Wineries, Dairies, Farms and much more

Margaret River Vines
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We headed off at 10:30 this morning with a map in hand from the hotel concierge desk, and recommendations for winery visits. The day today was magic, with not a cloud in the sky and predicted 27 degrees. The country-side here was picturesque and made for a nice driving day.

The first winery we stopped at we quite enjoyed the wine and decided to send home a mixed dozen. We then stopped at the Margaret River chocolate factory which stopped us in our tracks (mainly because I was the driver and I wasn't going anywhere till I had some chocolate!). After taste-testing their dark, milk and white chocolate (a couple of times), and watching them mix their chocolate through the clear glass window into the factory, I made a couple of purchases at the shop. We also decided it was time for coffee, Joe had the special - a 20x15x4cm chunk of rocky-road and I had the mega-chocolate dipped biscuit. After two bites Joe had had his fill of sweets and I couldn't finish the biscuit. I wrapped these up to have for supper later that night.

We counted 90 wineries, and not all are on the map!

Mouthful of Rocky Road
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It was about now that we decided having breakfast before we went was a bad idea and that we could have survived on taste-tests at all the shops in the area. We also decided that instead of another meal in the only restaurant close at the hotel, that we would buy some items on our drive today and have them in our room tonight.

Next stop was the Margaret River cheese company where we bought a cold pack and a couple of blocks of cheese and biscuits. Then it was onto the Nut and Cereals farm where we bought macadamias and cashews and the farm muesli specialty (to take home). We stopped at an organic fruit farm to get some fruit for our dinner platter, but found the shelves bare - must not have been the season. We passed the Venison farm and I just kept driving as the deer looked way too cute. When we stopped at the next winery the lady behind the counter recommended we pick up some of the venison chorizo - but that was not going to happen! At this winery Joe liked a white sav blanc and I liked a Rose - so we bought both bottles. In the Margaret River township we stopped at the IGA to get some grapes and apples - but funnily enough there were no grapes (too early). We did get milk and more biscuits for cheese so were now set for our dinner.

Margaret River Chocolate Co.
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We found our way back to the resort without a problem by about 5pm and decided that we should at least walk down to the beach. Here we put our toes in the very cold Indian Ocean. We walked as far as we could down to the rocks and back which took about an hour. By the time we got back to the villa, I was very tired, hungry and it was getting chilly as the sun had set. We had a nice night drinking our wine and eating the cheese, nut and fruit platter. After three glasses of wine I couldn't keep my eyes open and asked Joe to wake me in an hour. He tried to do this, but I just grunted and rolled over and eventually woke up a further two hours later. It was time for a nice hot cuppa and left overs from morning tea before heading back to snooze-land.