and Kanyana Wildlife Park

and I eat for charity
Kanyana Wildlife Park

Saturday afternoon I spent a great 3 hours with friends enjoying a picnic dinner at the Hainault Winery in the Bickley Valley east of Perth. It was a charity event to raise money for the Kanyana Wildlife Sanctuary. The event was $15 entry donation and it came with a fantastic view and some great live music. We also met a Burrowing Bettong (Boodie) and an echidna. I had never heard of a Burrowing Bettong before.

Burrowing Bettong 

It was curled up in its cage and looked so sweet. Think of it as a burrowing mini kangaroo. Apparently they now only exist on islands off of the coast. They used to live on the mainland but nineteenth century settlers decided to kill as many of they could believing the were garden pests. 

Vinyard

One of the singers

The view from the winery cafe was gorgeous and we sat their as the sun set listening to two fantastic singers. We decided to make our own picnic dinner instead of buying a platter. I think I am going to keep an ear out for other little charity gatherings. I heard about this one from a friend who was told about it by a college who went last year. They also held a raffle but no one on our table managed to win a thing. I think it was a cute fundraising idea and wish it was better publicised so more people could have enjoyed such a fantastic evening.

Our home made platter. 

Platter tip! Serve Quince paste when ever your have Brie or Camembert Cheese. I love Maggie Beer's Quince paste.

Down the valley

Cafe

Setting sun

Until next time.

Love, love Elle.

and Wild Poppy - Fremantle

and from here to Freo
Wild Poppy

As a part of my mission to complete my 30 before 30 challenges I have been building up my cycling, so one day soon I will be able to ride 100km in one day. We chose our next breakfast destination, Wild Poppy in South Fremantle and headed off at 6.45am Sunday morning. The journey along the river took around an hour and a half and was 30km in length. Which equals my longest ride so far, and we still had to get home.

Wild Poppy is a 'Granny Chic' Cafe on Wray Street in South Fremantle. It has a few outside tables, where we sat, and plenty more inside with two lounge areas to relax, enjoy your coffee and read a newspaper. We both decided, after a little too and fro, to have the Waffles with caramalised bananas and yogurt. The plus one and I weren't sure about the yogurt on the waffles, but it was a lot fresher then double cream and helped stop the dish from being too sweet and sickly. I also had a rose milkshake and my hungry companion had a chai milkshake. The waffles came out first and they looked amazing on retro plates. I remember having plates similar to these when I was growing up in the 90's.

Granny Chic!

Light coverings

We had both well and truly finished out waffles before our milkshakes came out. Which is quiet odd since normally cafe's supply you with your drink before the food is ready. After the milkshake we both ordered a cookie each. I had a choc chip macadamia biscuit and the plus one had a choc chip peanut butter one. The biscuits were nice but there was nothing fantastic about them. I also ordered a Perth breakfast tea (T2) which came out in a cute little teapot with a funky cosy on it.

Waffle

Tea cosy, tea and cookie.

After sitting and letting our bellies settle we headed off in the same direction we came and completed another 30km ride back home. The ride home was a lot harder. The weather was heating up and the wind was a lot stronger. But I am very happy with the fact I have completed a 60km ride and I am getting a lot closer to my goal of 100km. Although I was in a fair bit of pain on Sunday, struggling to walk afterwards and finding it difficult to stand up, the only thing I am suffering from today is a bit of sunburn.

Love, love Elle.

and The Loose Goose - Nannup

and a weekend with donkeys
The Loose Goose

I am back from my latest weekend away and I am still feeling the effects of the lack of sleep. I took Friday off work and met up with a group of friends and convoyed down to Nannup to stay at The Loose Goose. We stayed there a couple of years ago and enjoyed it so much we decided to do it all again.

On the way down we stopped in at Bridgetown for lunch at the Bridgetown Hotel. The Bridgetown Hotel is a stunning old pub with a great menu. I also took a walk through the town and went into a few shops, one being Ooh La Lollipop. A cute little lolly shop with treats from all over the world. I grabbed a box of French Truffles as well as some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and some chocolate covered sultanas. Bridgetown is a cute little town and is one of my favourite places to visit in the South West. I think I may have a lot of favourite places in the South West.

