Margaret River Part 2

by Miss Penny Black

Our second full day in MR was a tour called ‘All About Margaret River Wine and Chocolate Tour’, which was accurate but not very catchy. The company was just two guys, Dani was our drive for the day and he was from Chile, having moved to Australia four years ago. If you’re looking for a tour in the MR region, I’d highly recommend this one. Dani was an excellent guide who was friendly, knowledgeable and passionate about the region and supporting the smaller, family-owned businesses that were resisting the big companies that are buying up smaller wineries.

We were picked up from our apartments and joined a retired couple from Sydney, two sisters from Norway, and a couple of retired ladies from England. Everyone was very friendly and it was a great group to spend the day with, even if the couple from Sydney didn’t believe me when I told them the birds we could see at the farm were peacocks, not lyrebirds. I’ll let you be the judge.

First stop was a farm experience where we fed llamas, emus and then sat down for a breakfast of scones and tea or coffee. Something to fill the stomach before the wine tasting started!

We also stopped at Cowerup, a little tourist town we had already had a quick walk around the day before, to visit a chocolate maker called Temper Temper. They did some unusual flavours, including one with cauliflower!

They actually made the chocolate on the premises from imported cocoa beans. I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere else in Australia that does that on such a small scale.

We had one wine tasting before lunch, where we sat outside in the garden of Juniper Winery, where an enthusiastic Englishman told us each wine was excellent. None of them really took my fancy, but it was a beautiful place to start our day’s drinking.

We stopped briefly at a lookout where I saw a whale spout in the far distance – I got very lucky on this trip with spotting the puffs of water out near the horizon, although sadly we didn’t see any close to land.

Lunch was at an olive farm and restaurant. We had ordered our food earlier so service was quick and we got to try their range of oils and preserves. Charmaine and I shared a mushroom pasta (divine) and delicious bruschetta before heading off to the next two wineries.

Winery 2 was a small producer and the lady who talked us through their wines was one of the owners. She was very knowledgeable and I found trying their rosé interesting as she gave us two samples, produced from the same grapes in two different years. Not only was the taste very different, but the colour was striking – one was a pale warm tawny and the other was a cool pink!

The third winery of the day was extremely generous with their tasting selection and we ended up ordering a mixed case sent home. In their vineyard I saw the biggest flock of black cockatoos I’ve ever seen – at least 30. At home we get the ones with yellow stripes under their tails, but these had white stripes.

Luke, Charmaine and I said goodbye to the group at about 4pm and had a little rest before going to the weirdest building on the main street, it was a bit steam-punk/cuckoo clock style. The guy at the front desk seemed mildly perturbed that we’d arrived without a booking but the food was great.

The restaurant had lots of little spaces, not one big room. I recommend going there if you go to MR… but make a booking!

It’s two restaurants plus accommodation all in one premises.

Day 3! 22/9/25 Coffee, Art, A Beach And Chocolate

Our last full day in Margaret River. I woke up early and went for a little solo walk. I find if I don’t spend at least a bit of time by myself when I’m on holidays I go mad. Or rather, I get mad and Luke bears the brunt. So I went and had a coffee in a little cafe that was also a health food shop and I watched people coming in and out. Then I walked back to the apartments and realised Luke might like a coffee so I got one for him from a bakery on the main street that had the best looking pastries I’ve seen in a long time. I didn’t end up going back for any, which I’m a bit sad about!

Luke and I took a walk after breakfast and had a look at some street art, and at a gallery nearby. It had an exhibition by Yorkshire artist, Chris Williamson, who did illustrations for children’s books, but also had little sculptures on the wall next to each original pice and you could look in the drawing for the sculpture. His work was very intricate and beautiful.

We met up with Charmaine and our next stop was the Elephant Beach Cafe. it’s the only cafe in the area that is right on the beach and it had a magnificent view of the beach, cliffs and emerald green water. We watched the wait staff whisk all the plates away to avoid attracting the seagulls that plague every outdoors space.

We walked up to the headland and looked further along the coast. There was an interesting rock formation under the water where seaweed had filled in the cracks, making tessellating shapes. I was very glad of my sunglasses, everywhere in Margaret River is so blinding!

