Day 12: Pseudo snobbery sipping

Last night we arrived in Margaret River and set up in a nice little Caravan Park – we are trying to avoid the big caravan parks because they are twice as expensive as others and all for facilities that we don’t really need or use.  It pelted with rain over night, but once again, we were cosy in our little (being the operative word here) van which we have just determined is only a little bigger than our bed at home! (see the double bloggers below).

Anyway, I put in a couple of hours study this morning early, while Rich rolled around in bed (did I say that yesterday?  Seems to be a bit of a pattern here! Which cannot be true as I {Rich} cannot even turn over as the ribs are too sore) and then it was breakfast, pack up and into Margaret River for a ‘Kimmy morning’.  This means meandering through shops, having an unrushed coffee whilst reading the paper, spending time in book shops, browsing through fudge and chocolate shops (tasting but not buying!) and of course wandering through the local market (Not a tree, winery, pier or bird in sight! Blokes – to gain points just go along with this and show interest – even if you can hear the fish calling). 

We left Margaret River around lunch time and stopped off at two wineries in the Margaret River area – Leeuwin Wines and Vass Felix (Felix means lucky – did you know that?)  Both were truly impressive, but to be honest, the gloss is starting to wear a little thin.  One does start to wonder why it is that fermented grape juice, stored in bottles for more or less time, generates SO much money!  The estates are grandiose – rolling lawns, fountains, dams, underground tasting cellars, restaurants with views and snobby waitresses, glass windows looking out onto vineyards ….. but each time we stop at some spectacular place that is more impressive than the last, I start to wonder if it is not a case of ‘the Emperor’s new clothes’- you know the story of the tailor who as a joke designed a wardrobe for a vain noble that he insisted was there, but in truth simply turned out to be the majestic parading down the street in his undies – everyone except the vain guy had a bit of a laugh … I think this could be the case with wine – it is a conspiracy of a few who are simply making money out of our pseudo snobbery, and they are having a rich old laugh at us, as we sniff the wine searching for the ‘floral notes’ we are told are there, or agreeing with each other that there is a ‘hint of raspberry combined with oak’ from the casks that the wine was aged in.  We enthusiastically roll the liquid around our ‘palate’ and sagely agree that yes, this is a well aged wine, and ‘oh darling – that would go so well with your divine roast duck lórange!’ In fact wine is simply grape juice left in a barrel a bit long and then bottled with fancy labels with a price tag that could feed a family for two weeks and we all think it is something worth having.   Okay, that is my thought for the day …. Richard says that I am a viticultural vandal (maybe even leave out the ‘cultural’)!  Well I am getting quite the rap sheet now:  viticulture vandal, flora philistine and techno-troglodyte! (maybe I – Rich - am a Craft Market Martyr).

Anyway, whilst we didn’t manage to see any lifers (birds) or big trees today, we did manage to catch up with Richard’s other passion – piers!  In Busselton (where we currently are) is the longest pier in Australia (1.84 kms) with an underwater observatory – very sadly …. It was closed for renovation – which saved us a four kilometer walk and deprived us of the underwater observatory … but ahh … such is life.  Instead we set up in the caravan park and went for a bike ride – the absolute highlight of the day – along a lovely bike path just as the sun was setting over the sea.  Wow!  Once again, WA has surprised and blessed us – what a beautiful place – what an amazing God, who makes such beautiful places for us to enjoy. 

We have managed to make contact with Jenny, my cousin (Kim actually has 2 first cousins in Australia) and we will be having coffee with her tomorrow!  Yay!  Did you check out her husband’s lovely photos of this part of the world (?  Stunning – just like the area we are in right now.

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