The Goodacre's: Margaret River, Australia CNY January 2009

Chinese New Year came early this year, landing at the end of January. So we only worked two short weeks after returning from India before we packed our bags again and headed for Australia !This was our first time ever in Australia and we loved every minute!!We left Madison at home as we knew we were heading for wine country and we rented a camper van, so we missed her dearly, but had a fabulous time!!We got to Perth very late, 1:30am, took a taxi to city centre and slept for a few hours before getting up and getting our camper van! We were upgraded into this huge luxury van, we had a fridge, gas stove, shower and toilet! We got educated on how everything worked and then we off and running! Thank God Steve had experience driving big vehicles! This one was huge! Plus we were driving on the other side of the road, so that was a bit of a challenge at times too.
We headed straight to the grocery store to load up our camper with food and snacks. We had a great time shopping at the most western grocery store we have been at since we have been home!
Then we began the three hour drive south to Margaret River !We stopped at Capel Wineries on the way to do our first tasting and made delicious sandwiches in the camper. We got to Margaret River about 6 and the small town was all but closed…so we looked around a bit and then found a place to park. All parks were full due to it being Australia day, so we found a great spot over looking the ocean! The view was beautiful and the ocean air wonderful! When we got there we grabbed our bottle of wine and cheese and crackers and headed for the beach to watch the sun set. We got down there, all set up and the tide began to come in …so we moved much further back and enjoyed the sun set and our wine! The days in Australia are very long at this time of year so it was still light out at 8:00. So Steve cooked up steak dinner for us. A fabulous first day!The next day we met our first tour guide. We opted for a small group tour and it was a great choice! Sean, an adorable Australian guy, took us first for a canoe ride down Margaret River, then for coffee overlooking the ocean. Then we went into the forest and learned a bit about the beginnings of Margaret River. We tasted three types of honey and some leaves from a peppermint tree. Then we had lunch at a winery amongst the barrels. After that we walked on the Cape to Cape trail, he took us to a beautiful part of it.
The day was perfect! We then topped it off with a fantastic Australian steak at a nice restaurant.
The next day we took the campervan and headed further down the coast to Augusta . On the way we stopped at Voyager winery, a very swank place, with great wine. Then we drove further and stopped at Hamelin Bay Winery, it was beautiful and we had the place to ourselves, we had a cheese platter and a bottle of wine and enjoyed our surroundings! Then we took the leftover wine to the van and put it in the fridge so that it was all ready when we parked for the night! We got to Augusta , took a look at the lighthouse and had fantastic fish and chips! Then to the park for the night to plug in and relax. Another great sunset on the beach.
The next day we booked ourselves a wine tour with a company called Cheers. They began the day with a traditional Aussie BBQ with wine on the Margaret River. Then we headed to two wineries, then to the chocolate factory, a cheese factory and another winery followed by a brewery! Needless to say it was a fantastic day!
Our favourite winery was called ‘lost the plot’ he was a very interesting, funny guy and made great wine, Steve’s favourite was a port with chillies in it!
We went back to our favourite spot by the beach that night and walked the whole beach, watched a few surfers and watched the sun set again!
The last day was Wednesday, we got up and enjoyed a nice breakfast and made our way back to Perth .
We arrived in Perth and returned the van and got to the airport on time!We had such a great time, Australia was so beautiful, so much like Canada and yet so different!
The wine was amazing, we smuggled far more than we should have into Singapore !
The flight was great, Quantas was nice. While we were flying Steve asked for a beer and was telling the flight attendant how good the beer was, so she gets him a bag with 4 beers in it for him take home with him!! Steve fell in love with Quatas immediately!!
We have since booked out summer trip to Australia and New Zealand where we will probably book another campervan, so fun and Madi will love it!!
Really looking forward to going back to Australia, even if it will be winter!