Gourmet tour of Margaret River region

10th September 2014

We had a lovely quiet night in the national park, practically had the place to ourselves.
We were a bit cold in the evening though as unable to run a heater [on battery power only], so we were in bed by 8:30!

John was expecting bad weather today so he decided to book us onto a full day wine tasting/ gourmet tour.  As it is, it turned out to be a lovely day, no rain and mostly sunshine.

The tour started with a visit to a specialist coffee company for tastings.  They grind coffee beans from small plantations around the world and also from the only two places in Australia where coffee is grown, Mareeba in far north Queensland and Nimbin in NSW.

After this we took in 4 wineries [two in the morning and two in the afternoon].  This was about two too many!  The Margaret River region does not produce a lot of wine but is well known for quality and the small vineyards often take out top international awards.

Terrace at Leeuwin Estate restaurant

First stop was Leeuwin Estate which is one we had heard of.  The grounds are beautiful and an annual musical concert is held here in the summer with well known international
performers. There are usually about 6,000 attendees.

An enjoyable and large lunch was laid on in a boutique brewery, including  a choice of one of their brews.  Then, in the afternoon we visited an olive oil producer, a cheese factory and a chocolate factory.  So we did get a real feel for the local produce and a scenic tour of the very attractive area which is a mixture of horticulture, dairy farming and forest.