Yank winos invade WA - Trip Report
Mar 29th, 2007, 03:52 AM
#21
Margaret River – Day 1
After checking our e-mail at Cybercorner Café (A$6 an hour), we picked up a map at the Visitor’s Center and drove to Olio Bello, producers of organic olives, olive oils and related items. We were in search of their green olive and sundried tomato/ pine nut tapenades which we’d discovered on a previous trip. Not only did we find the tapenades, but we discovered they’ve added an outdoor café since our last visit and now serve lunch, coffee and cake. The menu was really tempting, but we had plans for lunch (or so we thought), so we passed. There’s nothing quite like the smell of baking bread though, so we just couldn’t pass up a loaf of warm olive rosemary bread.
http://www.oliobello.com/
Our next stop was the Margaret River Dairy Company for some of their wonderful cheese.
www.margaretriverdairy.com.au/
Then it was on to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory, where we watched them make Easter bunnies (I want that job!) and tried their delicious champagne and Irish crème truffles.
www.chocolatefactory.com.au/
Ready for lunch, we headed to Wills Domain, home of the best platter we've ever had. Unbeknownst to us at the time, they only serve their full menu Thursday-Sunday – naturally it was Tuesday! So, we sampled the wines, had a nice chat and vowed to return in a few days.
www.willsdomain.com.au/
Ravenous, we made a kebab run then returned to our cottage.
Dinner that night consisted of all locally made products – bread and tapenade from Olio Bello, Margaret River cheese, mandarins and a nice bottle of wine. Oh yeah, lest I forget, dark chocolate Tim Tams.
Margaret River – Day 2
We decided to take the Ten Mile Brook Dam Trail, which originates from Rotary Park. We’d walked this trail before and really enjoyed it, so figured we’d give it another go. This is an easy walk along the river through the bush, and as advertised it’s about ten miles return (17 km).
Several roads and unmarked trails intersect with the Ten Mile Brook Dam Trail, and somewhere along the way we made a wrong turn, having to double back. This made a long walk even longer and towards the end we were wondering if it would ever end (took us close to four hours and we saw a HUGE kangaroo).
Thinking we’d earned a nice alfresco lunch, we showered, put our chilled bottle of Salitage 2006 unwooded Chardonnay in our esky and set off for that oh-so-temping lunch at Olio Bello.
Nothing at Olio Bello indicated they were BYO. When we asked, we were told “sometimes” and were promptly offered two wine glasses (no corkage fee!). What a great idea this was - we thoroughly enjoyed our meal. Bill had the Romanza – venison chorizo, caramelized onion, roasted red pepper and parmesan cheese over freshly made pasta. I had the Rich Sauce – onion, garlic, tomato sauce, basil, parsley and parmesan. Both were delicious and incredibly fresh (A$17.50 each). I just couldn’t resist the chocolate cake made from mandarin olive oil and a flat white to round off the meal.
Next: Final day in Margaret River and winding down in Perth
After checking our e-mail at Cybercorner Café (A$6 an hour), we picked up a map at the Visitor’s Center and drove to Olio Bello, producers of organic olives, olive oils and related items. We were in search of their green olive and sundried tomato/ pine nut tapenades which we’d discovered on a previous trip. Not only did we find the tapenades, but we discovered they’ve added an outdoor café since our last visit and now serve lunch, coffee and cake. The menu was really tempting, but we had plans for lunch (or so we thought), so we passed. There’s nothing quite like the smell of baking bread though, so we just couldn’t pass up a loaf of warm olive rosemary bread.
http://www.oliobello.com/
Our next stop was the Margaret River Dairy Company for some of their wonderful cheese.
www.margaretriverdairy.com.au/
Then it was on to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory, where we watched them make Easter bunnies (I want that job!) and tried their delicious champagne and Irish crème truffles.
www.chocolatefactory.com.au/
Ready for lunch, we headed to Wills Domain, home of the best platter we've ever had. Unbeknownst to us at the time, they only serve their full menu Thursday-Sunday – naturally it was Tuesday! So, we sampled the wines, had a nice chat and vowed to return in a few days.
www.willsdomain.com.au/
Ravenous, we made a kebab run then returned to our cottage.
Dinner that night consisted of all locally made products – bread and tapenade from Olio Bello, Margaret River cheese, mandarins and a nice bottle of wine. Oh yeah, lest I forget, dark chocolate Tim Tams.
