One Last Road Trip in Great Southern.

As vintage slowly came to an end, we not only had a day to go on a road trip but also had two guests – the Sydney distributor and a sommelier who sells FE wines at his Sydney bar – to show around. First stop: the Rocky Gully Pub. A trip to Frankland wouldn’t be complete without the experience of the one and only local pub. We picked up some appropriately classy Emu Bitters and were on our way. 


We drove to Mt Barker and then even further out of town until we reached a little sign on the side road pointing down a driveway that said “Maleeya’s Thai Food.” Thai food on the outskirts of the Porongurup National Park might seem a bit odd, and maybe it was, but it was a tasty little treat. 


The petite Thai chef Maleeya has quite an impressive and international culinary background, including Le Cordon Bleu, and an equally impressive garden outside the restaurant where she grows not only 260 varieties of bamboo, edible plants, and exotic flowers, but the herbs and vegetables she uses in the kitchen. Her Swedish husband Peter served us the dishes that we shared along with the BYO wines we had brought. Being in what seems like the middle of nowhere and to amplify it's apparent randomness, the small dining room looks more like a tourist information center with its bright cedarwood, postcards for sale, posters of the surrounding area, and pictures of their home-range Highland cattle.

 If you’re ever in the area, be sure to stop by for some home-made locally grown Thai food, but be sure to call ahead if you’re a vegetaraian and be definitely sure to BYO!

With a wine maker, a wine distributer, a sommelier, and a wine business student, it was natural that we would go to one of the local wineries. There are quite a few in the area, but most are quite small and we went to one of the better known ones, Castle Rock. Set on a hill, Castle Rock has extensive views with the mountains in the distance. 

It was quiet as the father and son wine makers were hidden amongst the tanks, busy at work and unexpectant of visitors, but were happy to give us a tasting.

After lunch, there was talk about taking a walk, or a hike, up one of the local mountains to check out the views. After the recent hike, or walk, up Bluff Knoll and after a full lunch that included a peanut allergic reaction and glasses of wine, and then more wine at Castle Rock, I was on the side of dissuading this excursion. 

Luckily, we ultimately decided it was a bit late in the day and we were ill-equipped for a trip that the locals informed us would take longer than we had anticipated. 

But, we still had a bottle of Pinot Noir to drink, so Hunter drove us to a spot I am pretty sure is not in any guide books of the area.*

climbing up.
*(if such a book existed HA). 

wine on the hill.

nice day. 

Third Weekend: Third Great Southern Roadtrip

 I don’t know if I would call it a routine, but for the third weekend in a row, we have spent a lazy Saturday enjoying the backyard sun, reading, cleaning, and nursing a Rocky Gully Pub’s ginormous-burger-calorie-ridden lean-over: there’s nothing lean about it. For the third weekend in a row, Sunday, the day of rest, has been our day of action. This Sunday we decided to be a bit more touristy and visit the Valley of the Giants outside of Walpole along the coast of the Southern Ocean. We drove to Denmark for our obligatory $100 shopping trip – we’ve almost come to terms with the fact that we just can’t get away with spending any less – and then on further another 50 kilometers or so to the Valley of the Giants Road which winds through the Walpole-Nornalup National Park. According to the books, Valley of the Giants is Western Australia’s most visited spot. Its 600m tree-top walk is multi-award-winning: of course it is.

We were cautiously advised to be prepared with appropriate hiking gear (sneakers: check. Water bottle: check. Sunscreen: check. Australian pie as a snack: check) and to allow 40-60 minutes for the walk.
We were done in 10, maybe15 minutes and could have worn thongs (aka flip flops). 

Looking down wasn't bad. It was the shaking that made me hold on.

In less than an hour, we even walked the Ancient Empire Boardwalk, a boardwalk to protect the fragile wildlife through the karri and tingle tree forest, as well as, stopped to eat our Australian pie snacks on a bench, visited the gift shop, rest rooms, and had a smoke-o. So much for the warnings and so much for the $12.50 we forked over for our less-than physical less-than-anticipated-full afternoon.

Reached the highest point!

We followed the signs to the tree-top walk and up we went. A slow incline on a slightly-shaking metal pathway led us up to the highest point of 40 meters above the 400 year old trees in the forest. The heights weren’t as scary as I thought; it was really just the swaying and bouncing of the walkway that was a bit nerve-wrecking. There were posted signs warning of maximum capacity of people on the walkway, which probably means that during high-season it can be quite busy, therefore taking 40 minutes not 10. There were only 3 elderly people in front of us. 

looking down 40 meters.

The weather was cloudless and warm but the canopy of the tall trees kept us cool. We probably took more pictures than number of minutes spent on the walk – actually that probably is a definitely – and so we wandered on to the Ancient Empire Walk, the walk below the tree-top walk. 

see the people?

