A long weekend to start the Australian winter and we headed down South to Margaret River- wine and Surf Country.
It is getting chilly down here with the morning temperature around 4-6 degrees, but it warms up to the low twenties. Still early Saturday I drove out to Gnarlgup Beach for a morning run. From there to Surfer's Point there is a 2.5km trail along the Beach. As far as early morning runs go- this was my favourite Aussie one so far.
After collecting the rest of the clan, we met our fellow Canucks, the Olvets, at the Margaret River Bakery for a fortifying breakfast. A sidenote, one of the things we noticed here is how expensive breakfast is. Generally, we have avoided a Westtown style feast, but this place was reasonable, amazing and enormous. Three thick granola pancakes, maple syrup, cream, berries and a side of bacon (full rashers here) sets one up for the day (and a nap) just fine.
We went hiking the Cape to Cape trail this time out, from Yallingup to Injidup . Out of planned coincidence we began our hike at Smith Beach and hiked down (and up) the coast for the afternoon. Near the end Tom and I went bouldering off the beaten path with the boys. It was only after we hit the beach and looked up we thought it may not have been the best plan of attack. There was enough daylight left for a winter bout of bodysurfing.
One of the kid friendly adventures is the Maze and it took us a while to get to the centre, but we raced through the second half. Mommy and Daddy won! Then we pursued the Daddy friendly activities visited some wineries. I found a new favourite, Stella Bella, which is available at some Vintages stores in Ontario.
Diana has already booked our next trip back in October.
After lunch, we had a seminar with an Aboriginal spokesman, who introduced us to a number of traditional weapons and tools. In addition, we managed to summon our inner Survivorman and learn how to make fire out of just wood (well smoke, but it could work). Liam tested his skills on the digeridoo- its back to guitar for him.
