 Another Country Diary Links to images and other pages are in blue. These entries are broken up into weeks, or when the page gets too image heavy. |
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26
October -2 November. More Songs about Buildings and Food Pt.4 |
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 Driving
through the tall timber forests was more interesting than the low desert
scrub, but stopping was a lot harder on the narrow roads with double
lines. That's my excuse.
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 We
followed a station wagon full of young Japanese surfers along the coast.
We were looking
at waves, they were looking for them. This view is towards where the
Margaret River enters the sea.
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 I
chased these honeyeaters (from a distance with the long telephoto)
across grevillias, banksias and plants I'd never seen, all lush and
nectar laden. I've bought a WA Wildflower book but until I can identify
them all properly, take
this popup page as a "gee, that's pretty". |
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 Angela,
who works at the office with Jan and I, has a twin brother who is one of
the assistant winemakers at Southcorp's
Devil's Lair winery. They are at
the top end of the prestige winemakers in Margaret River, so of course we accepted
the offer to meet Justin, and have him show us the winery. There's no
cellar door sales at Devil's Lair so it's invitation only (if you can find it,
it's set back from the main tourist routes). The
location is very attractive, a man made dam sets of the modern
corrugated iron buildings and the sloping hills around it lush and
green. The Devil's Lair
name comes from a cave nearby that was "an
ancient, mysterious burial ground known to have been inhabited as long
as 40,000 years ago. Fossil remains of the elusive Tasmanian Devil
discovered on the site are believed to be the origin of the cave's
name." The image used on the
logo came from the cave wall, and is more likely a Tasmanian Tiger
however. There's that strange dismembered leg which is the name of the
second range of wines sold from the Margaret River winery, Fifth Leg.
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 Ed
Green's Green Valley wines were recommended to us by Justin as a contrast to the big
wineries way of doing things. Ed talked us through the way he markets
and how he has concentrated on selling direct to restaurants in the
cities where his children live. He gets to visit, do business and they
promote his wine by word of mouth. We bought back some bottles and Ed
said you can you
can get his wine on the cellar lists at Anise in Canberra and Aria in
Sydney.
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 As
we drove down to Leuwin Estate, for lunch, passing under a tree I heard a bang on
the roof. Looking back I could see the road littered with chewed gumnuts.
I stopped and looked towards the trees where I figured there had to be
cockatoos.
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 Yep,
white
tailed black cockatoos are more common in WA than around Bungendore.
While I tried, black cockatoos
against a bright sky don't make for a great photograph.
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 We
had lunch at Leuwin
Estate. This is the entree and below what was left of the Chef's plate
we shared. Great Food and afterward the surprise of the Gallery.
More images of lunch at Leuwin. |
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(I'll add some more details here soon)
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 Great,
instead of staying up late, I can get a good nights sleep and be ready
for when it opens at 8.00am.
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 See
the note above about the wildflowers.
Some more on
this popup page |
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 We
stayed two nights in Margaret River and ate at Vat 107 and at Wino's.
We made a booking for the first and just chanced it for Wino's. The
place was packed. There are serious blackboard menus and sherry glass tasting
sizes so you can settle on the wine of the night, dozens of which are available by
glass.
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 The
food was also aimed at snacking and drinking with wine, a selection of
tapas-like items they called 'Grits'. I had a creditable Bolito Misto
and we switched wines a few times. Both places are recommended, but the
buzz in the bar at Wino's would have to be a first stop.
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 As we were walking around I found this drunken
waterlilly, submerged but intact and glowing. There's a bigger
image here.(700 pixels wide, 180k). If I have to end this somewhere,
and I do, this will be the image. We drove to Perth in the morning of Saturday
and were home in Bungendore by midnight.
In all, we flew 3000 kilometers, and drove the
same distance. |
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Pt.1
Perth,Fremantle, Northam Pt.2 Kalgoorlie Pt.3 Esperance - Denmark |
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| Fred Harden | ||
| Current entry | Archive Menu | ||
Just
outside Margaret River is the small town of Witchcliffe. Petrol station,
agricultural
supplies and farm machinery, and this large post office building. I
assume only the front is the office and in a former life it was the
community hall.
Margaret
River township is caught in the middle of traditional agriculture (lush
green fields, in complete contrast to the dry wheat belt we'd crossed),
and wine and tourism. It has small town charm and some very sophisticated
shops and restaurants just waiting for the weekend visitor from Perth. Or
people like us.