From the base of the eucalyptus forest, we could see the hollowed out red tingle trees. These tremendous trees can grow up to 75m high and 20m in girth. The hollowness is caused by fire, fungal diseases, and attacking insects. The karri trees are the tallest tree species in Western Australia. They can be identified from their slim posture, a smooth shedding bark, and contrasting surface colors on the different sides of the leaves.

Don’t get me wrong, I am glad we went. It felt accomplished, almost, to cross off one of the remote region’s hot spots. I think we were anticipating more of an intense hike, more impressive views, more feelings of anxiety over the tree-top heights, but what we got were more shots of trees than we’ll ever need to look at again and more than anyone will ever be interested in looking at – “you had to be there!” So yeah, you can’t describe the heights, the pictures don’t capture it, so you will just have to go for yourself and cross it off your Western Australia sight-seeing check list.

What made the day of driving worthwhile was, not only this picture, but a stop at Peaceful Bay. .

We decided that despite the tourist spots, the places we really appreciate are the places we’ve been recommended to by locals. Peaceful Bay wasn’t exactly that peaceful, the wind was quite rambunctious as it was caught in the bay, but sitting on the sifted-soft floury sand that would make any baker want to dig his hands in and start making bread out of it, was receptive enough for us. We commented on how spoiled we actually were being able to see the ocean once a week on our day off. It may take about an hour to get there, but it’s always appreciated and can always be broken up with a stop to a local brewery with a view.

The Denmark Brewery – I’m not sure if it’s actually a brewery – has spectacular views over looking neighboring farms and the blue ocean breaking up the contrast between the rolling-green fields and the sun-setting sky. Sitting there, absorbing the view, imagining what life would be like there, planning our post-vintage self-indulgences, and sipping on a cold brewed beer: now That, was peaceful. 

And yes, I do have a ton more pictures of trees, more so than anyone will ever want to see or are worth framing for myself to see again, but just serve as a reminder of the futile attempt to capture the feeling felt by the height of the trees and the forest surrounding us. You will just have to go see it yourself. 

Second Weekend: Second Great Southern Roadtrip

Sometimes after a laboriously long and physically tiring week of work, you just want to stay at home, relax, and not do anything (and if anything, it might include laundry). Other times, you realize where you are and feel as though you should take advantage of the day off and do something a bit more productive than just laundry. Saturday was my lazy-I-can't-be-bothered-to-do-anything day. Not even laundry. (Ok, but we were having water issues so I couldn't - I didn't even shower. Dam water: don't drink; Rain water: it's as clear as the isolated, unpolluted night's sky of flickering stars and twinkling galaxies that's as clean as the frogs that are ribbiting on top of the hose filling the tank aka drink up. But I did finish a book, have time to write, went for a walk, and video chatted with Dad in the morning, so not completely unproductive). It was a day completely to myself and despite it's apparent nothingness, I thoroughly enjoyed it and the warm March sun that kept me company. Sunday, though, was the day to do something, to take advantage of the roomie and I both having a day off and to counter the previous day's unproductiveness.

We debated between two options: the Porojunup Wine Festival featuring tastings from local wineries around Porojunup and grape stomping, or a trip to the beach. I thought it'd be cool to witness an annual regional event, but ultimately I couldn't really be bothered (leftover from yesterday's self-inflicted laziness?) so we decided it was so hot out that we'd probably be drunk or faint after one glass of wine. 

So decided: it was off to the coast! 

 Right before the turn off Muir Highway (cough, "highway") towards Denmark is West Cape Howe winery so we decided to check it out and had our own little wine festival by tasting some of their wines. The vines on the property are some of the oldest vines in the Western Australian state, although the winery recently moved to this location a few years ago. They also source some of their grapes from some of the oldest wines in Swan Valley by Perth. Older vines generally mean the grapes are reliably of more consistent quality. It was a nice tasting experience and along with their award winning Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling, they had wines made from Tempranillo, Nebbiolo, and Sangiovese which aren't common around here.

As recommended by the guy at WCH, we eventually made it to MadFish Bay in Williams Bay National Park, and you could tell why the fish would go mad in this bay as two currents from opposing directions meet in the middle causing quite a strong pull. By the time we sat in the seriously soft sand, the warm weather had comfortably cooled and we were perfectly pleased with the over-an-hour outing*: our books, a picnic of snacks, cold Little Creatures Pilsner, the company, and beautiful photo opps.

*Alliteration is Amusing.

picnic in an esky

panarammmmma

madfish = currents converging

clear waters.

right state of mind: staring off into the ocean can soothe the soul. 

 The sun started to set behind us so we moved to Greens Pool, another more-popular beach we had heard about so that we could get a better view of the sunset.

Green's Pool

 We sat there with our books and staring off at the crashing waves until the bugs started to pester about.

