Perth 3-7 Nov 2014: Part 4

Day 4, very early in the morning, 7am we started our journey to Margaret River with Out & About Wine Tours. This was the most expensive tour we booked, AUD245, full day tour. They picked us up from our hotel so we didn’t have to walk to any pick-up point, enough of walking so much. Took us 3 hours plus to reach Margeret River. It’s the longest tour of all, more than 12 hours and we visited a lot of places too.

First stop was Busselton (220 kilometres south west of Perth) for morning tea and view of the Busstleton Jetty. About 2 1/2 hour drive from Perth.

Had our morning tea at Equinox Café. Scones and also chai latte for my morning tea. There’s also muffin if you don’t like scone. This is inclusive in the tour package.

It was so cold out there, the wind was merciless! Brrr… The view that you will see once you’re there, this is the Interpretive Centre. Didn’t walk till the end of the jetty because we didn’t have the luxury of time, it’s the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere stretching almost 2 km out to sea.

The view of the Indian Ocean. 45 minutes at Busselton for morning tea and view of the jetty, we left to our next destination. Time for wine tasting!

First stop was Happs.

I tried all the fuchsia & the sweets. Sweetness overloaded LOL. Sweet wine with ice cubes and dash of lemon or lime is quite nice on a hot summer day. I don’t remember what’s this. Anyway, I don’t remember anything I had 😛

After that, we went to Canal Rocks to enjoy the cold wind and the view of waves crashing the rocks. When we almost left, someone exclaimed to us that there’s whale! We all went back out and saw whale!! My first time seeing whale! Out in the wild, so excited. I managed to take a video but not so clear, capture it in the video 3 times. It came up to the surface, spurted water, then back into the water with the tail last going down. Surreal! Even though we’re not near to it but it was really all about luck to spot it randomly. Didn’t even manage to spot one when we went to Rottnest Island. Also, didn’t get to spot one back then in Adelaide too even though I’ve been to Kangaroo Island once and Cape Jarvis couple of times. Wish I can see it again in near future.

By the way, heard that Air Asia will ceased flight to Australia soon 🙁 No longer affordable to go to Australia. Going back to Adelaide in near future is even more impossible.

For lunch, we went to Aravina Estate.

Home decoration items for sale apart from wines.

There’s a section to view some sports cars too.

Dining area of Aravina Estate. I opted for the wrong wine to pair with my food, should have gone for red instead of white because I was having beef short rib, balsamic red onion, cream potato, and veal jus. Lovely presentation! Food was great too. The meat was nicely cooked. Ah… Heavenly. Didn’t get to eat steak hence I opted for beef. Had too much white until I forgot about the red for red meat.

Left: Lovely dish too, Crispy pork belly. It just melted in the mouth, not oily at all.

Right: Very nice presentation for hot berry clafoutis, warm anglaise, and ice cream. Very sweet dish, even sweeter with ice cream. However, it is not sickly sweet.

Overall, the food was great! Satisfying lunch. This meal is included in the tour package.

We went to Natural Olive Oil and Soap Company and I bought Chamomile and Lavender Rejuvenating Treatment (AUD35) simply because I was having rashes due to friction and dryness at my hip area. This product is meant for the face but I used it on my dry and itchy area as whatever I brought with me couldn’t help. The product was amazing, not oily at all and it sure did relief my irritated skin. Will have a separate review on this product next time.

Next, we went to Wills Domain for more wine tasting. This time I did try some reds.

So much to try that I don’t remember what I had tried the whole trip.

The view of the vineyard.

Personally I felt that South Australia wine regions have nicer landscapes. Well… Maybe there are others with pretty views in Western Australia which we didn’t have the chance to see.

After all the wine, it’s time for a beer! We went to Duckstein Brewery for beer.

I had the Duckstein Hefeweis (hints of clove, vanilla and banana), it’s inclusive in the tour. However, if you are not into beer, you can order other drinks. Can really taste the banana in there. Very light and easy to drink. Finished the whole mug 😛 Thirsty… After a whole day of alcoholic drinks, we’re all still very sober hehehe…

Last stop, Margaret River Chocolate Company. The three big bowls are free for you to eat!

We’re also entitled to choose one truffle for tasting. I tried sea salt truffle, hmmm… Nothing special really. Should have opt for others but there were too many and I just couldn’t decide!

Bought none of these, just got 3 small boxes of pastelle (dark, milk, white). Not cheap at all!

That’s the end of the 12 hours tour. I do recommend this tour. So tiring! We’re flat out that night. Lucky no more walking that much with this tour, feet was so sore from the walking for the past 3 days.

Part 5 aka Day 5 coming up… It’s our last day. So sad…