and a weekend in Margaret River - Day 2

and a weekend in Margaret River - Day 2
Food, wine and beer weekend

I woke up at some ungodly hour by some of the other ladies waking up downstairs. I tried to lay in bed a bit longer but I couldn't fall back to sleep, so I got up, and got ready and headed out for another bush walk. This time I headed in the other direction and found a fire break. Most of the blocks in the area don't have fences so if you follow a fire break you can walk for quite a while before getting stopped. I headed in the one direction for 15mins before turning around. Along the way I saw a kookaburra, as well as kangaroos in the field by the fire break. The walk got me dreaming about when I could move to the country and have my own walking trails. Or maybe just have a holiday home to escape to.

Kangaroos in the field

An interesting bush house with it's own aviary.

More bush.

Kookaburra

By the time I returned most of the other girls were up having breakfast. We also had a visitor from a nearby house. Meet Pepper.

She was interested in my toast.

What a cutie!

The view from the balcony of the holiday home.

From here we planned our first destination for the day, Aravina Estate. We were the first to arrive at the winery. To get to the building you pass over a stream and through a mass of hydrangea plants. The estate was getting a water supply upgrade at the time and the stream wasn't running, but I could imagine how much prettier it would have been.. The outlook was half grape vines and the other half a construction site. Inside there was a coffee shop area and a restaurant as well as a wine tasting area and a shop. It was beautifully set up with some great gift ideas and delicious wine. The rose was stunning. It was the favourite out of all of the taste testers.

Lush gardens.

Chop area.

Coffee area.

Alfresco area.

The next winery on the list was Moss Brothers. Moss Brothers is a family run winery with a small cellar door building but there was enough room for all of us to squeeze in. We all lined up along the bench and tasted our way through some of the wines. Again, I stuck to the whites and rose but I did give one of the reds a try, but it wasn't to my taste.

Enough room for quite a few guests.

I love taking photos on a cloudy day.

Vines

We had to start moving quicker now, as we were running out of time. The next winery we visited was Lenton Brae Estate. I had stopped taste testing at this point. I just hopped off of the bus to take a walk around and take photos. Lenton Brae was opened in 1982 and the rammed earth walls remind me of Spain. Although I have never been there, it just had the look.

Entry porch

The tasting room is just up those stairs.

Water fall behind.

Gralyn Estate was next on the list. Gralyn produce both ports and wines. I decided to jump off the bus again to look around and check out their small garden to the side.

Modern interior.

Front wall.

I think it's a Foxglove. But don't quote me.

Our final stop was our lunch stop. We pulled into Driftwood Estate and we all went inside. While some of the girls tasted wine, I had a look around their art gallery. There was some condiments tasting as well to keep me busy. We sat down at our table and ordered our meal. While we were waiting for our food to arrive, myself another lady took our cameras and headed out on to the balcony and then into the garden to take some photos.

Dining room.

Towards the verandah.

Amphitheater.

I really like this photo. There are some birds somewhere. Unless I missed them.

Roast chicken breast salad with chicken crackling, beanshoots, wombok 

capsicum, cucumber & a coconut soy coriander & lime dressing

FYI, chicken crackling is AMUH-ZING!

White chocolate, pecan & frangelico semi freddo

Bye Driftwood and weekend away!

It was a well deserved weekend away. I ate far too much but I kept the drinking down to a minimum. I can't wait for my next mini escape, although, I am not sure when or where that will be.

Until next time.
Love, love Elle.