Astonishingly, Charmaine didn’t suffer any injuries on this trip. Maybe the curse has lifted!

In the afternoon we visited two chocolate shops. The first was the Margaret River Chocolate Company, which is big but I didn’t find their range of produce very interesting.

We visited a smaller business nearby that had a smaller selection but talked us through a tasting of chocolate from different regions around the world. We could taste the difference between African and South American chocolate and bought some to take to Rottnest Island for our friends to try.

Our last stop of the day was back to Cowaramup (again) and we managed to find, in the tiny strip of shops, two shops we hadn’t previously visited. We bought some cheese and ended up having a lovely evening on our balcony drinking some of the wine we’d bought and eating the cheese with some relish and crackers. This always reminds me of Luke’s parents, Lea and Pete, and their long evenings of cheese and chatting!

Busselton Jetty, Thursday September 25/9/25

We left Margaret River before 8am, still being on Melbourne time. Poor Charmaine was still waking up at 2am!

As always, we turned up quite early, and had time for breakfast at The Goose, a cafe right by the tourist office in Busselton. Another restaurant with a beautiful view and the weather was perfect.

Always Luke chooses dessert for breakfast!

We boarded the little train that ran along the pier and had a chat to a nice family who recommended a place with sunset views in Fremantle the following night. I booked a table straight away.

The trip along the jetty was nice but the underwater observatory at the end was really my cup of tea! A circular cement structure with windows along a the way that circled down, and you could look through at the ecosystem that had built a reef on the jetty pylons.

Going scuba diving out here would be amazing! There’s an underwater sculpture garden too, although we couldn’t see it. Several days previously two young blue whales had been swimming around the jetty – sadly not on our day!

The reef has only been growing for a few years but there’s so much to see.

We decided to walk back and were glad or our hats and long sleeves, the sun felt quite spicy.

Feeling like we’d done everything we needed to do, we got in the car and headed for Fremantle.

We had booked rooms at a Rydges hotel that had once been an old pub. It had a beautiful veranda around the outside but the inside was more modern and cavernous.

Kelvin has flown in that afternoon so Charmaine went to meet him. Luke and I had a couple of drinks in the bar then walked through the park to the Bathers Beach restaurant. There were some very photogenic tugboats in the harbour next door and an octopus sculpture too.

One of my favourite photos from the trip

Bathers Beach itself isn’t large but a few people were gathered for the sunset. Inside the restaurant it was a bit blinding, but the food was good and we shared a bunch of small plates.

Apart from a huge, empty Ferris wheel, there wasn’t much going on around our hotel at night so after a couple of drinks in the bar we headed to bed, still somewhat on Victorian time.

Next stop: Rottnest Island!

4Jul2023

A Big Belfast Weekend

by Miss Penny Black

For our final weekend in Belfast we did a lot of things! First up was seeing The Prodigy. I’ll be honest, I’m not usually one for going to shows like this where there’s a lot of standing around, queues for everything and apocalyptic toilet situations. However Luke was keen to go and it was a show that would be over by 11pm – a big draw for most over 40s and particularly for me, who is almost 50.

The forecast was for some rain so we (Luke, Peter, Ciara (Peter’s sister), Ash, Danny and I) took brightly coloured ponchos in little plastic balls but I also decided to take my proper raincoat. It’s such a hard decision, whether to take a coat to an event. If it doesn’t rain I’ll have to hold it all night, but if it rains and I get wet through I’ll be miserable and cold. I did wear it all evening through some light showers so I was glad I’d taken it.

I’ve always liked The Prodigy, even though almost all their music is quite angry, punk-electronic shouty kind of stuff that I wouldn’t normally listen to. Prior to the show I thought I’d only recognise two or three songs. I ended up knowing almost all of them and the ones I didn’t know I really liked. We stood fairly far back from the stage but everyone around us was dancing and having a great time.

Adding to the enjoyment of the evening, Danny had booked taxis to take us there and then pick us up outside, so the whole thing was very seamless and smooth. Normally getting home from big events is stressful with the crowds and transport but it was all so easy.

We ended up staying up until the small hours, talking and cuddling Freddie. A brilliant evening all round!