Looking from the Bridgetown Hotel to another hotel

Chicken Schnitzel Burger at the Bridgetown Hotel

From here we continued on to Nannup to spend the next two nights. The Loose Goose has three Chalets which hold up to 22 people between them. There is also a function center there that were able to use because we booked out all three chalets. The function center has a kitchen as well as a outside area for barbecues and is full of puzzles, games and a ping pong table. We spent every night hanging out planning chess, listening to music and eating dinner.

Row boat on the lake at The Loose Goose

The Loose Goose has lots of old things laying around 

Kid and Lamb

Emoo the hand reared emu

Lovely old ute

Loose Goose Lake

Feeding the donkeys

The alpaca's caught on to us feeding the donkeys

Saturday we headed out to the Cheeky Monkey for lunch. The Cheeky Monkey is a brewery, resturaunt and function center in the Margret River Wine region. It is set within farm land and has it's own lake. I tried the Apple cider. I would have preferred the pear cider but they were all out. It was lovely and crisp and went great with my Aztec Burger. I love trying interesting burgers and this one is a rice and corn crumbed quinoa, chai seed, amaranth and black bean burger on a fresh roll topped with lettuce, tomato, avocado and eggplant Kasundi served with fries and chilli jam. Simply yum.

Aztec Burger

Tea and a chocolate caramel biscuit slice at The Cheeky Monkey

After lunch a few of us continued on to go some taste testing. We stopped at The Margret River Chocolate Factory then onto Providore, which has just opened up next door. Providore has an amazing range of chutneys, olive oils, food bases as well as wine and some very strong chocolate liqueurs  I know, I taste tested them all. From here we ventured to The Grove Distiller for some more liqueur taste testing. For just $5 you can try 3 different liqueurs and a cocktail shot. I have been once before so this time around I tried out different ones. The Raspberry was nice and refreshing. The Chai was a little strong for me. I am not a fan of cloves and prefer my chai to be a little more subtle.  I also tried the butterscotch which was absolute heaven and for my cocktail I had the Bluefrog which was also nice. For each drink they allow you to taste the drink straight and then provide a mixer for it. For the butterscotch they mixed in a little white chocolate liqueur and some cream and it made a great thing unbeatable. It was called Killer Caramel Koala and it was just that. A Caramel Koala in liquid alcoholic form.

Looking through to the chocolate room at the Chocolate Factory

Chocolate Factory

Providore

The Grove

The next stop was The Candy Cow in Cowaramup. The Candy Cow is one of my favourite destinations and I don't think I have ever left without buying at least a little fudge. Next door to the Candy Cow is Margaret Riviera which is another great gourmet shop selling some amazing Dukka, cheese and a mountain of other delicious treats.

Sunday we headed home via Busselton and stopped in at Occy' Brewery for lunch. I had, had enough of drinking by now so I stuck to the cool drinks and tea. I had the Sweet Potato Pizza which was so great I ate the whole thing, except 1 piece I left the plus one have. I was feeling a little greedy afterwards so I also had Devoneshire Tea. You may think that this is weird at a brewery, and it kinda is, but the brewery is set on the grounds of Newton House. Newton House is a stunning old country style house which the brewery uses for it's kitchen.

Newton House

My pizza

Once I got home a did a little unpacking then napped for a few hours.

If you haven't spent a weekend away in the South West recently you should give a thought. It isn't just wine anymore, (which wouldn't be a problem) it also has some amazing food, beer and liqueurs and everything is a short car drive away. If you plan on tasting the alcohol I suggest roping someone into being the designated driver or check out any one of the large range of tours available.


Until next time.
Love, love Elle.

and Upmarket & Vic Parks Christmas Street Market

and a day for markets
Upmarket & Vic Parks Christmas Street Market

On Sunday I treated myself to two markets. Markets are quickly becoming a favourite of mine and I normally go with a few old school friends but they couldn't make it this time. So I headed to Perth Upmarket all on my lonesome. It wasn't horrible at all (although markets with friends is much more fun) since I am use to shopping by myself. It had a Christmas vibe about the place with lots of gift ideas and hand made decorations. I picked a few presents for some of my relatives as well as a few presents for myself.

