16 Feb : Dunsborough / Margaret River Area

+Jill and I "slept in" thankfully as Dylan went out early to the beach although we missed the sunrise. Sleep was needed. Jill got in a quick run along Geographe Bay. After everyone got some breakfast, we headed to the coffee shop and to a gallery by a local photographer. Great stuff to see there.

Our first stop in the Margaret River WINE region - well known for Bordeaux varietals - was ..... the Chocolate Factory! It's not truly all my fault really. I'm not complaining though. It was good - they make lots of stuff. I only picked up 3 small things to eat soon - it was hot. Melting chocolate is bad.

On the grass lawn at the factory, we played some baseball. We then headed to Sandalford right down the road. I'm pretty sure no one had anything memorable to taste there although none of us paid for the high end stuff to taste. Then we went out on their lawn and the Americans learned to play some "footy" - Aussie Rules Football.

After this it was tasting and lunch at Cullen. The person pouring for us knew his stuff so we were well taken care of there. The wines were good and the food was fresh and excellent. They have bee hives on the property to help plant pollination so the menu has some wonderful stuff incorporating honey or honeycomb that is so fresh and tasty.

At Cullen, we played a little soccer - Dylan has started associating wine tasting with sport. 

After this, we parted ways for the afternoon. Jill and I went for more tastings while Andrew, Fiona, and Dylan went back to Dunsborough beach. We went to Evans & Tate, which was ok and the 10 year old tawny port was good enough that I bought a bottle.

We then went across the road to Moss Wood for our only appointment of the day. Alex gave us a fabulous and informative tour where we tasted several barrel samples. Everything we tasted was good. Definitely winery of the day. We bought a cab to have for dinner in the coming week.

We headed back to the cottage in Dunsborough so I could swim. It turns out that a tiger shark has been roaming and spotted in the area and people are walking in the very shallow waters but not swimming. I walked out about 200 meters or so where the underwater plants start growing and then swam toward short until I simply couldn't perform an underwater pull without hitting too much sand.

The evening was capped with a great home cooked meal: steaks, salad, rice mixture, etc. Nice day overall.