The next day (Saturday) we did absolutely nothing but sit around watching TV and chatting, as one does after a big night out. On Sunday Danny drove Peter, Luke and I to Mount Stewart, a manor house with extensive gardens.

There was a car show out the front with some very cute and stylish old vehicles. Luke and I paid for entry to the house and the ground floor was open.

After learning so much about Irish history on this trip, it’s hard for me to enjoy places like this in an uncomplicated way. Yes, I love the architecture and find things interesting, but the people who entertained their highbrow friends here so they could ‘get away from it all and relax’ in a 22 bedroom, 24,000 acre estate, were doing it while catholic families only miles away were living in squalor because the government, that these people were part of, treated them like second class citizens. Not all that different from Australian history, I guess – almost all the beautiful old buildings in Melbourne were funded by gold that was gained from the destruction of native lands and removal of indigenous people.

Still, I did like the scope of their lounge room. It managed to be enormous and yet cosy and it was interesting to think about the points made in Watching the English, the book I’ve been reading throughout my trip. The author says that at the very top and bottom of the British class ladder, people will have mismatched and old furniture. The poor aspire to matching lounge suites but the rich inherit antiques and don’t want their furniture to match, for fear of looking like new money or middle class. Very few pieces matched in this room so these people must’ve been very rich!

Luke liked these lettuce-shaped dishes where the handles were formed by the curl of the leaves.

The gardens were slightly derelict but had quite a Secret Garden feel. There was a walled rose garden with some lovely specimens.

Beautiful. Also I’m so glad I got a new phone before I left, how lovely is the soft focus!

We had a shower then sun for five minute intervals and on our 30 minute walk I think I took off my jacket then put it back on at least ten times.

I’ll only show you the sunny photos though, to give the impression we had perfect weather.

Cygnets!

The landscapes park had lots of different types of landscapes and copses of different types of trees.

After a drink at a seaside inn we dropped Freddie off home. We then headed to a venue that was usually quiet on a Sunday afternoon so we could try Belfast’s famous LASA spice bag (famous because Lizzo had recently taken to social media to complain about missing out on trying one as they were closed after her show).

However things were not as we had anticipated – a DJ was playing extremely loud music indoors and LASA, one of the food trucks lining the walls, was giving away free servings of their spice bags. Unfortunately whoever was making them had doused them in chilli flakes so we left it unfinished and moved outside.

I wish I could post a video, it was quite deafening for mid afternoon on a Sunday. There were family groups sitting around looking a bit shell shocked.

Apparently it wasn’t their normal fare – as you can see, pretty plain.

Peter got us all some slices of excellent NY-style pizza, which were much more satisfying.

The whole time we were outside there was a man with a dog and the dog was standing either on the table or trying to get to our table to get our food. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a public eating place that allows dogs on tables.

A bright rainbow came out over the rooftops.

We spent the rest of the evening at different bars. Being a Sunday, it wasn’t too busy.

This pub had live music and way too many things that required dusting.

So many flowers decorating the pubs and bars.

‘Baby Guinness’ – Tia Maria with Baileys

But all good things must come to an end, and on Monday morning Danny drove Luke and I to the airport.

Goodbye Belfast!

If one picture encapsulates our meteorological experience it’s this one.

Danny and I made vague plans to do another walking trip, possibly around The Ulster Way, which is in Northern Ireland. That might be something we do next time, who knows?

29Jun2023

One Night In Derry

by Miss Penny Black

Our overnight trip to Derry did not begin well, due to the uniquely confusing setup at Lanyon Place Station. We managed to miss the 10am train and had to wait an hour for the next one. Annoying, but possibly meant we missed the morning rain in Derry.

The trip to Derry is about 2 hours and as we got closer the sun came out and we hit the coastal section of the route. Lovely!

There was even a stretch of beach that looked remarkably like home.

We arrived at Derry station a bit after 2 and the station was a pleasant surprise. Very modern, clean and bright.

The station is on the opposite side of the river to the centre of town so we walked across the Peace Bridge.

We’d booked an Airbnb property but only brought a small backpack each so we were fine to carry our things with us for a few hours.

