Margaret River - Augusta 22.11.12

The road to Margaret River was through vineyard after vineyard, with imposing cellar doors and formal gardens. Arum Lillies proliforated in gullies and shady spots and Glenn's comment was that they must be feral. How could he think anything so lovely could be feral, not to mention forgetting I had them in my wedding bouquet!

We found our way to the visitor centre and discovered we were just in time for a big food and wine festival featuring famous chefs from around the world, including Sydney siders Kylie Wong and Tetsuya. Margaret R was very busy with the huge influx of tourists for the event.

Glenn's first cousin Denise lives in Margaret R with husband Ron, and Glenn and I spent many hours catching up after too many years. They have a beautiful property surrounded by forest and they own and operate the nearby Stone Cottages, luxury accommodation set in peaceful countryside. We spent four days with them, camped under the trees beside the fountain, sightseeing during the day and eating, drinking and talking at night. We fed the chooks, explored the orchard and garden and walked to the cottages to have a look. They are lovely and together with the house, are set in 115 acres of Jarrah and Marri forests.

Ron generously passed on to us tickets he'd been given for the second day of the Gourmet Escape and we had a great day sampling the famous food and wine of the region. We watched a cooking demonstration by Russell Blaikie and sampled the delicious Arkady Lamb at the end, and sat in on a Q&A session with Andre Chiang from Restaurant Andre, Singapore. We were held up in traffic getting into the venue, Leeuwin Estate, and missed Tetsuya from Sydney in Q&A and demonstrating which was disappointing. All up it was a great day filled with sips and nibbles.

Another day was spent in and out of the galleries looking at superbly hand crafted furniture featuring the local Jarrah and Marri timbers, creative garden sculptures, jewellery, ceramics, glassware, paintings and textiles..... drool, drool !! Our favorite was the huge Boranup gallery in the Karri forrest

We booked the car in for a service and explored the main shopping strip while we waited for it. There is a wonderful bakery which serves delicious food in the most interesting of surroundings. The old house has been decorated with vintage tablecloths, some of which hang at windows and an assortment of non-matching furniture arranged in intimate nooks and crannies. There were Proteas in glass jars, posies of small flowers and hanging baskets, posters and old light fittings. It was crammed with couples and families and the hamburgers we had were the best yet. They also had homemade sweet treats. A unique place staffed with back-packers from next door.

Unfortunately, we were too busy enjoying ourselves to concentrate on victory for the Aussies in the cricket!

The coast line is rugged, dotted with surf breaks and pure white sand and Glenn was keen to revisit the places he surfed on our honeymoon. We turned off the coast road into every beach, stopping at Prevelly where the Margaret R meets the ocean and where a new wife watched anxiously as a new husband surfed a huge break more than forty years ago.

We continued the trip down memory lane, to Hamelyn Bay and its friendly stingrays, eventually arriving at Augusta. Glenn's cousin Frank lives there now in a newly acquired house with fabulous views of the south west's biggest river system, the Blackwood. We sat on his deck with cold beer and wine and then had a guided tour of house and garden and talked about Frank's plans to renovate the old house. We went to dinner at the pub and had time catch up on all the news.

We have loved seeing all the maternal cousins and families and stitching together some of Glenn's family tree. They have all been so warm, welcoming and happy to see us that it's been an absolute pleasure for us.

Augusta is a very pretty coastal/river town with so much development potential. Next morning we looked around the town and sat in the sun and watched the fishermen for awhile.

We then headed off to see the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, the tallest on mainland Australia and the meeting place of the Southern and Indian Oceans.

From there we turned east to begin the last leg of our trip. We overnighted in the forest halfway between Augusta and Pemberton and met a young German couple doing the round trip in six months. They now have first hand experience of the enormous distances of this country! We also had RAIN..heavy and continuing!