Whirlwind Trip Down South, Down Under

For those who didn't know, from the 5th to the 9th of September, my rellies came to Perth. That equated to lots of cleaning up for my place, getting rid of stuff I didn't need and a lot of stress. This perhaps could be the longest post, hey.

Thursday: 8 o'clock in the morning, was when we began our trip down south, as D and I went to fetch the rellies from their apartment in a huge white KIA Carnival. Thus, off we went towards Margaret River! Had to stop by Bunbury for a stretch and break. (Had the apple strudel too! Yum!)

Lunch: Had a late-ish lunch at Lamont's, around two o'clock, with wet weather around and orange mud clinging to the soles of our shoes. The wines were not bad, had to wait a while for the food, but it was worth it. I meant the food, but not the service. The waitress was quite friendly, however, the waiter that served us when we requested for more water was not as friendly. After he filled selected water glasses, he put the water jug down on our table. I would have expected that an establishment such as Lamont's to have quite unprofessional staff. I had the beef and D had the Marron. Both were very tender and next time, we're switching orders at the next place we go to!

After lunch we went to the Margaret River Dairy and the Chocolate factory! The Brie was absolutely wonderful! (DROOLS!) Rellies bought lots of cheese and it proved to be worthwhile, as it was $2 less than if bought from IGA! Stuffed my face with free chocolate buttons and I promise that when I'm no longer a student, I'll try to control stuffing my face of free chocolate. Key word here is: TRY.

Stayed at the Forte Leeuwin Family Apartments for that night and it was a really nice, new place! Had three bedrooms, plus a folding bed, with full kitchen and washing facilities. D was saying that he could consider living there and I think that it would be liveable, with a couple of tweaks. Went to the shops to get groceries for dinner and breakfast the next day.

Dinner: A dinner of tomato pasta with bacon and sausage, hit to spot, and I ended up watching this Chinese movie on DVD, the title is called "Magic Kitchen". Ho hum.

Friday: Had a nice breakfast of pasta with baked beans, shredded chicken and other bits and pieces, before everyone had to pack up for our next leg of the journey. Left the family apartment to go to the pharmacy to pick up anti-seasickness pills, before going whale watching. I've never been seasick with all the boat journeys I've ever been on, so I thought I didn't need the medication. Boy, was I wrong. Halfway through the experience, I began to develop a headache, then a tummy ache, and breakfast was regurgitated back from whence it came, into a special bag for us land lubbers. Poor D was missing out on the later half of the whale watching action, because I was feeling so sickly. I hope my cousin posts a DVD to me so we can watch what we missed out on.

Lunch: Leeuwin Estate was the venue for a sumptuous lunch with, in my opinion, reasonable prices for the fare they were offering. The service was good, certainly better than Lamont's and the wine was excellent. The rain was really pouring outside, so the ambience of the restaurant became quite cosy! My entrée was, for thirty dollars, a barrel timber platter loaded with four morsels of food, each accompanied by four matching wines. My main course was a Confit duck leg with Porcini and pea risotto. The grounds at the Estate was very lush and had nice areas to take photographs, despite the rain! Note: There was no mobile reception at the venue, except I think, a weak Telstra signal. Very good if no disturbances during an intimate are desired, providing mobile service provider is not Telstra.

Stayed at the Walpole Wilderness Resort, with such heavy rain upon us at night, it was a good thing that D managed to start a fire... in the fireplace. The chalet had a cosy feel to it, though I wish there was more heating throughout the place, aside from relying on the fireplace heating.

Dinner: Had T-bone steak, lamb cutlets, (chef Uncle T.) wonderfully sweet carrots, garlic bread, red wine, sautéed mushrooms and sautéed lettuce.

Found this really interesting book of fairy tales in the chalet that we were staying in and it reminded me of the fairy tales that was read to me when I was young, like the story about a cooking pot of sweet porridge.

Saturday: The next morning, saw a LOT of kangaroos outside the chalet and could not resist taking photos. Had French toast for breakfast with strawberry jam and an attempted pea soup. Apparently without a proper blender or stick mixer, it's just mush. Oh well. The chalet looked as good as when I viewed the photos on their website, and again, there was no mobile phone reception at all.

Onwards, we went to the Tree Top Walk and walked amongst the tops of the trees via a metal bridge system. Tingle Wood / Valley of the Giants was the second leg of the flora attraction, with huge ass trees that had been hollowed out due to natural causes or by fire. Took lots of nice and cheesy photos. :-)

Lunch: Manjimup was where we had a lunch of Pork Belly and the special platter from Kulture Cafe. Too bad I didn't take photos of the food, which I should have! Bad, bad me! Not bad for a sleepy kind of town. I happen to know someone who is from Manjimup, though it's been a while since we've spoken! Argh!

My cousin K decided to have a look at what else was there around the area and thought that this place, The Cidery in Bridgetown, would be an interesting stop before going back to Perth. They apparently make their own apple juice cider! They have both alcoholic and non-alcoholic types of apple juice or beer, and the tasting was all very educational! :-) Definitely worth coming to visit and have a little drink! After purchasing a couple bottles of the sweet non-alcoholic nectar, off we went, reaching Perth at around 7:30 in the evening.

Took some time to freshen up and zoom, we were off again, this time to D's folk's restaurant to have a yummy dinner.

Sunday: After a lot of packing, had a bit of a photo opportunity with the Swan River from the hotel balcony view at the Assured Ascot Quays with my cousin R, and then proceeded to lug all luggage into the KIA Carnival. Sent K, C & R to the international airport first, and had a light breakfast of Curried Egg Sandwich and a skinny flat white, before saying good riddance to K, and goodbye to C & R. :-P

Next, sent UT & AR to the domestic airport, before heading to D's place for lunch.

So there, was my eventful week/end with my rellies. Now, back to the regularly schduled programme of stress, my dissertation.

:-(