Margaret River

Ruthie and I planned to check out Margaret River today. Finally, I'll be going to Margaret River! I'm one of the few people in WA who hasn't been yet, and I've been itching to see how lovely it is. 

We went to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory first up. The store was seriously so much bigger than I thought it was. There were just tables, walls and shelves of everything chocolate. Heaven. There was a cafe which had a bunch of tasty treats, both sweet and savoury. At the very back of the factory was a window where you could observe all the chocolate being made. I thought this was a nice touch.

We picked up a few chocolates for our loved ones at home. Along with this, I bought myself some chocolate tea! Chocolate tea? How intriguing. I was a bit unsure of how it would taste, but when we brewed some up later today I really enjoyed it. The tea had the leafy flavour from the black tea leaves, but also a subtle earthy chocolate flavour from the cocoa nibs which were mixed in with the tea leaves. I served mine up with soy milk. Delicious. 

Bottles of different flavoured chocolate sauce. Pretty much all of them were vegan friendly!!

Bars of chocolate!

Chocolatiers working hard, making the world a better place by putting chocolate in it :)

Right next door to the Chocolate Factory was a place called Providore. They did wines, liqueurs and condiments. Most of the products had taste testers and we pretty much tried everything. The owner of the store even commented that we had been there the longest out of all the customers that day. But c'mon man, if there's free tastings, I'll try everything...twice. I have no shame in admitting that! :)

We walked away with some delicious hazelnut mousse chocolate liqueur, marinated olives, and balsamic dressings. Everything was so tasty! It was so difficult to choose only a few to buy. 

After going nuts in Providore, we headed off to The Berry Farm. It sounded cool, so we wanted to check it out. There was a lovely cafe and winery there, and even though we didn't stay to try some of the tasty food on the menu, we tried some wines and cider which was a lot of fun. I've never done wine tastings before, and because I'm not a huge fan of alcohol, I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it. Despite this, I'm always keen for new things and I found that I enjoyed the experience. It was fun reading all the names of the wines available and picking and choosing which ones we wanted to try. Ruth walked out with a lovely bottle of apple and vanilla port. For someone who doesn't drink much wine, I really enjoyed this one. It was sweet and it went down so smoothly. I've never tasted anything like it. Very delightful. Indeed it was definitely a girls drink :)

I love when glassware is used to decorate lights :)

Ruth and I also headed out to Lake cave and did the tour there. You don't have to book in advance or anything which was good. I've never done a cave tour before so I didn't really have any expectations, but wow I was so blown away by the natural beauty.

One of the rarest cave formations in the whole world. It's suspended from the cave roof and hanging over the water!

Our final stop today was Rivermouth along the coast. This is where Margaret River opens into the ocean. Even though it was a chilly and windy day, it didn't stop us from taking off our shoes and having a stroll along the beach and riverbed. I seriously love the Australian coastal line. It's just so well preserved and so gorgeous. The seas were very rough, but it was nice to see and hear the sight and sound of the waves crashing on the rocks. Just gorgeous :)

Margaret River lived up to my expectations :) I had such a great time and I know I will be back for more good times in the future. 

Busselton Jetty, Simmo's Ice Creamery and Sugarloaf Rock

There were lots of new things done today, seeing as I've never been down south before. On the agenda today was visiting the Busselton Jetty, going to the famous Simmo's Ice Creamery and checking out he beautiful view at Sugarloaf Rock. We didn't actually know Sugarloaf Rock existed until yesterday when we saw a gorgeous picture of it hanging on the wall in the reception area. When we realised that it was close by, we fit it into our schedule. 

Simmo's is a great little ice creamery which is located on a lovely property. There's mini golf and picnic areas right out the back, and if you go a bit further out, then there's plenty of land to have a stroll. There was an emu which is known for stealing people's ice cream as they posed next to it for photos. Mind you, the ice creams and sorbets are so tasty that I would not blame the emu to trying to swipe some. 

There were lots of flavours of sorbet for me to choose from, but I ended up going with boysenberry, and get this, carrot and orange. You might think carrot and orange is a strange combination, but despite what you may think, it was delicious. You couldn't taste the carrot at all. Not even a little bit. It wasn't that sour and tangy orange flavour either. It was just smooth and sweet. So good. I thoroughly enjoyed it! 

The mini golf course.

Sometimes words and photos can't describe what the eyes see, so instead of trying to describe how beautiful Sugarloaf Rock was, I'll just tell you how it made me feel. We timed our day so that we would get to Sugarloaf Rock around sunset. We wanted to see it at sunset because the photo that we saw in reception was taken at sunset. Driving down the road headed towards the rock was such a beautiful sight. We were just awestruck at the beauty of this natural attraction. 

While there was a viewing deck, we decided to venture out down onto the rocks to get a better look. I'm so glad we did because the view from down by the rock pools was breathtaking. It was so peaceful to sit and watch the water crashing on the rocks. My mind was just erased of all the issues of the world and I was just at peace with the beauty that God put before my eyes. 

Day one of our trip down south: pretty spectacular. 

The picture of Sugarloaf Rock that we saw in reception.

A lovely photo taken and edited by Ruth :)

Australind and Dunsborough

There is so much beauty within Western Australia, but even though I was born here, I have yet to go out and see very much of it. That all changed today however, when Ruth and I embarked on a trip down south. Ruth has been down a few times, so she was my official tour guide and adventure buddy :)

We booked to stay at the Wyndam Hotel and Resort in Dunsborough and made plans to visit Margaret River and a few other places down south too. How exciting!!

The trip down to the resort was about 3 hours. Along the way we stopped off at a lovely place called Australind. There was a lovely beach, playground and picnic area where lots of families were out enjoying the sunshine. 

We arrived at the resort around late afternoon, and I was just blown away by how beautiful the resort is. There was a gorgeous reception building/area which had the main restaurant nearby, and the resort day spa and function hall upstairs.

There was a gorgeous pool and spa outside, along with a tennis court, BBQ area, gym, playground, cycling paths, and my favourite, the beautiful beach within walking distance. Such a great place to stay! I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to spend their time down south in a bit of luxury :)

Australind :)

Here are some photos of the resort. The beach is a short walk from the back of the villas :)

The gorgeous river.