Margaret River – Day 2
We decided to take the Ten Mile Brook Dam Trail, which originates from Rotary Park. We’d walked this trail before and really enjoyed it, so figured we’d give it another go. This is an easy walk along the river through the bush, and as advertised it’s about ten miles return (17 km).
Several roads and unmarked trails intersect with the Ten Mile Brook Dam Trail, and somewhere along the way we made a wrong turn, having to double back. This made a long walk even longer and towards the end we were wondering if it would ever end (took us close to four hours and we saw a HUGE kangaroo).
Thinking we’d earned a nice alfresco lunch, we showered, put our chilled bottle of Salitage 2006 unwooded Chardonnay in our esky and set off for that oh-so-temping lunch at Olio Bello.
Nothing at Olio Bello indicated they were BYO. When we asked, we were told “sometimes” and were promptly offered two wine glasses (no corkage fee!). What a great idea this was - we thoroughly enjoyed our meal. Bill had the Romanza – venison chorizo, caramelized onion, roasted red pepper and parmesan cheese over freshly made pasta. I had the Rich Sauce – onion, garlic, tomato sauce, basil, parsley and parmesan. Both were delicious and incredibly fresh (A$17.50 each). I just couldn’t resist the chocolate cake made from mandarin olive oil and a flat white to round off the meal.
Next: Final day in Margaret River and winding down in Perth
Mar 30th, 2007, 12:35 AM
#22
Margaret River – Day 3
We drove to Carter’s Road intending to walk several of the short trails that originate from there. The trails were well signed at the beginning, but quickly became confusing as they intersect with bike trails, 4WD roads and the Rails to Trails network. It was a nice day for a walk; we saw a lot of ring-necked parrots and a came upon a grove of unusual pink flowers, which was an unexpected surprise. We walked for about two hours (5 miles, 8 km) although we’re not sure exactly which trails we covered.
We were surprised to see kangaroos still out and about when we returned to our cottage around noon - aren’t they nocturnal?
We then headed north on Caves Road towards Wills Domain for that much anticipated lunch platter. We took a detour at Laurance, a new winery that had opened since our last visit. This place is incredible - beautiful cellar door and outdoor tasting area, gorgeous grounds with 1,000 rosebushes, a lake and water sculpture. And good wine! We shared a six wine tasting tray (A$7) on the patio overlooking the grounds. Lovely!
http://www.laurancewines.com
The lunch platter at Wills Domain was beckoning, so off we went. It was as good as we remembered – sizzling chorizo sausage, several local cheeses, marinated olives, macadamia nut pesto, bruscetta mix, cheese twists, lavosh (unleavened flat bread), wafer thin crackers, and toasted Yallingup organic wood fired bread drizzled with Olio Bello olive oil – it was delicious (A$45) and was made even better with some ice cold Rose.
Sated, we continued our drive to the township of Yallingup which is surrounded by Leeuwin Nauraliste National Park and overlooks the Indian Ocean. We made a stop at Torpedo Rocks overlook and noticed that the Cape to Cape Walk passes right through here. This was our first visit to Yallingup and if we return to WA, we’d like to spend more time here – it’s gorgeous.
We continued north to Dunsborough and searched in vain for the bakery that makes Yallingup Wood Fired Bread. After driving in circles for awhile, we stopped at the Visitor’s Center for directions, and a short time later we were standing outside their tiny bakery talking to one of the bread makers. He was nice enough to interrupt his baking and show us to the back where we got to peek into the cavernous wood fire brick oven. We just love this bread, so we bought a loaf for later.
NOTE: The bakery is at the corner of Biddles and McLachlan. Turn at the Roseneath Farm sign and follow the hand printed sign (affixed to a broken surfboard) to the bakery.
http://www.margaret-river-online.com...1207bakery.htm
Winding down in Perth -
We left Margaret River and headed to Perth; the 280 km drive took us about 3.5 hours.
Armed with a detailed map, we were able to locate our lodging with no trouble, The Medina Executive Barrack Plaza. Although it was just after noon, we were allowed to check in and were upgraded to a two bedroom apartment instead of the one bedroom we’d reserved - www.medina.com.au/ - A$170 per night, A$16.50 per day for parking.
We really enjoyed our stay here and found this Medina much nicer than its sister property, the Medina Grand. There’s a nice little pub right next door (A$6 pints) and an attached coffee shop.
Our two bedroom, two bath unit was spotless, spacious, comfortable and nicely equipped. The complex is centrally located, just around the corner from the Hay Street Mall.
