Shoot First Eat Later

Margaret River Day 5 – Part 3 Woody Nook Wines, Yahava Koffee Works, Melting Pot Glass Studio

The nice lady at Wonky Windmill Farm suggest we have lunch at Woody Nook Wines.

We were amazed at all the business cards stuck on their walls. There were cards from all over the world.

There was even money from different countries on the wall. I had my wallet out looking for Philippine peso to stick on the wall but we saw someone already beat us to it.

Woody Nook’s Nookery Cafe Menu

The soup wasn’t very good. It had a fishy smell and taste.

seafood chowder A$12

kids’s meal – chicken fingers & fries

The steak sandwich was saved by the cheddar cheese and the chutney. The steak itself was very bland.

open msa sirloin steak sandwich A$24
on toasted garlic bread w/ woody nook chutney
cheddar cheese & potato wedges

The taste plate below had several delicious things on it. We loved the venison chorizo and the cheese stuffed red pepper. There was also smoked salmon rolls and pate.

woody nook taste plate for two A$37

more outdoor seating

Chris took this nice pic

Next we headed to Yahava KoffeeWorks for some coffee tasting. Australia doesn’t grow coffee beans. All the beans were imported from around the world and roasted at Yahava.

We can try 3 types of coffee each. Just enough coffee after lunch.

They sold all kinds of coffee cups and accessories.

We went back to Margaret River early. It was the first time we had a chance to walk around town while the stores were still open. We went to the Melting Pot glass studio to watch a demo of glass blowing.

As luck would have it we just missed the demonstration. Gerry took pity on us and gave us a mini demo.

This gas furnace is left open 24 hours a day.

Some of Gerry Reilly’s glass works.

I loved this glass door chime.

This was our last night in Margaret River so we had to finish everything in the refrigerator. We had this A$1 bag of mixed greens to which we added sliced kiwi, vintage cheddar cheese and balsamic vinegar dressing for our dinner salad.

Hokkien noodles from Chow A$11.50

cheese & dried figs, salad, noodles and taramosalata

that’s a perfect soft boiled egg!

This is our favorite discovery from Coles. It’s a Greek fish roe spread called taramosalata. It’s salty and creamy with the consistensy of sour cream. It’s colored pink. It’s great with bread or crackers.

We’re fooling around in bed trying to take a self portrait. We’re quite sad to leave Margaret River.

Woody Nook Wines
506 Metricup Road
Wilyabrup WA 6280
telephone: +61 8 97557547

Yahava KoffeeWorks
213 Carter Rd, Willyabrup
PO Box 109, Vasse, WA 6280
telephone: +61 8 9755 7665

Melting Pot Glass Studio
91 Bussell Hwy, PO Box 265
Margaret River 6285 WA
telephone: +61 8 97572252

Margaret River Day 5 – Part 2 Shearing Shed & Wonky Windmill Farm

After Country Life Farm we went to Shearing Shed to catch the live show. We arrived late and missed seeing the shearing of the sheep, sheepdogs in action mustering and working the sheep and bottle feeding the baby lambs. Show times are only at 11:00 am and we arrived ten minutes after.

Even if we missed the show the owners of the store gave P a bag of food to feed the sheep.

More animals please. Our next stop was Wonky Windmill Farm. We didn’t know what to expect since we just saw this on a brochure and decided to go there at the last minute since it was near the Shearing Shed.

Only Rochelle and her son P went on this animal petting expedition. After paying the fee they were given a small bag of food for the animals. It was a tiny paper bag filled with some veggies. It wasn’t enough unlike the pails of carrots we were given at Country Life Farm.

Chris and I stayed in the store and tried out the jams, olive oils, vinegars and dukkah.

giant bush of rosemary

Rochelle said there were more kinds of animals here and the place was more organized. But the animals were more shy of humans. Maybe because this place was new.

Yallingup Shearing Shed

Lot 115 Wildwood Road, Yallingup
telephone: +61 9755 2309

Wonky Windmill Farm
218 Yelverton Nth Rd, Yelverton
Margaret River Wine Region
telephone: +61 9755 7201

Margaret River Day 5 – Part 1 Country Life Farm

Today is all for P, Rochelle’s son who had to suffer so many days of adult places. He loves animals so we went to Country Life Farm to pet some animals. I thought I would be bored but I really had fun.

We were provided with small pails of freshly cut carrots for feeding the animals. You can always ask for more if you run out.

There were several play areas around the farm like bouncy castles, row boat, bump cars, etc. but most were closed because it was a low season.

