Certainly are some great surf spots from cape to cape but not a mini-mal or longboarder in sight! This coastline is owned totally by guns and thrusters.
We have arrived at this assumption as we've spent a couple of days checking the scene, which included a trip into town to try and get the low down on local breaks. Met a Norwegian born-again ozzie, all made for a very odd accent. After some brutal honesty from a couple from England, two surf spots were given, Huzza and Newgate, these two were tagged as 'easier' breaks to handle i.e breaks that weren't double over-head even on a small swell or breaks that were away from the dreaded reef (ahhh the reef, good in the Ningaloo but bad in the south for a couple of city based surfers). So we were all set.
After all the research we woke to rain and a howling north westerly that was completely messing with everything. Humbled or stumbled, depends on your point of view, by mother nature and that was it, a
chance to surf at Margaret's gone, as the next day were were moving on. But hey life could be worse.....
Plan B, wine tasting, hoorah. Today we got to taste some local wines within the MR region. We booked onto a tour and tasting session at Voyager Wines.
The gardens of the vineyard were amazing, huge rose garden and ornamental hedges, but of course we weren't here for the plant life however nice, oh no. Once introduced to the gift shop we headed off round the estate on the back of a jeep, as if to enter a safari park, but instead this drive took as through the vines and onto view the main areas of production.
Voyager winery history, albeit a little light on the heritage:
Owned by Michael Wright and family since 1991. Grapes have been grown on the land since 1978. Previously to this most of the land was used for diary farming and original thoughts from locals that the land was unsuitable for vine growing. But as the diary farm industry dwindled more and more vine yard sites were proved successful.
The wine estate has a distinct South African/Dutch feel as Michael Wright has always had a fondness for this type of architecture following visits to South Africa wine regions. He was also impressed by the way that the South African's had managed to link wine making, stunning gardens and food aficionados through tourism. With similar climates his vision was born and now the vine yard is a key feature within the Augusta/ Margaret River region.
All grapes at the vineyard are grown by the vertical shoot position, known as VSP. The older the vine the smaller the yield, the grapes from these vines are used to produce vintage wine. Vintages are normally produced around once every decade. All grapes for vintage wine are hand picked.
White grapes can be picked at night when temperatures are less and when the acid in the fruit is more prevalent than the sugars. Reds do require warmer conditions when picked and so can be picked during the day.
Wildlife, in particular the native roo, aren't a problem as if and when they do eat the grapes they normally eat the whole grape therefore leaving no half eaten matter that then could attract bugs which can lead to disease.
A good vine should have a hand space of distance between each vine shoot. This is achieved by hand stripping off any extra vine shoots. This is completed in the Veraison season. Veraison - French for the
change of a season and the onset of ripening (Miles you probably already knew that!).
The vibrant roses at the end of each row of vines used to indicate disease but now with advanced technology they are just there to look pretty!
In case of a power cut the estate has a back up generator that could power the best part of the region. Add this to the accolades of having the largest underground cellar in Oz you can't help but think they aren't going to stay a small scale winery forever. The cellar took two years to build. Voyager, being a boutique operation, has only 37,000 cases produced each year. 20% of these sells are carried out at the cellar door.
As the rain kept coming we decide to push onto Pemberton our next destination via Cape Leeuwin point the home to Australia's tallest lighthouse.
Tonight Fe stood on a possum on route to the toilet block. Not sure who was more scared! The whole campsite heard though! It's as cold as home in the south so we had to cuddle up in the van that night!
First up was the Gloucester Tree, literally. A 200ft climb on 153 steel pins that have been hammered into the trunk of a Kerri tree to create a spiral ladder climb up to a final viewing platform high above the D'Entrecasteaux National Park. As mad as this attraction seems it does have an actual purpose in that it acts as the forest's fire lookout. It's actually the highest working fire lookout platform in the world, ever, no less. Not that I'm H&S mad but there was no form of safety so one miss placed foot and gravity would take you down, fast. The climb to the top was a thigh burner!
We have arrived at this assumption as we've spent a couple of days checking the scene, which included a trip into town to try and get the low down on local breaks. Met a Norwegian born-again ozzie, all made for a very odd accent. After some brutal honesty from a couple from England, two surf spots were given, Huzza and Newgate, these two were tagged as 'easier' breaks to handle i.e breaks that weren't double over-head even on a small swell or breaks that were away from the dreaded reef (ahhh the reef, good in the Ningaloo but bad in the south for a couple of city based surfers). So we were all set.
