How ya going, mate? Part 2: Margaret River

The vacay bragging continues...

Day 3

After a sumptuous breakfast (see previous post), we checked out of Permberlyn House around 10am and started the hour and 45 minute drive towards Margaret River. That translates to being an hour and 45 minute nap for yours truly. We headed towards the house along Hermitage Drive that we had booked via AirBnB. Once we reached, although the exterior of the house was nothing to shout about, we were pleased to see that the interior of the house was very clean and modern, with wonderful lighting, and nice furniture and amenities.

Making himself right at home in the living room

Master bedroom

This isn't such a flattering pic but the place is very cosy

Mezzanine bedroom

The view from the deck

We quickly settled our sleeping arrangements, where the boo and I got the mezzanine floor with the twin single beds and all of us set about doing the most important thing - USING THE WIFI like internet-addicted millennials.

OMG INTERNETZ I LUV U

Since massive breakfast had now been maybe 2 hours ago, it was only natural that we immediately set out to eat. So we drove to the town centre which was like 7 minutes away to find lunch! We ate at what looks like a fast food place - Squid Lips, but offered really really really good fish and chips. I had fish and chips three times on this trip and I can honestly say I liked this one the best. Weird fact: they sell their sauces separate from the food itself.

Sadly the weather wasn't great on this day, and it started pouring as we were tucking into our food. We were thus waylaid by the weather and ended up walking around aimlessly in the area, grabbing coffee at a hipster joint and popping into cute shops along the way to see what we could buy. The most useful purchase of the trip were these babies:

9 bucks from Target to keep the toes warm!

Hipster cafe...

Perfect for a hipster couple I know

I've no idea how we managed it but we ended up grocery shopping once more, this time at Coles (if memory serves me correctly) before making our way to Brewhouse. If craft beers are your thing, this is the place for you. It had a very relaxed atmosphere, and felt welcoming to everyone including families with kids. By this time, I was craving chicken so I ordered some chicken wings which I enjoyed but the boo didn't seem impressed by them. The friends are beer drinkers and they seemed pleased with their beers, I had a cider and a hot chocolate too. Yes. Indulgence IS my middle name. At around 5pm, we moved to the outdoor seating deck and listened to a super cool band perform.

After a brief nap session back at the house, we were recharged and ready to have a wild night out. Just kidding. We just wanted to eat. We made a late booking at Morries, it's a tapas restaurant bar with Australian food with Asian influences. The service was fast and friendly and the setting was cosy and intimate, really perfect for the shared tapas experience.

Huge chicken and beef sliders

Raw fish? I dunno but the tomato bits were delicious

Scallops!

Superstar pork belly dish

Chicken karaage

Haloumi cheese on toast

Beef tataki

I think this might have been potato croquette

OMG why did we order this charcuterie platter? So stuffed.

So, to summarise Day 3 of the trip: we ate nonstop. I'm surprised Margaret River has any produce left after we blew through town.

Day 4

I think we were getting sick of eating so we made a simple granola and yogurt breakfast (one of the best things about all our grocery store trips were the yogurt purchases) before heading out to Voyager Estate for a wine tour, tasting and pairing lunch.

Voyager Estate is a beautiful sprawling vineyard with architectural influence drawn from the owner's South African adventures. We were brought on a tour of the estate by a lovely guide called Sally, who gave us a background on how the founder, Michael, moved away from his family's farming towards wine making, growing this family business into the successful empire one sees today. It's currently run by his daughters as he's passed away.

The entrance to the driveway

Toward the main building

Inside the reception area of the main building

No flag as it'll get destroyed by the strong winds

A slave bell rung to signify the start of the day. Yep. Slave bell.

Beautiful rose bushes planted at the head of each line in the vineyard for chioness

Dried up grapes for red wine

Different growing style for white wine grapes

Beautiful garden arches perfect for weddings

Processing centre to turn grape to wine.

Barrels of wine live here

A huge underground cellar, largest in Margaret River to store wine soon to be exported

I'm not really a wine lover, but I can't stress enough how awesome the tour was. I found the process of planting and harvesting grapes to make wine extremely fascinating and the boo said I was a super nerd for asking so many questions but I dunno man, LEARNING!

