Remember when you came back to school after that long summer break, and the teacher would ask each of the kids to write a story about what they did on their holidays ? I’d sit there for ages trying to think of good things to say, and ways to impress my fellow 7 year olds with insightful remarks and meaningful events, when I had actually been sitting in my room for 2 months making lego men go to war in space.
These days I’m greatly relieved to discover that the essence of a good holiday is no longer eating as many hot dogs as possible before throwing up on a roller coaster. So our meanderings in the wonderful South West of Western Australia (Augusta and Margaret River to be precise), were just the ticket to ease our way into summer with a little wine, a lot of food, and as minimal exercise as possible.
So in bullet form, the major highlights of the holiday season were:
– Eating too much food on Christmas Day
– Drinking too much wine on Christmas Day
– Cutting half my thumbnail off while chopping vegetables after drinking too much on Christmas Day
– Settling into our new apartment in Northbridge
– Playing Wii !
– Having a low key NYE will Charles Melton Rose and blue cheese
– Going down to Augusta/Margaret River on New Years Day
– Visiting many wineries including Leeuwin Estate, Cape Mentelle, Cullen, Howard Park, Rockfield, Vasse Felix, Moss Wood, Voyager, Woody Nook, and a bunch of others I’m sure I’m forgetting
– Roaming through the caves along Caves Rd, specifically the self guiding Giants Cave
– Cooking coq au vin for 10 people
– Cooking backstrap of venison for 7 people
– Watching kangaroos fight in the paddock outside our holiday house
– Driving back to Perth the long way through Yallingup and Dunsborough
– Stopping for lunch at the ever delicious Lamonts
– Having a swim at Mellup Beach.
– Chilling out at “Summer Daze” and trying to forget that I had to go back to work on Monday.
I hope all of your holidays were great too :)
Matt,
Sounds like an excellent holiday. I spent last New Years in Dunsborough and it’s liberating spending each day close to the beach and close to great food and wine.
Hope your thumb is ok now!
Hey Edward,
It was excellent indeed. More than a few decent of bottles of wine to come home with also helps :) Thumb is healing quite well thanks… thank god for fingernails or I’d be less half a thumb now :)
That looks like a pretty perfect kind of holiday to me!
We just arrived back up here from our own Southern adventure yesterday. Glad to hear you got around to some of the wineries I missed! It is a great place to be when the Perth weather is hot.
Thanks Mc Forkful, though I’m not sure I’d recommend lopping fingernails off.
Grendel, sounds like you had a great time as well. I must admit I was remiss in checking out the South West coffee scene… but the wine made up for it :)