a box for twelve bottles - that was bad. At the end of the day we would have bought 13 bottles of wine including
desert and port wines and made them fit into a 12 bottle box. Shit - Where do we actually pack this?... That is what happens
when you visit 6 wineries and you get between 6 and 12 wines for tasting in each - after the first two, we already started
laughing a little more. After the third one we luckily had lunch, because otherwise we would have finished the day early
because the next winery had 12 wines for tasting. I know you do not have to taste all of them, but .... when you are at it, you
just do it anyway... - he he he. Kim, our tour guide was really good and in the afternoon, you also get a platter with meats,
cheese, olives, etc. and that was really good. We recommend the full day tour - great fun and good wines. Funnily for us, the
best wine was actually a white - Chardonnay from Voyager Estate - was also the most expensive wine we bought during the
day. Not many pictures from today - most of them would have been anyway with us having wine glasses in our hands and
probably a little bit blury. The chocolate factory was o.k. but no guided tour - just 15 min to taste and buy chocolate which we
did. The cheese factory was not that good, too small and not as nice as the wines tasting - however we still bought a couple
of cheese. So, here are a few pics from the Voyager Estate - the best one from today.
10 October 2007, Wednesday
Today we did the last cave in the area - Jewel Cave. After that we went back to Augusta and the Cape Leeuwin Lihthouse -
did the tour and at the end of the day, we went to Hamelin Bay. The whole area has a nice network of light 4WD tracks and
beaches to drive on - quite nice. Near the lighthouse was the water wheel - which was used to transport water for workers at
the time. Now it is frozen in stone and has a nice coastline setting. At the nearby small sandy patch, we found millions of
shells and worked through them very nicely. We had the race for the World Smallest Shell - and we might have found it. They
had very small nice shells and we collected a few - he he he. The Karri walk at Jewel Cave had also nice wildflowers and,
thanks to the nicer day, this was a good ending for the Margaret River region. The plan was to head off towards Pemberton
and pamper ourselves a little bit before the home stretch to Melbourne across the Nullarbor. Unfortunately, the cabins were
not available for tomorrow, so we decided that next would be Walpole for one night and than head back to Pemberton for a
three night stay at a nice spa chalet in the forest. This was all booked and we also would meet up with Mike and Abbey again
in Walpole the next day. Here are the picture from today.
08 October 2007, Monday
Continuation of the Lake & Mammoth Cave, Wildflower and Coastal Scenery story...
09 October 2007, Tuesday
Today is wine day !!! Yeah, getting drunk - he he he. A full day wine tour including 6 wineries, chocolate and cheese factory
including a very nice lunch at Voyager Estate Winery. The bus was full, all together 5 couples including us. At the beginning
of the tour, we decided not to buy too many wines, because first, we would not have that much space in the trailer and
secondly, we would not drink it anyway on the trip. First winery was Xanadu and we liked a couple of wines, so we bought
them and got a box for twelve bottles - that was bad. At the end of the day we would have bought 13 bottles of wine including
desert and port wines and made them fit into a 12 bottle box. Shit - Where do we actually pack this?... That is what happens
when you visit 6 wineries and you get between 6 and 12 wines for tasting in each - after the first two, we already started
laughing a little more. After the third one we luckily had lunch, because otherwise we would have finished the day early
because the next winery had 12 wines for tasting. I know you do not have to taste all of them, but .... when you are at it, you
just do it anyway... - he he he. Kim, our tour guide was really good and in the afternoon, you also get a platter with meats,
cheese, olives, etc. and that was really good. We recommend the full day tour - great fun and good wines. Funnily for us, the
best wine was actually a white - Chardonnay from Voyager Estate - was also the most expensive wine we bought during the
day. Not many pictures from today - most of them would have been anyway with us having wine glasses in our hands and
probably a little bit blury. The chocolate factory was o.k. but no guided tour - just 15 min to taste and buy chocolate which we
did. The cheese factory was not that good, too small and not as nice as the wines tasting - however we still bought a couple
of cheese. So, here are a few pics from the Voyager Estate - the best one from today.
10 October 2007, Wednesday
Today we did the last cave in the area - Jewel Cave. After that we went back to Augusta and the Cape Leeuwin Lihthouse -
did the tour and at the end of the day, we went to Hamelin Bay. The whole area has a nice network of light 4WD tracks and
beaches to drive on - quite nice. Near the lighthouse was the water wheel - which was used to transport water for workers at
the time. Now it is frozen in stone and has a nice coastline setting. At the nearby small sandy patch, we found millions of
shells and worked through them very nicely. We had the race for the World Smallest Shell - and we might have found it. They
had very small nice shells and we collected a few - he he he. The Karri walk at Jewel Cave had also nice wildflowers and,
thanks to the nicer day, this was a good ending for the Margaret River region. The plan was to head off towards Pemberton
and pamper ourselves a little bit before the home stretch to Melbourne across the Nullarbor. Unfortunately, the cabins were
not available for tomorrow, so we decided that next would be Walpole for one night and than head back to Pemberton for a
three night stay at a nice spa chalet in the forest. This was all booked and we also would meet up with Mike and Abbey again
in Walpole the next day. Here are the picture from today.
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Very nice Estate - Remodelled after a South African Building Style. The guy who owns this has too much money and doesn't even drink alcohol, so they also make a nice grape sparkling juice. |
| Here are more panoramics from today, Karri Walk, The Point and a Lookout from the highest point in the Southwest. |
| Tree roots on the upper left pic going into the cave. Next to it the speer - not hard to see why. The others show nice flowstone. The Jewel Cave tour was actually the best "tour" of all - some time to take pictures and a nice guy to tell all the stories. |