Today we'd booked to go on a wine tour in the Margaret River region. It was due to leave at 9:30am and breakfast at the guesthouse was from 8:30am to 9:30am. It was going to be a rush and so I set my alarm for 7am.
As it turned out, the bus was going to pick us up at 9:15am and so I had to gobble breakfast so I could take all my medication etc in time.
Breakfast was nice - fruit, cereal, scrambled eggs and coffee. Other guests were there too including Martin and Cathy who we'd met yesterday afternoon.
Our driver, Rusty, was waiting in the street with his bus when we walked out of the guesthouse at 9:15am. He then drove around the corner to pick up other passengers at Margarets in Town apartments. There were fourteen of us by then.
The first stop was at Yahava KoffeeWorks for a coffee tasting. It turned out to be much more than a coffee tasting. It was more like a lesson in how to make great coffee. One of the staff gave us an excellent presentation including the history of coffee beans, the types of coffee and the best way to make plunger coffee.
After the presentation, we bought some coffee beans and bottles of flavouring. We also added ourselves to their mailing list. One of their products is decaffeinated beans. It's hard to find people who sell decaffeinated coffee beans.
The next stop was at Redgate winery. At the cellar door, one of the owners gave us the history of this family-owned winery and gave us tastings of many of their wines. Suzy and I only tasted the red wines but decided not to buy any.
Next we went to an olive farm, Olio Bello. They had a range of olive oils and other products such as soaps.
By this time, it was about 1pm and so Rusty took us to Cowaramup Brewery for lunch on the terrace overlooking the valley. It was a very pleasant spot. Most people had either fish and chips or a pie. They offered a complementary drink including beer or wine. Some blokes went for a beer tasting paddle.
Cowaramup is a town in the Margaret River area. The local council has made it look like fun because there are statues of cows at various places throughout the town. At the brewery, the shop is decorated with soft fluffy cow toys.
After lunch, we went to BrookWood winery for another cellar door tasting. The girl who presented the tastings had lots of personality. So it was a fun event but Suzy and I once again decided not to buy any wine.
Next we went to the Margaret River Dairy Company for a cheese tasting. Outside the entrance, there was a brightly painted cow statue and a Formula One racing car.
The last stop was at Fermoy Estate winery. Once again, the lady doing the presentation and tasting had lots of personality. This time Suzy and I were impressed with their wine. We ordered some to be sent home and I joined their membership club.
After the tasting, Rusty took us inside the factory to show us the huge steel wine vats and explained the process of wine making. He gave us another tasting out of a barrel that had a range of different grape types.
This was the best visit of the day. He'd left the best vineyard until last.
The last destination for the day was the Margaret River Chocolate Company which has a large shop with a huge array of different chocolate products. Suzy bought a variety of products to take home either as gifts or for our own consumption.
By this time it was about 4:45pm and we'd finished our tour but Rusty asked if we'd like to go to a lookout on the way back. Here we had a great view of the coast. The sun was getting lower in the sky and would soon be setting behind the clouds over the ocean.
Before lunch we'd picked up two German tourists from Bavaria. Rather than dropping them back in town, Rusty drove to the ecovillage camp where they were staying. This was located in bushland about 5km from town.
We were back at our guesthouse by about 5:30pm. Suzy's foot was very sore and she didn't want to have to walk far for dinner and so I set out to walk up and down the main street to find out what the options were.
In the end we went to the restaurant in the Margaret River Hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment