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.....
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
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!
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