Day Two

Margaret River Surfing

DAY TWO

I arose to birds singing and a couple of sheep baaing.  Have a quick stroll around the property, and admire the tall Karri trees surrounding the grounds.Not to photograph at the moment so I left Rentia to make breakfast. She makes us  a lovely meal of bacon and eggs and coffee.

We sit  outside on the verandah for awhile, feeling the warmth of the sun on our backs, hearing the Kookaburra laughing watching the Jacki Winter flying and trilling from his branch, we make several attempts  to take  a photo but he flies away speedily as soon as we approach.. Rentia looks through her bird book  so we areable to look up what the bird with the black bill and black eye liner is called.   In the distance cars are travelling or turning in from Caves Road. For a moment there is silence then the cacophony of sounds start up again.

After breakfast we find  we have locked ourselves out of the house and I ask the land lady to come and let us back in to the house.  She doesn't want to leave us a spare key so she walks over to the cottage with me. I go inside and Rentia is met with a barrage of questions from our hostess. Finally we escape to set off on our holiday adventure  exploring  the wineries and the beaches which this region is  famous for.
First stop is  Xanadu, a pleasant winery with restaurant.  After a brief stop we move on to Redgate where we find we are the only visitors. Only one woman is serving and she is constantly being called on to answer the phone, welcome other visitors and assist with the wine tasting. We decide we probably wont go back there.

Following the Winery visits stop and being fortified we drive to Prevelly Park and follow the coast line as far as we can. We watch and photograph a group of surfers catching the breaks far out in the ocean, and discover the family beach  with its own special allure. Glennys considers a dip in the ocean but finds she has a whoos of a companion with her on the day.
We drive past a gracious little old church at Prevelly and then we are on our way to Gracetown  We walk under a canopy of trees and visit the memorial for the collapsed cliff victims, at the same time talking and eating our fast melting ice creams.

Then off to the last and the most impressive winery at Laurance Estate.
We meet lovely and friendly staff as well as the Owner.We gaze at the Chandeliers made of made of many wine glasses.  After a quick but memorable visits to the  toilets we walk outside and visit the lovely  rose gardens, olive trees, and water fountain with cascading flowers.

After a simply gorgeous day with Rentia doing all the hard work driving again we set off for Smith's Beach.
As we drive past the entrance I note the unit Jamie and I had stayed in, it was a surprise birthday present for him when he turned 60.

Sunset on Smith's Beach

Smith's beach is wide and long.  The sand as on all our beaches is soft and white. The day has been hot and it is still warm even though it is  late in the afternoon so there is a second top up of sun cream for both of us.
A family arrived with a dog which obviously knew its way  around and wasn't going to be kept back waiting for it's owners.  It rushes hastily past us and runs a kilometre along the beach, swimming and enjoying the crowd.
We see a lovely young couple on the beach and discover she is from France and he is from Sydney.  They had a towel wrapped around themselves and were holding each other in a soft warm embrace.  It is a moment suspended in time, a moment that wont be repeated so  Rentia takes  a lovely shot of them.  They were happy for her to send them a copy as a memory of a perfect day.

Back  home to relax over a Wild Turkey then Rentia cooks another tasty meal. Squash with fresh thyme and lemon drizzled over it, onion cheese tomato and cous cous.

After dinner Rentia finds an enormous huntsman spider on the ceiling.  Guess who stood on a chair and caught it and took it outside to the sound of Rentia calling 'you will fall be careful' and 'it might be dangerous, don't get bitten.'

Later on in the evening, we find a cockroach which wasn't so easy to catch, mainly because I can't stand the sight of them and don't ever want to go near them. This time it is Rentia's turn to remove it.

 I am happy to report Rentia moves from her bed on the floor and we both spend a comfortable last night.  Early in the morning we pack up the car and head for home. With happy memories and many photographs.

Margaret River Venture

DAY ONE

On the first day of our trip I wake up to  perfect weather which is to last for our whole 3 day venture.

I drive to Rentia and we pack  her car full of luggage and food, everything we will need for our 3 day holiday.

After a pleasant two  hour drive we stop  for lunch in a shady spot on the edge of Cowaramup and  eat a hearty meal of shredded chicken, and pre made sandwiches of tomato and cheese.

After lunch we continue our drive and arrive in Cowaramup  and  stop to do some shopping.  We meet one of Jamie's nurses at the condiments shop which is packed full of spices, cheeses and such. We cross the road and try a bit of wine tasting both red and white in very generous sizes in our glass. Amazingly we find the Art Gallery cafe is closed for business on a Public Holiday weekend.