We were in Perth for just a day and a half, primarily to meet up with a co-worker and do some shopping before going back to Indonesia. Our friend gave us a mini tour one evening, taking us to Hillarys Boat Harbor, Sorrento Quay Marina and for a drive along the Sunset Coast.
Our second day we explored the Swan Valley, but we found most places uncomfortably busy (it was Saturday), so we didn’t spend much time there. We had a good alfresco lunch at Duckstein Brewery, where we split a grilled sausage plate – Nurnburg sausage, chorizo, bratwurst, potatoes and sauerkraut – A$32. We drove the entire 32 km Swan Valley Drive, but we just weren’t drawn in by it. After the quiet and calm of the previous 12 days, we found Perth just too crowded and busy.
It took us longer than expected to get to the Perth airport on our day of departure, so we had no time to spare. The flight to Singapore seemed to fly by and we arrived early in the afternoon. Once again, we were amazed by the efficiency of Changi Airport – within 15 minutes of deplaning, we had cleared immigration, customs, collected our checked luggage and were in a taxi. Unbelievable!
Our flight to Indonesia didn’t leave until the following day, so we spent a night at the Royal Plaza Hotel on Orchard Road - www.royalplaza.com.sg (S$195).
We frequent this hotel and were surprised and pleased when they upgraded us to their club floor, which includes breakfast, high tea and cocktails. That evening we enjoyed a nice Indian meal at Mumtaz Mahal, located in the Far East Plaza directly across the street from the hotel. They make a mean vindaloo and a very nice black dahl and garlic naan (S$40 for two).
Our flight to Jakarta left the following morning at 7:30 am, so we were up and on our way to the airport by 5:30. We were at the airport and checked in within 30 minutes of leaving our hotel, so we could have slept a big longer. We were surprised to learn that before 6 am there’s a premium charged on taxis, and the ride to the airport was S$35 instead of the usual S$15-20. Oh well, live and learn.
Two Garuda flights (mercifully uneventful), one long bus ride and almost 12 hours later (I did say tiresome, did I not?), we found ourselves home safe and sound.
The End!
We drove to Carter’s Road intending to walk several of the short trails that originate from there. The trails were well signed at the beginning, but quickly became confusing as they intersect with bike trails, 4WD roads and the Rails to Trails network. It was a nice day for a walk; we saw a lot of ring-necked parrots and a came upon a grove of unusual pink flowers, which was an unexpected surprise. We walked for about two hours (5 miles, 8 km) although we’re not sure exactly which trails we covered.
We were surprised to see kangaroos still out and about when we returned to our cottage around noon - aren’t they nocturnal?
We then headed north on Caves Road towards Wills Domain for that much anticipated lunch platter. We took a detour at Laurance, a new winery that had opened since our last visit. This place is incredible - beautiful cellar door and outdoor tasting area, gorgeous grounds with 1,000 rosebushes, a lake and water sculpture. And good wine! We shared a six wine tasting tray (A$7) on the patio overlooking the grounds. Lovely!
http://www.laurancewines.com
The lunch platter at Wills Domain was beckoning, so off we went. It was as good as we remembered – sizzling chorizo sausage, several local cheeses, marinated olives, macadamia nut pesto, bruscetta mix, cheese twists, lavosh (unleavened flat bread), wafer thin crackers, and toasted Yallingup organic wood fired bread drizzled with Olio Bello olive oil – it was delicious (A$45) and was made even better with some ice cold Rose.
Sated, we continued our drive to the township of Yallingup which is surrounded by Leeuwin Nauraliste National Park and overlooks the Indian Ocean. We made a stop at Torpedo Rocks overlook and noticed that the Cape to Cape Walk passes right through here. This was our first visit to Yallingup and if we return to WA, we’d like to spend more time here – it’s gorgeous.
We continued north to Dunsborough and searched in vain for the bakery that makes Yallingup Wood Fired Bread. After driving in circles for awhile, we stopped at the Visitor’s Center for directions, and a short time later we were standing outside their tiny bakery talking to one of the bread makers. He was nice enough to interrupt his baking and show us to the back where we got to peek into the cavernous wood fire brick oven. We just love this bread, so we bought a loaf for later.
NOTE: The bakery is at the corner of Biddles and McLachlan. Turn at the Roseneath Farm sign and follow the hand printed sign (affixed to a broken surfboard) to the bakery.
http://www.margaret-river-online.com...1207bakery.htm
Winding down in Perth -
We left Margaret River and headed to Perth; the 280 km drive took us about 3.5 hours.
