Margaret River April 14 - 17

Wine Country Luxury - Margaret River April 14 - 17

Our last night in Hyden I used the leftovers from rotisserie chook to make enchiladas and we watched a murder mystery series featuring a small town lesbian cop (somebody is killing people and trying to frame a resident sea lion). In the morning we headed back west to the ocean and wine country. Driving through the hills and dales of Ferguson Valley I couldn't help but notice its resemblance to Sonoma County--green rolling hills dotted with big-limbed trees that from a distance looked like oaks, vineyard after vineyard, cattle and sheep. Except for the kangaroos it could have been Healdsburg or Glen Ellen. 

We stopped at a small winery called Bakkheia that John saw a review for. No tasting room. A renegade, self-taught wine maker, who laid out cheese, olives, and homemade salami on a board amid the oak barrels and machinery, and plied us with really impressive reds. He had a unique pricing strategy--he invites 20 or so wine enthusiasts to an annual party. They are a range of folks from novices to experts. He has them taste the year's vintages and asks them to write down what they would pay for a bottle, then he takes an average. He said he wasn't in it to get rich, but he did just fine.

Hidden Valley Forest Chalet

After lunch and grocery shopping in the town of Cowaramup, you know, right next to Yallingup, we pulled into our splendid chalet at Hidden Valley Forest Eco Retreat, down a gravel road, skirting a big sheep ranch, and into the woods. Very cozy and modern.

It Didn't Get Us

Interior, 2-person tub outside, the dining and sitting decks, roo-related quenda

We really liked this place, sitting out on the deck in the woods at sunset, listening to all the strange and haunting birdsong. Roos would come by and sprawl out in the sun beneath our windows. Everybody asks me if kangaroos are mean; we didn't experience that at all; they were everywhere--on the road, in the towns--but shy toward humans. Quendas sniffed around the deck late in the day. 

On the last morning, tho, I was all soaped up in the shower when I turned to see 3-inch spider climbing the wall right next to my face. I screamed bloody murder and ran out of the shower. John said he had never heard me vocalize such terror. I nearly had a heart attack. He grabbed a dustpan and hand broom, scooped up the spider, and yelled at me to open the back door. I was all soapy and couldn't turn the handle as the spider started to climb up toward John's hand. I finally got the door open and he flung the dustpan out, but the spider landed inside. Thankfully, he was able to brush it ourside. This was our only encounter with scary Australian critters. No snakes, not sharks, no crocodiles, no sparring kangaroos. Just a huge spider that didn't get us.

Our al fresco view from the restaurant at Cullen Winery

A fabulous meal at Cullen Winery: buckwheat brioche, Koionup beef tartare, Shark Bay prawns, heirloom tomato salad with smoked ricotta, roasted Wagyu shoulder with bone marrow, and chocolate mousse. We visited Canal Rocks and glimpsed a surfing competition at Gracetown Beach, as well as an art gallery with Aboriginal paintings. Wine tasting at Cape Grace was our last day's outing.

There's a narrow, raised walkway along the rocky peninsula where the Indian Ocean formed canals by erosion. Canal Rocks is a popular tourist spot

A fascinating thing we did was a night-time guided walk thru a nature preserve, where, under small lanterns, we fed a mob of rescued kangaroo orphans, saw bandicoots and brushtail possums, and learned about plants and insects. At one point we turned off the lanterns and did some stargazing.

Brushtail possums were fed by the guides. These and other small native marsupials are threatened in the wild, but inside the fence of the large preserve they are safer. Invasive foxes can sometimes sneak in when the gate is open. A family on our tour with several kids fed about eight roos from their hands. 

Below the Busselton Pier in the 3-story underwater observatory 

Leaving Margaret River on our way back to Perth the last day, we stopped at the 2K-long pier at Busselton where you take a miniature train the length of it out over the ocean to an interpretive centre at the end. It's a 3-story underwater structure that was lowered into place below the pier and has large viewing windows.

One more night in Perth near the airport after we returned the rental car. Our hotel and restaurant were nearly empty, but we chatted with a group of locals, patrons of the bar. They were originally from Canada--Lethbridge, AB. 

Final episode: Overnight in Singapore and 4 days in Japan.