After the tour, we sat for a while in the reception area for a tasting of 5 different wines from the vineyard. I enjoyed the Rose (how do I put in the accent?) because like I said, not much of a wine lover, so the most subtle one was my favourite.

L-R: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Rose

L-R: Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rose (from the last round)

The menu teaching you how to pretend to know wine. "Hmm I perceive an intense and supple aroma"

 To cap it all off, we followed the tasting with a wine pairing lunch which I enjoyed because FOOD.

In the grand dining room

Menus printed on postcard like paper

Drink drank drunk

Barramundi to pair with a chardonnay

Duck liver to pair with a shiraz

Lamb to pair with a cabernet sauvignon merlot

Suprise! This isn't dessert but a palate cleanser made of pineapple sorbet

Lemon puree and pinenut shavings served on a ginger shortbread with  acaramelised white chocolate crisp

Cawwwfeeeee

You can't eat a meal like that and simply leave, so we wandered just outside the main building into the rose garden and the plants and herb garden. There's just something super romantic about having rose and herb gardens, no?

So by this time, you should know that if I haven't spent money on shopping, I might explode so after Voyager, we voyaged (hurhurhur) in the Vasse region to an organic chocolate shop, a cafe/coffee bean shop, and an organic olive oil store so I could spend some of my hard-earned moolah. All I can say is that if you want organic goodness, it's gonna cost ya. Oh wait, I've just realised that we visited another winery near Voyager, called Leeuwin Estate. I totally spaced out there from the food coma so no pics but I recall it having a lot of photos of celebrities on the wall and I think this is where some of the guys dropped some serious coin getting wine bottles delivered directly to their homes in Singapore.  So to paraphrase this paragraph: we spent da monies. WOO!

So. Much. Chocolate. *Drool*

Cool beans.

After a day of indulgence, we were pretty much pooped, so we decided to order Dominos pizza delivery and have a quiet night in. Not that quiet though because they played an exciting game of Monopoly Deal, while our resident nature wanderer, Nigel, started a bonfire in the grounds just outside the house (sadly it was extinguished as the rain started soon after he lit it).

Bonfire area in the day

FIRE!!!!

Day 5

Exercise time! We woke up and sprinted out of bed (just kidding, we were pretty slow going) to get ourselves to the Cape to Cape trail, to check out Meekadarabee Falls, and take a scenic walk along the cliffs overlooking the beach. It was quite a cold and overcast morning but thankfully not raining, so it made for quite a pleasant walk. We decided to venture down to the beach at one point and took an off-the-beaten track route, only to have to turn back because the plants were pokey and trying to murder us. However, when we got to the beach, it was lovely - the sand on the beach was pristine and clean, there was a joyful dog running around barking at the flowing waves, and there were some serious surfers riding rather large waves so it made for quite a view. Also, a strapping man with a tattoo, a baby, and the dog, made for some nice eye candy.

Meekadarabee Falls but not really falling

SELFIETIME

Huge waves dude

In memoriam - Chris Boyd, a surfer who had been fatally attacked by a shark.

After our morning walkabout, we headed for lunch at Wilyabrup, a short drive away. We went to Rustico at Hay Shed Hill, and the paella was SO GOOD, I ate so much even though I'm allergic to shellfish. The service and ambiance was really lovely and the day had brightened so we had our chocolate dipped churros dessert out on the open air porch (I've no photo evidence of the churros but they weren't very nice so whatevs).

These made the 6 diners who ate oysters very happy

Beautiful delicious paella

Near Hay Shed Hill was the Providore, an awesome food store selling beautifully packaged food produce like olive oils, grains in bags, cake mix in jars, and a yummy passionfruit puree that I've bought to eat with yogurt. They provided little plastic spoons and testers for most jams, oils and purees could be tried. They also sold beautiful homeware like ceramic plates and bowls, and wooden cooking utensils. I can't wait to have a home!

Outside of Providore, there was an herb garden, a chicken coop (actually it was a fenced area with chickens in it, is that still counted as a coop?), and cows in a field!

Evil side eye much

Moo muthaf*cka

Checking out the Margaret River Nougat Company after was a very successful venture, I ended up with 6 bars of delicious sweet Nougat to give away as gifts, but also to eat. In fact, I'm eating it as I type. Vvvv sticky. Probably not the smartest idea.