Arriving  at our cottage, we announce our arrival to the Owners with some trepidation as a result of one bad review that had been posted in Trip Advisor.  Apparently the reviewer had not enjoyed his time in the bush land of Margaret River.  Amongst his complaints were,  he found ear wigs in the bed sheets and  heard rats running about the house. Apparently on complaining to the owners he was told he could leave anytime and shown the door.

Rentia and I do some detective work and question the very friendly  owners in case they were new and had not been involved in this situation.  We are advised they have been running the cottages for the past 30 years, so they are indeed the culprits.

 Immediately we are in the house we examine the bed in minute detail for ear wigs and anything else which shouldn't be living in the mattress. Thankfully we find we no sign of ear wigs or rats. The place is clean and tidy.

Went into Bob's Shoe shop at Margaret River and admire some lovely boots and shoes.  Suddenly I realize the song playing on the radio is the Michael Franti song we played when they were showing Jamie's photos at his funeral.  I had never heard that song before that day and this was the first time I heard it since. I find a lovely leather purse marked down from $100 to $50, it was just big enough to hold my keys and mobile phone, something I had been looking for for ages.  Rentia and I  both thought Jamie was there telling me I should buy the bag which I promptly do.
As it was late in the afternoon we decide to drive down  to Prevelly Beach and wait for sunset.  We arrive and park the car and walk over the sand dunes on to the beach.  We sit for awhile watching lovely scenes fisherman and  people kite flying;  a boy throwing a stick to  his dog, people swimming.

 Then Rentia suggests we  walk along the beach, making sure to count the pathway openings leading from the path to the beach so we can find our way back. (One of us proves to better at counting and the other proves to be better at being a human Google map)  Walking in the sand is hard because it is so soft and  my aching legs tell me how unfit I am.  We walk along the path for the rest of the way which is  a lot less strain on my legs. As we stroll along we see  four people standing with their backs to the water, texting on their phones.  It seemed rather incongruous.  It is strange now to notice that when something as lovely as a sunset is presented to us we would rather  capture the moment on our phones and cameras rather than sit in the moment and enjoy the scene spread before us.
We watch a wedding on the beach and wonder for an instant if perhaps we could gatecrash and  pretend to be professional  photographers.

A lovely setting to hold a wedding.

Finally we sit on Prevelly Beach, watching a glorious sunset and observing the change in the colours of the sky and ocean as the sun turns both from red to crimson and finally pink as it sets slowly over the horizon.


 'Never waste any amount of time doing anything important when there is a sunset outside that you should be sitting under'. C. Joybell. C.



Now the  time has come  to leave this delightful scenario.  On the way back we see a young girl sitting on the beach   playing her guitar, a lovely natural scene, she is  oblivious of anybody else,and  is just enjoying this magical evening and her guitar.
As we walk along the sky begins to grow darker as it does as soon as the sun has set. As we walk we remember we have been so busy chatting and watching the scenery that we may have overshot the turn off that takes us back to the car.  We walk along a different path to the one we had walked down earlier and find there are no familiar landmarks.  However, after a short search we find the car right  where we left it. Although we are two women walking alone we feel safe and thankful for this country we live in.  Even so  it was still a relief to find the car and be on or way home.


When we arrive back at the cottage there is just enough time for a short stroll in the surrounding bush, where we watch the kangaroos jumping across the bush track possibly looking for tonight's dinner.

Although barbecues had been advertised  we found  this was not quite the case when we read the sign on the barbecues stating they can't be lit as no fires were allowed in summer.So back home we go to enjoy a Clayton's barbecue. (actually it was the second  day of autumn but still warm enough to feel as if it was  summer)  The best thing in my opinion about autumn is that we have a whole new summer ahead.  Another summer begins after autumn and winter leave us.  Next morning we find a that there are gas barbecues by this time it is too late.

After our bush walk we meander home and where  Wild Turkey  eases our thirst and we  soothe our beached up legs  with chatting while we sit on the verandah contemplating our meal and  sharing nibbles of  a cheese platter (from the condiments store)  in Cowaramup  and crackers.

Cous cous salad with special ingredients by Rentia and boerewors. is our dinner.
We only had one bed to share so Rentia took some cushions and parked on the lounge room floor. Whether it was the drive  down, the long beach walk and sea air or the scintillating conversation we weren't sure but we both enjoy an excellent night's sleep.