Blonde on a Road Trip

The weather still isn’t proving to be as reliably hot as the tourism books would have you believe. As we’re finding out from the locals, it’s actually quite normal for the climate to be a bit iffy at this time of year. The real heat comes in December, but we won’t be here for that, so we’ll just make do with what we’re given. In any case, Saturday mornings welcome a local farmer’s market to Margaret River, so we headed down the road to check that out. Lots of lovely stalls offering local produce, such as marmalades, lion’s mane mushrooms (all sold out by 10am!), nougat, fruit and veg, pastries, cheese, truffle butter (truffles are a big thing down here) as well as a few vans selling coffee and smoothies. It was a really nice setup. Not too big, an easy loop to walk around, which clearly draws in a reasonable crowd each week. There were even people having picnics in the middle of the loop. Everything seems very well thought-out here in terms of people and social mobility, and there’s clearly plenty of investment in community and giving people opportunities to gather and stay healthy.

After we’d finished browsing around the farmer’s market, we went into Margaret River to find some coffee and breakfast. I still hadn’t had a coffee here at this point, other than the stuff provided at the accommodation we’ve stayed at, so I was gearing up for a taste sensation, having heard so much about Australian coffee…

However, to me it just tasted like your average cappuccino, which I relayed to Michael, only to be told that it’s actually the east Australia that does the good coffee. So I’ll have to wait a bit longer for my revelatory experience in the caffeine department.

I grabbed a chocolate croissant and Michael had a smoked salmon bagel and we sat down on a big bench in the high street where lots of people where coming and going. A really nice atmosphere there, despite the weather being less than great for this time of year.

We went back to the villa via a few shops and changed into slightly nicer clothing for the day of wine tasting ahead…

We’d hoped to drive to some of the wineries a bit further out and then use a taxi to do a few of the more local ones, but apparently there is very little in terms of taxi provision in MR, so we had to think tactically about how we’d get from winery to winery. In the end, Michael decided he’d be designated driver and make use of the spitoons available so we wouldn’t have to rely on a somewhat non-existent taxi service.

Our first stop was Vasse Felix, the oldest winery in the region, established in 1967 (so relatively young). A long winding drive brought us to classy entrance, inside which we were greeted by one of the staff and since it was quite busy she directed us towards the vault until some of the tastings had finished. It’s a very popular stop on many tours given its history and reputation, so they have quite an efficient tasting process/experience. For $10 you can try 5 wines from their selection of whites, reds and a dessert wine, which is quite reasonable given the RRP of their bottles!

Once we’d tasted our wines, we headed back to the car and made our way to the next winery on our list, which had been recommended to Michael by a friend.

LS Merchants had a very different feel to it, oozing casual rustic laid-back Australian vibes. We were greeted by a lovely girl called Sophie, who showed us to some seats overlooking the vines. The tasting area was in a nicely decorated shack, for lack of a better word, but it felt very comfortable and it was nice to be able to sit back and look out to the garden and vines while we sampled their more modern wines. They even do an orange wine here, which is made by leaving the skin of the white grapes on, which then change colour as they oxidise and ferment.

Sophie was really chatty and great fun, and she told us she also worked at a bar in Margaret River called Pearl’s, so we figured we’d no doubt see her again later that day as we were planning to return for another happy hour at Rhum Burgundy anyway.

The next stop on our list was Stella Bella, just a few minutes outside Margaret River town. The wines here were really nice too, and the sun even came out to say hello as we got stuck into the sampling. The feel was a mix of Vasse Felix’s classiness and the laid back approach at LS merchants. – a happy medium. Lovely pink moscato wine here, which can apparently be found in the UK, so will be keeping a lookout.

As we began to wine down for the day, it was time to start thinking about drinks and dinner. A short break back at the villa to regroup and then we headed out again for happy hour #2. Two Aperol spritzes x 2 at Rhum Burgundy and before we knew it, it was time to grab some dinner.

A few doors up from Rhum Burgundy we decided to slide into Teddis Big Spoon for a beef Korean bbq alongside some kimchi fried rice and tteokbokki. We ordered perhaps more than we needed but it was absolutely delicious.

Bellies full, we heaved ourselves out of our seats and climbed back up the hill to see if we could find Sophie at Pearl’s. A couple of delicious cocktails and catch-ups with Sophie later, we finally decided to call it a night and headed back through the cold night to the villa for a quick cup of tea before bed. Another busy but brilliant day!