Margaret River By 2.00pm on Friday 4th August, I was out of the office and on the road to Margaret River. http://www.margaretriver.com/visitmargaretriver.asp Margaret River is located about a 3 hour drive south of Perth. The area is famous for its beautiful beaches, white sand, caves, whales, wine, chocolate and cheese. Fantastic for the likes of three lovely ladies, Fiona, Debs and myself; whilst Ali, Debs chap, was delighted by the sight of brewery's on the map. After 1 speeding ticket of $100 and a 1 point fine (not me thank goodness), we made it safely to Yallingup Beach Holiday Park. Surprisingly, our cabin was quaint and had fantastic sea views, so much so, the 7ft waves were nearly crashing through the doors. Check it out at: www.yallingupbeach.com.au/pages/accommodation.htm We were quick to find the local pub, which, as we later found out, turned out to be at the bottom of a local ghost trail. No matter, as I sure we would be protected by the kangaroos perched on the grassy area. We ate a divine dinner, which set us up for a game of pool, a few bevvies and good ol' chat with the locals. Funny that issues are the same the world over fuel prices, energy resources and house prices. During our whistle stop tour of the south-west, we made it to the infamous Margaret River mouth, where the waves are very big, the water is shallow (a reef break), the blows a gale and surfers and windsurfers meet. The stormy waters kept the surfers out, but the crazy weather just made the coastline more alive. Just stunning! Margaret River town is set inland of the river mouth. It is full of surfing shops and cafes - we ate well at the Urban Bean and collected rations for dinner. Now, we were set up to go wine tasting! Wine tasting involves going to what is called the cellar door of a winery. Here, there is a bar, with all the wines produced by that specific vineyard. Each winery has a tasting note (or list) of the wines they produce, and often specify them in the order that you should taste them, e.g. bubbles before whites before reds, drys before sweets, unoaked before oaked, Semillons before Chardonnays. The vineyard produces wines that you can find in the shops, but also premiers and wines only produced that year and available at the cellar door. We tried a red that should be kept until 2024, but already tasted pretty good today. To taste a wine, you simply asked for the wine that you would like to try and discuss the qualities with the assistance behind the bar. They are often involved in producing the wine, so are full of lots of interesting knowledge. We visited four wineries, each of them very different. Ranging from stylish, to posh, to more 'hillbilly style'. They included Vasse Felix, Grayland, Moss Brothers and L? (something). I am sure I was feeling the effects by then. Of the four wineries we visited, Vasse Felix was my preferred. Not only was it the first commercial vineyard and winery to be established in the Margaret River region, the staff were very friendly and helpful and their wines, superb! I would highly recommend the: 2005 Cane Cut Semillion/2005 Semillion 2003 Cabernet Merlot Managing to stay awake for the evening, we cooked a vegetable curry with tofu (I was with vegetarians), drank more wine, played 'S**t Head' (a favourite on the travelling circuit) and 'Guess the Celebrity', which involved having the name of a celebrity stuck on your head, whose you do not know. You must guess who it is by asking questions, but you are only given yes and no answers. Mine was Kiera Knightly. On Sunday, we were up and 'at-them'. We visited the Nigili Cave, according to an aboriginal story, the caves was nearly doomed by an evil spirit, but just in the nick of time, it was saved by a good one. Inside the caves were lots of stunning limestone stalagmites and stalactites! We lunched at a brewery, and Ali tried chilli and strawberry beer. The highlight was a round pool table, with a central pocket just to spice things up. It was great fun. The afternoon was spent driving around the beautiful Cape Leeuwin (in an attempt to spot whales), visiting Dunsborough and Busselton Jetty, the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere. Love Em x