The wine estate has a distinct South African/Dutch feel as Michael Wright has always had a fondness for this type of architecture following visits to South Africa wine regions. He was also impressed by the way that the South African's had managed to link wine making, stunning gardens and food aficionados through tourism. With similar climates his vision was born and now the vine yard is a key feature within the Augusta/ Margaret River region.
Margaret river wine region is affectionately known by the locals as "Mark up River". This region has nearly 5500 hectares under vine with around 120 small scale producers. These predominately boutique operations vary with the smallest crush being 3.5 tonnes and the largest being 7000 tonnes. They have perfect growing weather here, not too hot with enough rain. Harvest time is Feb - April. Cheese and chocolate producers are also in the area. We stopped at a venison farm shop and bought various produce, this place is like gastro alley.
We spent the wet and windy afternoon parked up at Surfers point, Prevally. A great spot for watching the local crazed groms head straight into very oversized waves. We sat within the warmth of the van holding a oversized cuppa, commentating.
Lovin' Dave's impromptu DIY sessions. He just loves getting the old leatherman out to tweak something. I think he is missing his health and safety spot checks he did back in Asia (and to be fair there was a lot to spot!)
•Barred longtom
We booked into Coral Bay back packers and headed straight to the beach and the Ningaloo reef armed with a couple of snorkel sets. Ahhhhh the reef the reef the reef. Then there's the fish, the coral, the crystal clear sea, the white sandy beach that just runs on and on. That 2000 km drive was well worth it.
Heading onto Kalbarri we came across Port Gregory. A small coastal town with a strange purple/pinky coloured lagoon. This was due to a bacteria called Dunaliella salina, nice. It becomes trapped within the salt granules. This provides a rich source of beta carotene which is harvested. It all looked very odd though going on the surrounding red earth scrubby landscape.
On arrival at Kalbarri we booked into a cabin overlooking the Murchison river. Once unpacked we headed for Kalbarri National Park to walk down the rugged gorge to 'Natures Window', a hole that's been blown through a large overhanging section of sandstone rock. There is a real fly problem in Oz at the moment so it was advisable to keep mouths shut. I counted 30 flies on my rucksack at one point! Great views to be had from this point looking down to the Murchison River below. You are meant to be able to paddle up this section but it seemed pretty dry, WA has had an exceptionally dry winter.
On the return from any walk it's always advisable to stop for a cheeky one to wet the whistle. We stopped at what looked like a lively joint for Monday night. Well it would do wouldn't it as this place had everything that drinkers dream of. Pool tables, live ozzie rules on loop, a fully operational mini bookies and a restaurant on the side. Bookies (plus ATM) and beer = a dangerous combination. You get caught in this place in the wrong sort of mood and you'd never leave! 
Wahoooo. My birthday downunder. Ah what a blast - 24c, blue skies and a slight southwesterly.
If a prisoner stepped out of line they would be tied up and whipped using a tool with leather strips, this was called a cat and hence the sayings....
The hanging pit was full of superstitions....
We'd made plans to meet Matthais and Rebekka, a couple who we met in the Nam. We headed for Raffles for some Singapore slings. They both were staying in Singapore enroute home to Germany. Miles, you were right as you do start bouncing into the same people as you travel, which is nice. The day was particuarly wet, when it rains here it certainly rains, not to mention the thunder and lightening so the only thing for it was to head indoors, for cockails. The S slings were pretty good, although horribly overpriced, but hey...when in Rome. Moving onto somewhat more budget friendly bars, it was more cocktails on the 74th floor of the Swissotel but they seemed pretty keen to charge for sitting down, the window seats of this place come with a extra charge of 20 bucks.
Like a lot of the countries we have visited Singapore was no exception with regards to history with war. We visted The Battle Box , a WWII underground command centre that was constructed as an emergency, bomb-proof command centre during the Battle of Singapore. After the war, the Battle Box was sealed off and its exact location forgotten. It was rediscovered in 1988, and converted into a tourist attraction. It reminded us of the German underground tunnels in Jersey and Guernsey.
