Gluttons are Us

Phinnaeus Fogg (is that his name?) may have made it around the world in 80 days, plus or minus a dateline, but we haven’t managed to get around Australia in the same time, even plus or minus a timezone or two. All we have managed to do is be at least a week behind schedule, and with no hope of making it up I suspect something is going to have to fall off. Not a problem for tonight though, we just need to keep living for the moment.

Travel progress is one thing, but catering is another. And those of you that know us well would realise that food is important to us. What I didn’t realise was just how much Margaret River is more than just wine. In fact we managed to avoid wine completely today, instead focussing on many more family-friendly food outlets. I doubt our Jules Verne created adventurer would have had a tastier day in his travels.

The Rapids Recreation Reserve turned out to be just as gorgeous a place as we had guessed from the way in last night. It was soooo cold last night and such a gorgeous morning that it seemed just the perfect place for a relaxed morning. A visit from the local splendid wren family and a chorus of other tweeters, the river and more flowers gave plenty to look at. My forgetting to buy milk yesterday gave me an excuse to make some cooked breakfast, and a muesli loaf seemed as good an excuse as any for eating butter, syrup and raspberry jam.

The first must-do stop was back at the Candy Cow. Any place that offers fudge made on the premises with free tastings was always going to be a no-brainer choice. The kids were a little disappointed to know that they were only allowed two tastings, while adults were granted five. Needless to say, the entire allocation was consumed. They made their money back out of us though. The kids were amused to see a Scottie look-alike working in the fudge.

 

 

Right next door was the Margaret Riviera, a gourmet produce and product store. Unfortunately for them, our children can muster a quite adult palette when required, and so their samplings of mustard, vinaigrettes, olive oils and dukkahs were not safe from their attention. Chillie jam was no problem either. A choice of sheep’s cheese settled a discussion from yesterday, but unfortunately no tastings.

A brief pause in a photography, art, jewellery and web design gallery was our next stop. Run and stocked by a 22 year old boy with an eye and a flair, they have grand hopes and a bright future I’d suspect. They enjoy the crowd-pulling power of the candy cow across the road. On then to the Margaret River cheese company. Again, more tastings, and we just had to buy some, but added yoghurt to the list this time as well. We got to see some cheese in production, but Isabel had trouble getting her head around the concept of that much baked ricotta!

In the tradition of imaginative company names, we moved around the corner to the Margaret River Chocolate Company. They didn’t bother with the tasting as such, instead settling for a buffet of milk, white and dark pastelles (button-sized melts by any other name) for you to indulge by the handful while browsing the store. There being no apparent rules of engagement, the kids worked out they probably had ten handfuls each while there. A window into the factory showed chocolates in production, just in case you needed more inspiration. They probably still managed to show a profit from us.

Around the corner at the providores, tastings of gourmet jams, sauces, preserves and other similar delights rounded out our lunch which had now been smeared all the way from mid-morning into mid afternoon. Lynne was very jealous of the rosemary hedge lining the walk. There being a limit to how much sweet stuff you can reasonably stomach, our next stop was at the Nuts and Grains where they make upmarket muesli, or you can roll-your-own from their stocks. A selection of nuts also tempted us, but with the weather being as it was, the ice cream didn’t even rate a mention.

So finally we could roll into Margaret River itself. A bit Maleny-ish in character, we were tempted by the furniture and glass galleries. I nearly bought some hemp shorts, until the made-in-china tag made the price look a little silly. A photographic gallery also had me rummaging in the bargain bin and some photos of WA places we had been to nearly went as well, but the logistics in getting them home made me resist. I settled for a lamb roast as my town purchase, as my search for hogget or mutton proved fruitless. That was a result of an earlier discussion with the kids about what happens to boy cows and sheep. Clearly for cows, they become veal, but a boy sheep can still grow wool. I just wasn’t sure they ever did, because shearers only talk about ewes and lambs. Anyway, I still didn’t find out what happened to the boys, but according to the butcher, mutton isn’t available at the moment because if they last this long, the farmers can “get another year out of them”.

On the way out we had to drop into the coffee factory, Yahava Koffee Works. The tastings here were sensibly limited to three though. In contrast to the lovely friendly tasters everywhere else, this woman had clearly inhaled enough coffee fumes for her to be quite on edge by 5pm.

Tonight we are in Conto Fields, next to the southern caves of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste national park. Again, a fantastic campground, this time provided with wood which almost burns (as distinct from last night which was completely fireproof), and a camp kitchen with water. Woohoo! I didn’t make the mistake of' waiting for the fire to cook my roast though. It would have only taken two hours for that to become feasible, as distinct from the four last night. Again, very quiet. There might be two other groups in, but a huge area, and I think some of it is closed off, so clearly it isn’t tourist season in these parts.

Probably caves tomorrow, but we’ll see. No way were are going to make up any time though.