Margaret River Wine Country

We are trekking down the SW Australian Coast which has a temperate Mediterranean climate making it the perfect place for vineyards.  There are dozens of them in the area along with micro breweries. It's been fun to learn about the vineyards and enjoy some very lovely bottles of white and red wines.
Palmer's Vineyard - our first tour!
We even found a boutique gin & whiskey distiller and couldn't resist visiting Giniversity!  Their gins are filled with botanical and citrus notes with some smokey undertones.  Lovely in a gin & tonic!

The coastline here is breathtaking.... filled with rocky outcroppings and windswept scrub punctuated by pink, yellow and purple wildflowers. It is just now early summer this far south so the big whales have not yet arrived.  Humpbacks, Blue and Wright whales all use this area for their calving grounds.
Silver Gulls say hello
This is surfing territory as the waves are good sized most of the year.  They tell us that in their winter, waves can reach 30 to 50 feet.  The surfer vibe beats loudly here.  Rumor has it that on days with big waves, most of the "tradies" (Aussie for tradesman such as plumbers & electricians) don't show up for work as they are all out surfing.  Here in Oz, there is a very different outlook on life that puts enjoyment ahead of work.

We took a fun canoe trip up the Margaret River with a guide who also served us a Bush tucker lunch.  Bush tucker is food sourced from the wild so we had emu, crocodile, kangaroo, plus sides made from wild plums, tomatoes, limes and all other types of tasty things.


We also enjoyed our trip to the Ngilgi Cave where we descended 150 feet underground to view the amazing formations and understand how the indigenous peoples used these caves.


Dunsborough was our home for several days and we found it to be very comfortable.  It is a coastal village with good restaurants, live music and nice grocery stores........all of the things one could need in life!  Like every other locale we have visited, walking paths abound.  We continue our daily quest to identify the various birds flitting about the countryside.  So far,  we have identified 253 distinct Australian species.  We are indeed in birding paradise.

Stay Curious!

Cheryl & Dan

Comments

  1. Mary BDecember 21, 2019 at 9:05 AM

    We are sure enjoying "watching" your journey through your words. Life sure looks good on you two.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. C and D UntetheredDecember 22, 2019 at 12:17 AM

      Can't wait for you to retire so we can catch up and tromp somewhere exciting in the world together! Hugs

      Delete

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