On a day like this it was a nice way to enter the city, although it was still spitting a bit… but also sunny. So Irish!

There was a nice-looking walkway along the river but we headed into the city.

Not many people around, which is always nice.

We headed into the ground floor of the building below. I was interested in the stained glass. I read later that the windows tell the story of Derry through the centuries.

There was an exhibition on the history of Derry, which I can poorly but fairly accurately summarise as: English people arrive and ruin everything and the fighting goes on forever. Luke and I talked about this a lot, not just what happened but what could’ve been done differently, what might have happened if the English had never come. Ireland is so small that it might’ve been invaded by Spain or Portugal, or how different it would be if it had been left to itself. Is there even such a thing, in history, as a nation being left to itself?

I didn’t realise the English came to completely drive out the locals in the 1600s to set up plantations, much like those in the US and the Caribbean, although I think this happened first.

Next we visited the tourist information centre and picked up a map. They had a lot of Derry Girls merch and some interactive exhibits.

The craft village was recommended to visit, it’s a series of little craft shops that sell very typical Irish stuff, some more modern things and several hairdressers. Not the highlight of our visit but it might appeal to some.

The centre of Derry is surrounded by defensive walls, the mostly recently constructed in the UK and Ireland. They’re in excellent condition and the wall around is about a mile and offers an excellent view of the inside and outside parts of the city.

The wall walk was also surprisingly wide and the surface seemed quite new. There were sets of stairs along the way but it wasn’t a hard walk.

If I had more time I’d have looked for a walk to do in the hills around the city.

This area, Bogside, was where Bloody Sunday occurred. More on that later.

If you don’t immediately recognise these faces you need to watch Derry Girls immediately. Go do it now, I’ll wait.

After all the walking in the sun there was only one thing to do.

We stopped in at Peaddar O’Donnall’s for a drink and to listen to the old men at the end of the bar talk about what a good movie The Mighty Ducks was.

I had to photograph the place below. We didn’t eat there but I enjoyed their scattergun approach to punctuation.

Another photo of Northern Irish library architecture. It looks like a very defensible structure.

Before heading to the Airbnb we walked to the Free Derry area to have a look at the murals.

The old style, then the new below.

Our Airbnb was back over the peace bridge in the newer part of town.

After going through this door we had to let ourselves out the back door into a grim alley then down to a little apartment that was sparse but felt pretty new and was clean.

Plus they left us bread, butter and everything for tea and coffee so we were set. Back to the pub.

There were a bunch of pubs in a row so of course we went back to the same one we were at before. We had an hour to kill before dinner at Mekong, Derry’s top rated restaurant.

An unprepossessing exterior but the food was unreal. We ordered a range of smaller plates to share.

Vermicelli spring rolls, beef laarb balls, spicy sticky chicken wings, pork belly and glass noodle salad

The flavours were amazingly fresh and rich, with each dish having a unique taste but all tasting very Vietnamese. It was really hard to pick a favourite.

Dessert was a mandarin crème brûlée with ginger biscuit, which we used to dip in the brûlée and then crumbled over the top. I had a very sad moment at the end when I realised I’d probably never eat here again. We both agreed it was one of the top five meals we’d had on this trip.

In the morning we started with a morning walk through St Columb’s park. It was a nice big green space with just one creepy statue.

There were Columb-related statues and other things to look at in the park.

After a walk through town we went to the Free Derry Museum. Before entering I knew very little about Bloody Sunday but the museum was extremely informative and had artifacts from the day, footage and recordings.

If you go take a box of tissues, it’s tragic on so many levels and really makes you sympathise with the people of Derry.

On our way to the station we bought some fancy biscuits from this very instagramable shop then forgot to eat them.

We saw some fancy cars on the way.

Back over the Peace Bridge and to the station.

On the way home we got off the train at Castlerock, a little seaside town. We had a slightly underwhelming lunch at a local bar but the staff were very friendly.

Not as friendly as local character Ronnie, who wandered over as we finished eating and told us about basking sharks, how he had dropped his cornflakes on the floor that morning, and swimming in Greece. Having an extremely thick accent meant he was quite hard to understand but we concentrated very hard and seemed to make all the right noises.