Chris feeding a joey or a baby kangaroo

P just loved the rabbits. He stayed here the whole time we were at the farm.

I on the other hand couldn’t wait to get out of there. The guinea pigs gave me the heebie jeebies when they flocked at my feet. They reminded me of rats. Somehow the guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens, birds all co-existed peacefully in the same enclosure.

The farm didn’t have many animals but they had one or two of each specie. I kept waiting for this peacock to open it’s tail but to no avail.

“honey look at those two, wink.. wink..”

bird 1, “stop moving”
bird 2, “get off me you louse!”

“hiya mate! my name is Joe”

I just like this pic

This is where Chris and I spent all our time. It was a hoot feeding the llamas and goat. I loved the goat. It had attitude. If we fed a llama beside him he’d headbutt the llama.

“Don’t stick your tongue out at me!”

“I fed you and you spit at me?
ungrateful llama!”
(click to see spit on jacket)

Shetland ponies

hmm matching grins 😛

“Let me at ’em!”

“I can reach it…streeetch”

“got it!”

“yeh baby”

I don’t know what animal this was but it reminded me of a mammoth. We tried to feed it but it wouldn’t come near us.

Country Life Farm
Caves Rd, Dunsborough
(towards, Yallingup)

Margaret River Day 4 – Part 3 Breweries & Natural Olive Oil Soap Factory, Chow

We saved the breweries for the end of the day. Actually we were following a geographical route and the 2 breweries were at the farthest end. When we still in Manila doing research on the places to go to in Margaret River we saw that one of the breweries had chocolate beer. That piqued our interest even though none of us were beer drinkers. Our first stop was Bootleg Brewery.

After checking out the menu and not finding the chocolate beer we just took some pics and left.

We went to Natural Olive Oil Soap Factory next. I just love this tree lined road leading to the soap factory.

The smell of the place was wonderful. All sorts of fruit and herb scents mingled in the air.

There were tables full of hand cut soaps for different skin needs and a huge variety of scents.

This is the area where they do the packaging for all their products.

They also have a food section selling dips, olives, olive oil and vinegar.

This was my favorite product. It looks simple enough to recreate at home. Hopefully my experiment will taste as good.

Vasse Virgin Macadamia Pesto

Bush Shack Brewery was really far and out of the way but we were hellbent on trying that elusive chocolate beer so we pursued our search. We finally found it inside a big compound where the Yallingup Forest resort and spa retreat was located.

I found this tree really fascinating. It was white and the bark was very smooth. I wonder what kind of tree it is.

click to see the amusing labels

click to see all the varieties of beer

The proprietor explaining that we can pick from the amber, dark and rtd (ready to drink) for our beer sampler.

yummy

Bush Shack Brewery menu

We had the pick it (5 x pony) for A$12.

The ones encircled are what we chose. The chocolate beer wasn’t really flavored beer. It just had an aroma of chocolate which I didn’t smell or taste. The Kick n Kole was our favorite because it tasted like caramel soda with a kick.

Rochelle wanted her son to try beer for the first time. She’s hoping he gets turned off by the taste forever and not drink when he grows up. Yeh right.

When we got back home I finally cooked the mushrooms we marinated the day before. With marinated portobellos you can grill, bake or even use a George Foreman grill to cook it. But since we didn’t want to clean more things I just pan fried it. Don’t forget to remove the stems before cooking. You can cook the stems separately.

Put the portobello in between bread, add some greens, mayonnaise, cheese if you want and you have a fabulous sandwich. You won’t miss meat with this hearty sandwich.

We also ordered some take out from Chow which was just below our apartment. Chow opens for take outs only from 5 to 9pm.

menu of Chow

We transferred the food from Chow’s take out boxes. As you can see from the picture the pat thai isn’t authentic. But P liked it anyway. I didn’t try it.

pat thai noodles A$16.50

The lamb was very, very tender and full of flavor.

chermoula lamb A$17
with tabbouleh, kasundi, hummus

The chicken was very good. We were amazed how they cooked such a thick chicken breast without drying it up. It was evenly cooked and delicious. The pasta was too creamy though. A few bites is more than enough.

chicken parmigiana A$17
w/ spaghetti carbonara

The chocolate mud was a giant dense and rich ganache like cake. It took us two days to finish it.

chocolate mud w/ buttercrunch A$10.5

Bootleg Brewery
Puzey Rd Wilyabrup

Margaret River, WA 6285
telephone: +61 8 9755 6300

The Natural Olive Oil Soap Factory
135 Puzey Rd Willyabrup
Margaret River, WA 6285
telephone: +61 8 97556111

Bush Shack Brewery
Lot 3 Hemsley Road
Yallingup WA 6282
telephone: +61 8 9755 2848

Chow Cuisine To Go
Shop 3, 21 Fearn Ave,
Margaret River, WA 6285
telephone: +61 8 9757 9000

Margaret River Day 4 – Part 2 Vasse Felix, Cape Lavender, Olio Belo

After a morning of sampling candies and nuts we were hungry for real food. Most of the guides we read said that Vasse Felix winery had very good food. So we went to check it out. The grounds were very beautiful but I couldn’t take any pictures because it was raining and the wind very gusty.

