Life of the Hertzy's: September 2010

On Friday the 27th we left for Margaret River to spend 4 days relaxing and enjoying each others company! We left at around 10am and our first stop was at 1pm for fish and chips at the Busselton Jetty. It was a beautiful day with clear skies and temperatures close to 22 degrees! We had a quick look in the interpretive centre at the jetty after lunch and then decided on a well deserved ice-cream (yum!!).

Back on the road we headed towards Dunsborough to buy a couple of things before going to Yallingup to have a look at the beach. After that we went to the Bushshack Brewery for some beer tasting in the sun. Very interesting flavours, we had chilli beer, chocolate beer and strawberry beer! Then it was off to check in at the B&B we were staying at. It is called Llewellins and it's the best B&B I've ever stayed at!! The hosts are lovely, the rooms are immaculate with a great attention to detail and the breakfast is to die for!! Anyone going to Margaret River in the future... please look no further (Click here for their website). We spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the room and on the grounds. We had a beer with the hosts before heading out to dinner at Gnarabar in Prevelly.

Saturday was our sight seeing day. It was another beautiful day and we followed caves road all the way down to Augusta to have a look at the lighthouse. We wandered around for about an hour and then bought a nice lunch at the Augusta bakery which we ate on the riverbank in the sun! We then made are way back north via Bussel Hwy and stopped at the Berry Farm where they make A-MA-ZING ports, jams and desert wines. We obviously bought too much stuff there... Then we went to a winery called Stella Bella as we were told they would have sweet wines (I don't actually like wine unless they are VERY sweet). I tried some of them but came to the conclusion I should probably stick with desert wines (they basically taste like lemonade ;-)
We got back to the house around 4.30 and relaxed for a bit reading a book and playing cards.

At 5.30 we went to Surfers Point at Prevelly to watch a beautiful sunset together with a beer. And we were very lucky because just after the sun had set we spotted 2 whales, a baby and it's mother! They were quite far away and didn't really do anything spectacular but just seeing them was amazing enough! We got a recommended a restaurant in town by Jo and James (the hosts of the B&B) and that night we decided to check it out. It's called the Arc of Iris and OMG... The food was absolutely amazing! We had spring rolls to start off with (I have spring rolls anywhere I can get them and these were the best I've ever tasted!) and for my main I had risotto and again, the best I've ever had! Neil had Duck and it was cooked to perfection. This restaurant is definitely one of the hidden gems in Margaret River.

Sunday was the big day... Neil's birthday! This was the main reason we went away and we made sure for it to be special! We spend the morning relaxing around the house. We then went to a very exclusive winery called "Knee Deep". It's owned by the family of one of Neil's co-workers and we reserved a table for lunch. We got a 5 course meal prepared by one of the best chefs in the area (he just received a "chefs hat" and this restaurant is named the best in the area). Wow... what can I say, that was truly amazing food. Our first course was a parsnip and vanilla mousse, the second course was scallops on a bed of cauliflower, the third course was pork belly and a duck croquette witch goats cheese, the 4th course was a steak with a mushroom sauce and mash and last but definitely not least, our desert was "apple three ways" which had 3 elements to it: an apple and cinnamon mousse, an apple crumle and apple jelly with apple ice-cream. I can safely say that this was the best meal we've ever had! Extraordinary food and Neil got 5 different wines to compliment each dish (half glasses that is ;-) After lunch we decided to do our usual Margaret River run which includes the Chocolate Factory, the Dairy Company and the Candy Cow to buy our yearly supplies ;-) That evening we went to yet another sunset (tough life I know!) and as we weren't really hungry after that massive lunch we stayed in and enjoyed our last night away!

Before we knew it it was Monday morning! We our last breakfast from James and headed off around 10am. We went to an Aboriginal Centre where they've got lot's of information about bushtucker and we wandered around for a while. We also visited Canal rocks before driving back home!