The MR Nougat Company is situated next to this lovely lake

Nougat bars filled with YUM

Decisions decisions

As Margaret River is wine country, we had to visit more than just two vineyards so we drove to Vasse Felix and Cullen Winery. Vasse Felix was super fancy, the grounds were neatly manicured and had artsy looking sculptures placed around. The restaurant on the second level looked so posh I didn't dare to walk in, and even the bathrooms were fancy and they use Aesop soap. I wanted to move in.

Welcome to Vasse Felix

What a beauty

Hey baby, how roo doin'?

Underground cellar - those pillar like structures have historical information printed on them

Cullen seemed to be a little smaller and more like a family owned kind of winery. The place actually closes at 4.30pm and we got there at 4.20pm but the lady was so kind to run through the tasting session without rushing us. There was some outdoor self-guided tour about biodynamics and how they use it in their wine production - it sounded kind of strange in a hippie dippie kind of way. However, the wines must've been good as the guys ended up ordering lots of wine to be sent directly back to Singapore.

Our winery adventures had come to a close literally because they all close by 5pm latest so we headed back to Hermitage house to rest and hang out before heading out to dinner. We'd read nice things about Settlers Tavern so we popped in for bar food style dinner. The serving portions were huge and I don't think any of us finished our meals. We ordered a side order of chicken wings, which were really tasty, but small in portion compared to the other starters like nachos. Dan, the number 1 chingchongcheenapong (I'm in second place) was pleased to see laksa on the menu so I guess if you ever find yourself in Margaret River craving Singapore grub, you can head there.

After our meal, we headed back for the final sleep in Hermitage house before we moved on the following day to Fremantle.

Thanks for reading, the final part of the Australia trip will follow in another post! Don't say I didn't warn you.

How ya going, mate? Part 1: Pemberton

How ya going? If I had to answer that, I'd say, "by plane and then car", but I think the expected response is "Good, how ya going?" Australian English is a riot, I tell ya.

I've just come back from a 9 day trip to Perth, Australia. It was a group trip and as always, I share (aka boast about) my vacation. Honestly, if I don't write about what I did, in a year's time, I won't recall many of the details. Such are the trials of a pea-brain.

I would describe this trip as a vacation where 8 people get very fat on cheese and wine.

Day 1

We flew in via cheap tickets on JetStar early in the morning and we quickly went through immigration (our passports can go through those self-automated lanes and it wasn't crowded at all!) and headed to the Thrifty car rental booth within the airport where we got our pre-booked cars settled (2 white Mitsubishi Outlanders with trunk space large enough for 4 medium/large sized luggage per car - shopping here we come!).

Like fatties, we immediately went in search of grub and drove to Bunbury Farmers Market where we ate pies and drank coffee from the little food stall within the market, and then over-ordered organic grocery like we had never seen food before.

Get in ma belly

Honestly all the vegetables were giant sized

We bought the whole shop. The boo wasn't satisfied with the meat he saw here (because he's a snob who thinks meat should only be bought at a butcher's, so 4 of us went off in search of a butcher after this grocery expedition, while the other 4 went to another grocery store (this time not organic, I think it was Woolworth's) to buy even MORE food.

Dan is obviously not a Fox brother but he looks like he's saying "welcome to my store"

The boo found Fox Bros Butchers which is a short drive from Pemberlyn House (the AirBnB rental we had found) but he calmly only bought a couple of lamb chops and steaks. Such restraint I tell ya.

Exhausted from grocery shopping, we quickly made our way to Pemberlyn House, a lovely homestay nestled amongst lush greenery. Apparently a kangaroo hopped past the house so that's how close to nature it is. It's a great place to be disconnected from the outside world because it seems pretty isolated and there's no wifi. So a great place to relax and unwind, or murder someone. Your pick.

The outside of the house. I clearly didn't take this photo as it's way nicer than what I could have achieved.

The view from the porch

I want to see a kangaroo!!

The house has 3 bedrooms, and a TV room that can be converted into a bedroom. Fully furnished with most amenities and necessities, it was a very comfortable stay (especially for me since I managed to score the master bedroom). However, I've come to realise that it seems no matter the size of the house, the number of bathrooms seems to be capped at 2.