They posted this menu downstairs. It looked interesting but it didn’t have prices. So I went up to the dining area to look at the menu.

lunch menu w/o prices

The nice but empty dining area. The prices were beyond our budget. Appetizers started at A$14-35, main course A$29-39. We decided to go elsewhere.

I was tempted to just stand beside this fireplace because I was freezing.

In the ground floor they had this big room that served as a gallery for aboriginal art. Here are some of the beautiful paintings. These were huge.

Our next stop was Cape Lavender. Upon entering the gate the smell of lavender assaulted our senses. There were different varieties of lavender planted all over the place. I loved the smell. I wanted to just lie down in the middle of the grass and snooze.

These lavender in pots were for sale.

lavender bath and body products

samples of jams & honey made w/ lavender

We passed on lunch at Cape Lavender too. They served cold platters for lunch. We wanted something hot!

dining room

The dessert looked tempting though.

We finally had lunch at Olio Bello a store specializing in olive oil. They also sell bath and body products made with olive oil.

sampling of so many kinds of olive oil

dukkah samples

olio bello menu

We all shared the soup, pasta and dessert. Other than being cheap the servings were really big.

The soup was rich and yummy. It tasted almost like tomato sauce.

tomato soup A$12.95

olive bread served w/ the soup

The pasta was bland and not that good. I asked for more cheese and they gave me a bowl full of shaved parmesan. Now the pasta is good.

kurunba pasta A$18.50
dukkah coated free range chicken, rocket,
pine nuts, sage, onion, olives drizzled w/
kurunba oil & topped w/ parmesan

This is the best dessert we’ve eaten during the whole trip. After 1 bite we immediately stood up to buy another slice for take out. The unusual combination of rosemary and lemon oil in a cake was just out of this world. Rosemary is a pungent herb not normally associated with dessert. But in this cake it acts as a contrast to make the lemon flavor jump out. The use of the olive oil made this cake so moist while retaining a grainy texture from the finely chopped almonds.

rosemary & lemon oil cake A$4.95

To this day we dream of going back just to eat this cake again.

How good was it? Ask Rochelle.

After lunch we asked Margie the gps where was the nearest gas station. She led us to a scenic route passing this gorgeous beach to an old 1 pump gas station.

We asked the guy inside the store to help us fill up but he laughed and said we can do it. The pump was an antique and it was so slow in delivering the gas. We were freezing by the time we finished.

Vasse Felix
Cnr Caves Rd & Harmans Rd South
Cowaramup, WA 6284

Cape LavenderCarter Road (off Metricup Road)
Wilyabrup, Margaret River
telephone: +61 8 9755 7552

Olio Bello
Lot 1 Armstrong Rd Cowaramup,
Western Australia
Toll Free 1800 982 170
telephone: +61 8 9755 9771

Margaret River Day 4 – Part 1 Wild Thyme, Candy Cow, Margaret Riviera, MR Nuts & Cereals

No caves today. Yehey! We started with breakfast at Wild Thyme Gourmet. Just like Blue Ginger everything was pre-cooked already. The display looks good and it took us a long time to choose what to eat.

pies, pies, pies

Overall the food was mediocre. Maybe we ordered the wrong thing?

kids full breakfast A$8.50
baked beans on toast w/ bacon, egg & chipolata

cottage pie A$6.50
beef with mashed potato topping

This tuna pie was the yummiest. It was creamy and the crust was flaky.

tuna asparagus pie A$6.50

They should call the smoked salmon fritatta squash fritata instead. There was very little smoked salmon and lots and lots of squash. It was a bit strange eating squash and eggs. It was a big disappointment.

smoked salmon fritatta A$13.50

cappuccino A$4

hot chocolate A$4.50

Next we went to Candy Cow which was on the list of kids attractions in Margaret River.