We had a nice walk along the beach in the warm, windy weather and stopped to take a few photos before heading back to the station.

The trip back to Belfast was largely uneventful apart from the train running a bit late.

The weekend just gone has been very busy so this has been my most delayed post of the trip! We’ve done a few things over the weekend so I’ll to to finish everything off before leaving London. Only a couple of sleeps until we are home!

18Jun2023

Hallstatt

by Miss Penny Black

Our trip to Hallstatt was supposed to be two trains then a short ferry ride. When we got to Salzburg train station our first train had been cancelled.

How annoying.

Luke managed to work out which train and platform we needed to get to and soon we were on our way.

The countryside between Salzburg and Hallstatt is supposedly Austria’s Lake District – not such huge mountains as the Alps and lots of lakes and rivers between gentle green hills.

It was indeed green but it’s no Cumbria;-)

The trains weren’t very crowded, although we managed to sit right by a woman who talked loudly and non-stop for the whole first half of the journey.

On the second train trip we had a bunch of teenage girls sit at the table across the aisle and they managed to be quieter than the woman on the previous train.

After a couple of hours we reached the ferry landing. It’s possible to get to Hallstatt by bus and road but it’s more fun to go by train then take the short ferry ride over.

It also provides a water view of this fairytale-like hamlet.

We were very lucky with the weather too.

We had booked one night at a lovely hotel called the Seehotel Grüner Baum, right on the waterfront. It was our one really fancy hotel for the trip (well, that we’d planned in advance) and so we were really looking forward to it.

The view from the water is lovely and very quiet but when you get off the ferry the number of tourists is quite astonishing.

Fortunately our hotel was right by the ferry landing and on the waterfront so we went down to their restaurant area and had a drink in the shade.

We had a cocktail called a Hugo, apparently popular in this region.

We spent a couple of hours waiting for the crowds to die down a bit – not a hardship with this view!

Then we took a walk through town. The square outside the hotel was extremely picturesque.

The front of the hotel is the orange building on the right.

Many of the building were covered with stunning climbing roses.

After a walk around town, down some of the back alleys and along the main street, we checked into our room at precisely 3pm, very keen for a shower and change of clothes.

A lovely bathroom but the shortest shower screen I’ve ever seen, water went everywhere.

The view from our balcony was pretty spectacular

Refreshed, we walked to the viewing point which is crowded all day. We got there at about 5:30pm when it was relatively quiet.

If you’ve only seen one picture of Hallstatt, it’ll be something like this.

We walked back through the graveyard, where graves are rented for a few years at a time. If no one pays you get dug up and your skull moved to the charnel house. The graves were probably the best-maintained I’ve ever seen.

All had very neat and colourful flower gardens on top.

There are two churches in the centre of the village, the one higher up offers an excellent view from the path around the outside.

We had a drink before dinner and soaked up the peace and quiet of the lake, while at the same time watching the staff of the hotel work with the constant flow of tourists wandering in without bookings and expecting a table. Also we noticed a cat had been asleep in a palm pot the whole time we had been sitting right by it.

I had fish caught from the lake for my dinner. There are only two people licenced to fish from the lake to protect their stocks, which is reassuring, what with the complete disregard for fish numbers in most other places. I know the risotto doesn’t look amazing but it was delicious!

Luke had the pork, which looked much more appetising.

We asked if we could take a bottle of Prosecco and our desserts up to our balcony and were told ‘you can take whatever you want!’ So we did.

Our balcony neighbours were all out but being very quiet, and so were we, except for when I took the cage off the Prosecco and let it sit and then the cork popped all by itself, making us both jump.

Goodnight, Hallstatt!

15Jun2023

Eurobike Tour: Day 6: Imst to Innsbruck

by Miss Penny Black

I’ve taken a lot more photos of tractors than I anticipated. I didn’t even mean to take this one, it just rolled into the shot.

Today was going to be our longest day yet (65km) and initially I’d been dreading it as the road surfaces of the first few days had been steep and gravel. However, yesterday was mostly asphalt and it seemed like the closer we got to Innsbruck, the better the road would be. Being well stocked with medication to combat itchy eyes made me feel more confident too. If I can be indelicate, the previous day had also not been quite as torturous in the seat, so that was a bonus too.