Dining room and kitchen

BBQ deck but we didn't sit outside because it was cold

Porch for lounging and kangaroo spotting

Master bedroom

View from the master bedroom/shower area of master bedroom

There's a fireplace which we got cracking because it is COLD in Autumn, and there's a pool table upon which we ladies played the most epic pool game EVER. (We were so awful at the game, like SO awful. I don't know how long it took to complete.) I'd like to boast that my team (me and Leo) won, but it really doesn't come with the glory naturally associated with winning.

History was made here

Our first dinner in Australia was excessive. The boo grilled up the steak and lamb, but head chef Mims also served up a huge baked salmon, carrots, mushrooms, I'm sure I'm forgetting other things. Oh, and WINE. Our dessert after a massive dinner was cheese paired with drinking games that got pretty disgusting. I learned 2 lessons that night, the first is that Pi is 3.14159, and the second is that some people *coughdumbboyscough* take the idea of cheese and wine pairing to the extreme by dunking cheese in wine.

The pink cheese is wine and cheese and it's wonderful.

Day 2

I'm proud to say that despite the drinking of the first night (especially by Mims whose drinking game luck was absent), we were all sprightly and ready for action the next day. We drove a short distance to the Karri Forest, where we selected the Gloucester Tree Route, a 10 KM trek through the woods where one could get in touch with nature and smell burning trees, and then feast on 19074691426417 calories from scones and pancakes mid-walk because that's how all hikes go right?

This is a super tall tree with spokes you can climb all the way to the top but we didn't because hells no.

There is a  lot of this, would ya believe?

OMG A BRIDGE TROLL!!

Burnt trees

I'd give the hike maybe a 7/10 rating, it was nice to be in nature but the hike didn't seem so challenging with few upward inclines, nor any peaks or cliffs to overlook majestic views, and the forest was permeated with the smell of burning wood. I think they do a lot of selective forest burning. Also, did you see that scary bridge troll??

Anyway, back to the pancakes and scones. So mid-walk, we came upon the Lavender and Berry Farm (FINE. We actively looked for it after reading reviews okkkk!!) where we ate laksa. Kidding. We had lavender and berry pancakes and scones for brunch, silly! They were SO good.

Oh yeah, we had nachos and a vanilla milkshake as well.

Coming in second place in terms of awesomeness of the offerings at this farm were the animals! There were ducks in the lake near the outdoor seating area (but then I made the mistake of feeding them some bread and they came swarming like hungry little monsters. Don't feed wild animals, kids.) At the back of the farm were mini ponies, alpacas, and sheep!

One evil duck

What you staring at?

Too cool for your shizz

Resident hairstylist hard at work

Post-styling - this horse can join an emo boyband

What about meeee?

We finished up the rest of the hike after brunch. I'm proud to say I did a little light jogging and then not so proud to say I nearly made an older lady fall down because I came up behind her and gave her a fright.

After we left the park, we headed to a Truffle farm which made me miss my dog. Apparently during truffle hunting season, you can join a tour where their truffle hunting dogs will sniff out truffles, probably in a super cute way that'll make you wanna say "who's a good boy? You are!!" Sadly, it wasn't truffle hunting season and they don't just let those dogs roam around and sniff you like you may potentially be delicious edible gold.

Who's a good boy???

That looks disgusting guys. Who in the world first thought to eat it??

We needed the truffle oil and salt because we persuaded chef Mims to make us her famous truffle pasta for dinner. She did not disappoint. I think I had 3 servings. Dinner was, as you guessed, more overeating, especially since we still had so much produce leftover from the previous day's grocery run, and were leaving for Margaret River the following morning. The solution? All leftovers get made into soup!

Breakfast the following morning included soup, leftover pasta, steak and lamb, cheese toasties, ham, cheese, eggs, bean, yogurt and granola! EVERYTHING IN FRIDGE MUST BE EATEN!!

And like that, the stay in Pemberton came to a close. We packed up and shifted out that morning to make our way towards Margaret River.

Thanks for reading, part 2 of the "Fat on cheese and wine" trip to be continued in another post.