I picked up an amazing smelling candle from Wicked Wix. I chose the Brown Sugar and Vanilla candle which has a sweet and delicious smell. I also brought a sewing kit form Megan Nielson to create the 'Darling Ranges' dress. I have 'sew a dress' on my 30 before 30 list and since I haven't done much sewing since high school I thought it would be a perfect way to create my dress. The kit comes with a pattern as well as fabric, buttons, elastic etc. It's an adorable design as well and the material is very cute.

I then ate and ate and ate. I also brought a 4 pack of cupcakes to take home. Gave two to the plus one and the proceeded to eat the other two. They were delicious.  Not only were they lovingly decorated but the cake had bits and pieces in it as well. Which always makes for a delicious treat.

UWA

Moroccan Beef

Poffertjes pancakes

The cupcakes!

Cookies & Cream

Later that day, the plus one and I headed into Vic Park for a street festival. I was under the impression that there was going to be lots of markets stalls but there were only a few. Along the road, restaurants had little street carts out the front selling street food. We had teriyaki chicken from Senoji, which is probably our favourite Japanese restaurant. I enjoyed some Girl Guide home made biscuits and I also had a home made choc bomb.

Crowded streets

Strawberry Milk Bubble Tea with Chocolate Sago

Oh and some bubble tea. Some of the stores along the street were also open late and we wandered through Crow Books as well as one of my favourite stores, Nosh.

I am off down south for a long weekend.
I hope everyone else has a great weekend.

Love, love Elle.

and Bluff Knoll

and up a mountain (part 2)
Bluff Knoll

So after leaving Castle Rock we headed to Bluff Knoll. Bluff Knoll is the highest point in the south of Western Australia and is located in the Stirling Ranges. I had missed a few opportunities in the past to climb with other friends so I added climbing it to my 30 before 30 list. That meant that I had to jump and the next opportunity to climb it. We sat under a canopy at the carpark and had lunch, before setting out at around 12 to start our hike. After about 1km one of our friends was getting sick from a headache (which was also plaguing her at Castle Rock) So we sat down in the shade for a while and they decided to head back to the carpark and then home. We continued along the trail and up the mountain. It was quite hot. We hadn't planned to be there so late in the day but because we hadn't realised how long the Castle Rock trail was, we were walking in the hottest part of the day.

Bluff Knoll

We stopped for breathers and a water break a few times and as we started reaching the top the wind was picking up and cooling us down. Other then few mountains in the range the rest of the land is fairly flat. The landscape in Australia is very old so only a few mountain ranges still exist. Our highest points are tiny in comparison to other continents. November is the end of the wild flower season here and the plateau at the top was covered in a sea of white and yellow. When we reached the top we found a flat area and sat down to rest and eat. I made a trail mix a few days earlier using left over nuts, coconut slithers and chocolate bits. We then sat around and enjoyed the view.

On the way up

Looking up towards the summit

Wildflowers

Looking down at the carpark

Sheer cliff

My Dunlops hanging off the edge.

The carpark from where we hiked.

Lady bugs were everywhere. Even on the summit.

Looking along the mountain range

At the top

The walk down was a lot easier but it was so windy that I was holding on to my hat for most of it. We reached the bottom at around quarter to 4. We sat at the base intending to relax but the wind was so strong we went and hoped into our car instead. We stopped in at the cafe near by for some sports drinks and icecream before heading north on the Great Southern Highway. I had never been on this road before and it took us around huge wheat farms and past lots of little towns. We finally made it to Wagin where we jumped out and took a few photos of the Giant Ram. We then continued onto Albany Highway and home. We arrived back a bit before 9pm and I was exhausted.

Me with the Giant Ram

I was sore for days afterwards. The backs of my calves where aching especially when I was pointing my toes. I am sure I looked funny for a few days attempting to walk. I am heading off south again in a couple of weeks. This time to Nannup with a large group of friends.

Love, love Elle.