For the second weekend in a row, for our second trip away, even just for the day, we commented on the car ride back that it was again nice to come back to our little, quiet and remote home in Frankland River. It's nice to participate in some bit of civilization and unwillingly fork-over a bit of the week's unused money. It's nice to have a day off to yourself, and it's sometimes even nicer to take advantage of that time to do something (Laundry, I'll get to you this week). It's hard to leave such panoramic, peaceful sights and think about the workload in the upcoming week, but we appreciate that time we get to experience them, as far away or as short lived as they may be. And yet, for the second week, we're still happy to go back to our isolated vineyard life: labor intensive, physical aches and pains, hearty meals, reclusiveness, spiders, mice and all. 

The Southern Ocean.

The day I first saw the Southern Ocean off the coastal town of Denmark was the cloudiest, chilliest, and darkest day I had seen since being in Australia. The water was still aquamarine-clear and so very surprisingly warm compared to the temperature of the air! There were a couple surfers and swimmers in the water, how very brave I thought, but Felix said why? they are going to get wet anyways. Good Point. We checked out a couple of the look out points for some photo opps and went on our way.

This one's for you Dad! warm, sunny Australia...

Southern Ocean. Check. 

(more pics to come...)

My First Real Australian Pie.

During our trip to Denmark, we had Australian pies for lunch at the “award winning” Denmark Bakery (it was actually award winning, I only put it in quotes as everywhere we went that day was award-winning.) I had a Vinda-Roo aka Curried Kangaroo with an appropriate kangaroo pastry cut out on top as I felt it was a pretty-Australian-even though-touristy-and-healthier-meat version and Felix had the traditional beefsteak, which really just tasted like mince meat. They were pretty tasty for my first real iconic Australian pie.

According to Wikipedia, because everyone loves and trusts Wikipedia, Australians eat 12 of these national hand-held snacks a year whereas New Zealanders eat 15 a year. 

First Weekend: First Great Southern Roadtrip

After a pretty work-intense, but not-that-bad-manageable first week of work, Friday finally arrived. We were presented with a variety of different options to start the weekend: pizza with Hunter and his family – a chance to get to know them outside of work; a night at the Rocky Gully Pub for a ticket-per-beer raffle and $10 burgers; or a trip to Denmark on the coast, about an hour away, depending on when we get out of work. By the time we got out of work and had our daily internet dose, we decided on the homemade pizza and would leave for Denmark the next morning. It was a good decision. The pizza was delicious and the hospitality was even more welcoming.

We left the next morning in our dinky car. I can’t complain, as we are lucky enough to have any sort of transportation out of this remoteness. The drive there wasn’t too bad, pretty straight forward, but our dinky little car was a bit of concern. It didn’t like to go above 100km (speed limit is 110km) and kept veering to the left. Talk about high-performance-vehicle-coughmonkeymiacough. It took us about an hour to get to Denmark and we were both pretty enthralled with the fact that we were in civilization again!

 Denmark seems like a nice town, pretty small with a  main street running through it, but a bit lively. The shops all seemed to be pretty eco-friendly: cafes with free-trade coffee, award winning bakeries, environmental agencies, boards with notices of shared-lifts and food drop offs, sustainably sourced and organic food stores…We had been told that Denmark was a bit alternative.  I like it.

It was drizzling rain, overcast and chilly, so we decided to skip the beach, obviously, and head towards the wineries, obviously. We followed the tourist scenic road signs with no clear direction of where it was going to take us, but we were on a loop road that seemed dotted with vineyards. We stopped at one called Kerriview (apparently, Frankland Estate used to own them, “disastrously - it was like making wine in the Sudan. But, we do still grow the grapes for their Pinot Noir”). The inside seemed like a safari lodge with a nice but typically-Australian-expensive food menu. We tasted their wines:  their bubbly was good, but there was no production facility on site and most of the wines were made elsewhere – in Frankland and in Swan Valley. That sort of lost its appeal of visiting a winery, and Felix thought the vines outside were probably just plastic for show.

  We next drove along the loop road onto Harewood Estate as I had thought I had heard of them and they were definitely acclimated with lots of awards. The wine maker, James Kellie, used to work at Howard Park/Mad Fish and is also the wine maker at Moombaki. I was driving so I didn’t taste too many and the lady informed us of a meadery where we could have a honey tasting so we set off to find that. We came across another winery (Duckett's Mill - apparently also James Kellie) with a sign for fudge and homemade cheese and since I was driving of course I veered towards the cheese. I LOVE CHEESE. The cheese was all made on site from local cows’ milk. They had their own label jams and mustards, a huge display fridge of different types of cheeses, cured meats, pates, and vacuum-sealed roasted vegetables. We tasted the cheeses on offer and decided to buy a Morroccan marinated feta along with a small bit of hot chorizo, slices of smoked kangaroo, and an emu pate – how very Australian!

We never found the meadery and ended up around the loop back in Denmark so we decided to check out the ocean. Despite the weather, it was a successful first road trip, filled with things that we like: a perfect outting! I feel as though although we may have missed a couple things we wanted to see, but we saw a lot and there are more weekends to go back.