Aqua clear water, olives, cheese and chocolate!

Sunday, Dec 3rd

We had a really terrific day today, being tourists in this lovely part of WA. We started the day with our usual morning walk, then set off for Cape Naturaliste, where we did a short bushwalk to a whale watching lookout. From there we went into Bunker Bay, which is protected totally from the prevailing SW winds as it faces north east. Today was sunny with clear blue skies, and Bunker Bay was picture-postcard perfect! In fact it is probably the most beautiful spot we’ve seen in WA. The sand was white, the water was totally clear, and the entire sea/sky scene was framed by a pretty, tree-lined rocky headland. We had a swim (the water is much colder down here than we’ve become used to after our time further north!) and sat in the sun for a while, then found a shady spot on the headland to have our lunch (our usual basic picnic fare of tuna and crackers!).
We drove around some more beautiful beaches including Eagle Bay and Meelup Beach, and may head back to that area tomorrow if it’s sunny.

We then set off for an afternoon driving through the Margaret River Region and tasting buying some nice local produce.
We sidetracked into the coastal towns of Gracetown and Prevelly, where we watched some guys out windsurfing (we are staying down there next, so hopefully it will be good then too and Adam can get out- it’s a waveriding spot, so not for an early intermediate windsurfer like me!).
Then it was into an olive farm, followed by the Margaret River Cheese factory where we sampled some delicious cheeses, including double cream camembert- divine- and a melt in the mouth chilli vintage, plus a spicy herb fetta- we bought some of each of those.
Our final visit was, for me anyway, the best- The Margaret River Chocolate Factory- heaven! There were so many beautiful chocolates to choose from, so I bought a small mix of gourmet choccies (very expensive) and sampled some others. Then we both had a “real” hot chocolate, which was actually made with real melted chocolate in the bottom and was absolutely creamy and beautiful. A perfect way to finish a lovely day. We’ll go to a couple of wineries another day, probably once we move on to Prevelley itself. Meantime, we need to keep up our morning walks to work off all this good food!

Yesterday was also a top day, not quite as sunny, but mostly clear with offshore winds in the morning. We headed to nearby Yallingup, a coastal town which looked spectacular in the offshore conditions, with the water smooth and clear. There was some small surf breaking on the fringing reefs, but it wasn’t really big enough for us to go out. Then at lunchtime the wind turned onshore.
We had some lunch and then visited The Wicked Ale Brewery which does novelty beers, like chilli beer and chocolate beer. We tasted a few and some were good and some were just weird…the chilli one was actually hot!

So all in all having fun here. Today was actually the Busselton Ironman Triathlon, which is why we went on a day trip to get out of town. I’ve seen enough triathlons back home for work.

Also, daylight saving has been introduced to WA and started today…so we are now just 2 hours behind the east coast.

Love and hugs,
Emma & Adam xx