Armed with a detailed map, we were able to locate our lodging with no trouble, The Medina Executive Barrack Plaza. Although it was just after noon, we were allowed to check in and were upgraded to a two bedroom apartment instead of the one bedroom we’d reserved - www.medina.com.au/ - A$170 per night, A$16.50 per day for parking.
We really enjoyed our stay here and found this Medina much nicer than its sister property, the Medina Grand. There’s a nice little pub right next door (A$6 pints) and an attached coffee shop.
Our two bedroom, two bath unit was spotless, spacious, comfortable and nicely equipped. The complex is centrally located, just around the corner from the Hay Street Mall.
We were in Perth for just a day and a half, primarily to meet up with a co-worker and do some shopping before going back to Indonesia. Our friend gave us a mini tour one evening, taking us to Hillarys Boat Harbor, Sorrento Quay Marina and for a drive along the Sunset Coast.
Our second day we explored the Swan Valley, but we found most places uncomfortably busy (it was Saturday), so we didn’t spend much time there. We had a good alfresco lunch at Duckstein Brewery, where we split a grilled sausage plate – Nurnburg sausage, chorizo, bratwurst, potatoes and sauerkraut – A$32. We drove the entire 32 km Swan Valley Drive, but we just weren’t drawn in by it. After the quiet and calm of the previous 12 days, we found Perth just too crowded and busy.
It took us longer than expected to get to the Perth airport on our day of departure, so we had no time to spare. The flight to Singapore seemed to fly by and we arrived early in the afternoon. Once again, we were amazed by the efficiency of Changi Airport – within 15 minutes of deplaning, we had cleared immigration, customs, collected our checked luggage and were in a taxi. Unbelievable!
Our flight to Indonesia didn’t leave until the following day, so we spent a night at the Royal Plaza Hotel on Orchard Road - www.royalplaza.com.sg (S$195).
We frequent this hotel and were surprised and pleased when they upgraded us to their club floor, which includes breakfast, high tea and cocktails. That evening we enjoyed a nice Indian meal at Mumtaz Mahal, located in the Far East Plaza directly across the street from the hotel. They make a mean vindaloo and a very nice black dahl and garlic naan (S$40 for two).
Our flight to Jakarta left the following morning at 7:30 am, so we were up and on our way to the airport by 5:30. We were at the airport and checked in within 30 minutes of leaving our hotel, so we could have slept a big longer. We were surprised to learn that before 6 am there’s a premium charged on taxis, and the ride to the airport was S$35 instead of the usual S$15-20. Oh well, live and learn.
Two Garuda flights (mercifully uneventful), one long bus ride and almost 12 hours later (I did say tiresome, did I not?), we found ourselves home safe and sound.
The End!
Apr 27th, 2007, 04:49 AM
#25
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Hi Melnq8,
Just finished reading your June 30 – July 13, 2006 report and discovered that you had a more recent trip made.
I enjoy your reports as they are SO informative and lively.
PS: I found my way to the Smokehouse at Mapua Bay in NZ south island because of your recommendation. Now, I'm busy soaking up your itineraries and suggestions for our Perth trip.
Just finished reading your June 30 – July 13, 2006 report and discovered that you had a more recent trip made.
I enjoy your reports as they are SO informative and lively.
PS: I found my way to the Smokehouse at Mapua Bay in NZ south island because of your recommendation. Now, I'm busy soaking up your itineraries and suggestions for our Perth trip.
Apr 27th, 2007, 06:12 AM
#27
Chenoa -
If you're not cross-eyed from reading trip reports yet, here's the link to the one I wrote following our first trip to WA. It was a short trip that covered Perth, Fremantle and Margaret River.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34657096
If you're not cross-eyed from reading trip reports yet, here's the link to the one I wrote following our first trip to WA. It was a short trip that covered Perth, Fremantle and Margaret River.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34657096
Jul 16th, 2007, 06:44 PM
#28
Finally got around to uploading some of my photos from our trips to WA. Here's the link should anyone be interested:
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/332438/index.html
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/332438/index.html
Jul 19th, 2007, 02:16 AM
#29
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Thanks Melnq8, you make me want to hop on a plane. I love Margaret river wine and now I'm determined to go, maybe I can finally get to the Kimberley also. There don't seem to be many WA contributors to this board so it's terrific to get such a detailed and lively report.
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