Ahh, after what seems like ages of boxed wine, we have arrived at the beautiful, magnificent region of the real red liquid of the gods!
Welcome to Margaret River. And just a side note -Margaret River was another stop where we missed the actual town all together. The other time was our stay in Fremantle and never getting into Perth.
Not only is this area a welcome respite for our taste buds, but it's amazingly beautiful with the landscape having clearly changed from the dry yellow to the lush green hills with tall karri tree forests like giants guarding the vines. Then you have the coast with white sandy beaches and a cave system as well.
We started easy with just a couple winery stops and a brewery, then drove up to Eagle Bay before heading back to Caves Road and finding our camp at Yallingup Beach for the night. The next day was a grand day of about ten winery stops before setting up camp among the karri trees in the Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park. Thank goodness Matt was driving!
Our two bottle a day limit was a catastrophic failure and I'm thrilled for it. We collected a lovely collection of reds and agreed that because of our weight limit in the truck, we had to drink them daily and immediately! Ahhh!
The collection included:
- Flametree Shiraz 2012
- Credaro Estate Cab Sav 2009
- Windows Estate Cab Merlot 2011
- Driftwood Sparkling Shiraz
- Pierro Fire Gully Cab Sav Reserve 2004
- Juniper Estate Tempranillo 2012
- Briarose Estate Cab Sav 2005
- Blackwood Meadery Blackberry Nip and a couple honey beers
By the time I've written this, we only have 2 bottles remaining!
But they have been thoroughly enjoyed - bring on the Adelaide wineries!
Out of hundreds of caves in the area, only 4 are open to the public so we visited Mammoth Cave as it is the only one you can self guide. The system was beautiful to wind your way through and out the other side to walk through the forest and plethora of wildflowers and orchids before back to the start.
We made it to the southern tip before rounding up and over towards Denmark. Luckily the waters were cold and Matt doesn't have his boards as a couple days after we left the area, a surfer was taken by a great white.
Thanks for the link to Billagog. I enjoyed several of the posts, but alas, wine is my weakness. I recall our lunch at the Sydney Yacht Squadron before your adventure and we had a great white wine .....from Margaret River....actually 3 bottle among our group of 6. Great day. After we left, we visited Adelaide and the Barosa Valley. Came away with great appreciation for Australian wines.
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