After a massive ten hours of sleep (for me anyway) we got down to breakfast at about 7am. Breakfast at this hotel started at 6:30am, the previous hotel was 8am. There really should be a standardisation of breakfast hours in hotels and when I am elected president of the world it will be one of my first ten new laws*.

Jane and Rutherford sat next to us at breakfast and I am proud to say I won the wordle challenge for the day (fastest *and* fewest guesses). I forgot to post the photo I took of the four of us the previous day so here it is.

Right after our guardian angels pointed us to the nearest pharmacy.

This hotel had champagne on offer with the breakfast buffet but since 90% of the clientele were about to mount up for a day of cycling, I can’t imagine much of it was drunk.

Farewell, Hotel Neuner, your meals were excellent and not eye-wateringly priced.

Our hotel was right by the bike trail and so it was a matter of moments to be on our bikes and heading out of town. There were a few short, steep hills to begin with, then a lovely section of dappled forest riding.

The majority of the day was spent going between 20 and 35kph and so we made it to Innsbruck a bit before 3pm. Here’s a few sights from the trail.

We rode alongside this river most of the day.

A small herd of cows blocked the road and we looked at them for a short while until a guy on a bike came towards them from the other direction and shouted at them and pushed them out of the way. Not a tactic I would’ve tried!

The valley floor was very flat and mostly farmland.

While he loved the forest sections and some of the farmland with all its vegetation, Luke said it was the most boring day, scenery-wise. I felt it was a relief not to have a sheer drop right next to me at any point.

Luke stopped by Innsbruck airport but sadly no planes flew low overhead. Behind us was the local beach – giant pebbles and freezing cold water.

We stopped in Innsbruck to check how far away our hotel was and it just so happened to be right across the road from the point at which we’d stopped. The tour app directs you to the middle of town and we hadn’t thought about precisely where the hotel was. Lucky we checked!

The hotel is called ‘Rufi’s’ which doesn’t translate well into English. The guy at the front desk was lovely and we put away our bikes then availed ourselves of our complementary drinks.

So there you go, we finished our bike tour from St Moritz to Innsbruck. Approximately 250km across two countries. The route had been rated ‘moderate’ but we’d thought that having e-bikes would compensate for our lack of fitness or experience. Although we made it, I wouldn’t recommend this strategy to anyone else! It was more mentally draining than physically problematic for me, I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so scary – although the worst part was the detour on day 3.

In summary!

The best bits were:

The views

The weather

The public pool/spa at Zernez

The local food

The very polite and patient drivers in Austria and Switzerland

The decent route signage

The excellent roadside amenities, in particular the frequent public fountains with pure spring drinking water

The worst aspects were:

The bikes were for city riding, not gravel, the tyres were awful for the conditions

The complete lack of support from Eurobikes and the fact that ‘the natural adventure company’ was just another name for a company we’d actively been trying to avoid

The way hotels did not cater for warm nights by offering a sheet or light blanket, let alone a fan or aircon

The flies – they are everywhere, including indoors

The atrocious smell of manure for about 50% of the ride

The poor performance of the two apps and that day 5 on the app did not allow any route guidance

So, how much did it cost? The seven nights of accommodation plus breakfast, e-bike hire and bag transfers was $5,422K AUD for both of us. Most of the hotels were around $300 to $400 a night ($350×7 = $2450). We paid extra for electric bikes but I shudder to think what the trip would’ve been like without them.

While it is a lot for a week’s travel, this is a very expensive part of the world and the views are tremendous. The entire route has views of snow-capped jagged mountains and fields of flowers. The most scenic part was day 4, between Ardez and Ftan. A cheaper and easier way to enjoy the sights would be to use the local bus system to get about and walk between some of the most picturesque places.

We saved a bit of money by eating large breakfasts, skipping lunch and buying most of our snacks from the supermarket.

We ate our way through several packets of these biscuits over the course of the week.

Anyhow, on to a relaxing day in Innsbruck before catching the train to Hallstatt!

* I’m having a really hard time deciding on my other nine but they will definitely include a standardisation of electrical sockets and better pillows for Europeans.