Cody surprised Eliza for her 29th birthday and got a babysitter for the 4 kids and we went to Margaret River for the weekend. It was a pretty quick trip, but was great to get away for a while. Margaret River is only 3 and a half hours south of Perth and is a huge change of scenery. September is still late winter/early Spring in Perth, so it was still slightly cold.
We hadn't booked a hotel, we just thought we'd figure it out when we got down there. We ended up stopping at our friends' (the Hannans) house in Busselton and chatting for a bit, so by the time we got into Margaret River, it was nearly 10pm. Almost everything was closed, but we managed to find a place in the middle of town (Margaret River Hotel) that was still open and had vacancies. They only charged us $110 for the night and it was clean, so it did the job.
We woke up and headed south from Margaret River out towards Redgate Beach. The Margaret River scenery is unique for Western Australia, everything is much greener than it is in Perth. There are farms and vineyards all over the place and it's very quiet...not a lot of people. We watched the surfers at Redgate Beach for a bit and wandered around on the rocks, then headed back to the car to head further south.
We stopped at Calgardup Cave on the way and paid the $15 each for a torch (flashlight) and headlamp. The tours are self-guided (you're on your own) which is what we prefer anyway. We were the only ones at the cave the whole time we were there and apparently this was one of the only "natural" (unlit) caves in the area. We wandered through the cave for the next 45 minutes. There was a place to do abseiling (rappelling) from a small hole in the top of the cave to a platform at the bottom of the cave...that would be fun for next time…we'd have for sure done it if we had known it was there.
We headed further south to check out the Boranup Karri Forest and drive to Hamelin Bay. There was not much to see at Hamelin Bay, but the forest was pretty. We were able to drive some dirt trails through the forest and were pretty much the only cars on the road. It was relaxing to have a drive with just the 2 of us.
We headed back up towards Margaret River for a lunch we had booked at Voyager Estates. We wandered around the well-manicured grounds, rose garden, and restaurant area for a while, then headed inside for our "wine tasting". Since we don't drink alcohol, we tasted the sparkling grape juices. An interesting fact that we learned was that the founder of Voyager, Michael Wright, also didn't drink alcohol and was adamant that Voyager always have non-alcoholic options available. We were grateful for that. The wine tastings are free at Voyager, and it's worth a visit to just check out the grounds.
The lunch was not our cup of tea...we aren't really fancy food people. $35/person for the "large" lunch was about what we're used to for Western Australia and the atmosphere, but Eliza doesn't like steaks that aren't cooked at least to medium-well and they refused to cook it beyond medium (we have found that several restaurants refuse to cook it beyond medium...a bit snobby, if you ask us). The portions were quite small as well. Cody had the sampler plate that included chorizo, chicken pistachio sausage, duck pate, some small fish dish, and bread. The only thing worth eating was the chorizo. We're sure the lunch was really high quality food, we just don't appreciate that kind of thing...probably would have rather had some Whoppers from Hungry Jacks (Burger King).
After lunch, we headed back to Margaret River to the Fudge Factory and sampled 9 different kinds of fudge (strawberries and cream, cherry coconut, mango, mocha, chocolate orange, chocolate chili, chocolate ginger, caramel cashew, and apple pie), buying some to take home to the kids. We had a little wander around Margaret River and then headed east to Jesters Flat for some horseback riding.
Jesters Flat was a pretty cool place. It was just the 2 of us with a guide and we were able to trot and canter with the horses. It was unique to be riding horses among the kangaroos and eucalyptus trees. $55/person for an hour was not a bad price.
We then made the three and a half hour trek home.
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