Free tasting of so many flavors of fudge

more fudge

Next door is Margaret Riviera, a food and gift shop selling all items made in Margaret River. It’s a one stop shop if you don’t have time to go around all the olive oil, cheese and soap shops or wineries.

wall of olive oil and vinegar

cheese selection

A short drive later we arrived at Margaret Nuts and Cereals another stop in the kids attractions.

pack your own muesli

packaged nuts

The proprietor was a funny guy. We noticed that people around here were very nice and funny. It must be from their relaxed way of life. They must be getting lots of sleep. Almost all the stores and tourist attractions close at 4 pm that’s why we always start early to cover as much places as we can.

more free samples

chocolate covered ginger, nuts

Wild Thyme Gourmet
72 Willmott Avenue Margaret River
telephone +61 8 9757 2237′

Candy Cow
Shop 3, Botterill Street
Cowaramup, W.A. 6284
Telephone: +61 8 9755 9155

Margaret River Nuts and Cereals
Loc 304 Harmans Mill Road
telephone +61 0428466280

Margaret River Day 3 – Part 2 Lake Cave, The Berry Farm, Blue Ginger

I must be a sucker for pain and suffering. After Jewel cave we went to Lake cave. The good thing is no one told me how many steps there are in each cave. If they did I wouldn’t have punished my arthritic knees!

Lake cave is the most beautiful and most painful. To go down to the cave I had to walk freakin 350 steps down the flight of stairs surrounded by gorgeous foliage. And that was going down. Wait til you read about my journey going up!

Lake Cave is widely renowned for its treasured formation, the “Suspended Table”. The “table” a massive column of calcite weighing in excess of five tonnes that seems to hang precariously from the ceiling, defying gravity and hovering just a few centimetres above the lake.

look at the reflection in the water

When the guide asked us what we saw in the picture below (right side within the lighted area) I immediately replied, “Hayden & Katrina!” I was right. (only Filipino readers will get that joke)

(click to enlarge if you don’t believe me)

We sat down and watched a light show spotlighting all the points of interest in the cave while the guide gave a narration.

The good thing about the journey up is there are several platforms with benches for resting. Boy did I use all of them. I pretended to sit and enjoy the view while my lungs caught up with my mouth which was gasping air like a goldfish out of water. The great wall of China had nothing on these steps! Hello? 350 steps up!

that’s me taking a nap at the halfway point
before i had to crawl up the rest of the way

While I rested I took a picture of the next batch of tourists about to take the tour. Now I know why the tour guide waited below for the tourists.

After that cardio workout that would have brought my trainer to weep tears of joy, we sought nourishment. But alas the coffee shop in the Berry farm was closed so we went to their store and gorged on the free samples.

The peach & vanilla butter was the best thing in the store. All 3 of us bought it. We also tried dukkah for the first time. Dukkah is a dry mixture of chopped nuts, seeds and spices and flavors. Dukkah is eaten by dipping bread first into olive oil and then into the nut mixture. Almost all the stores we went to had their own version of the dukkah. It’s a very good addition to bread and olive oil.

assortment of jams

wine tasting available too

We had early dinner at Blue Ginger fine foods at 4:30 pm since we skipped lunch. Blue Ginger is a cafe, deli and store selling specialty foods.

All of the food on the menu were already pre-made and just reheated when someone orders.

We were hesitant to order this chicken and coconut rice but it’s a good thing we did. It was so good! The rice was similar to risotto and there was a strong coconut and lime flavor. There was plenty of chicken chunks and onion slices.

Thai chicken & coconut rice A$15

Ploughman’s soup is a thick and hearty soup made with cheese and bacon. It was just what we needed to warm us from the cold, wet weather.

ploughman’s soup w/ crusty bread A$9

Paninis made with Turkish bread is another staple available in almost all the places we went to. This was a very flavorful and filling sandwich.

roast beef, tomato pesto, tomato, lettuce,
feta cheese, turkish bread A$11

The lasagna was very dry and almost bereft of any sauce but it was still good and chewy. Maybe we were just so hungry everything tasted good.

beef & lamb lasagna w/ garden salad A$15

When we got back to the apartment Chris & I went to Coles and bought the ingredients we needed to make marinated portobello mushrooms for dinner the next day.

We chose the smallest and cheapest balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Despite being the cheapest it was both excellent. The balsamic vinegar was thick and very sweet while the evoo was very light and fruity.

Mix 3 parts olive oil with 1 part balsamic vinegar. Add salt, pepper and fresh rosemary. We picked the rosemary from the Fermoy estate. shhhhh…

Pour marinade over the mushrooms, cover with a paper towel and keep in the refrigerator overnight or at least 3 hours.

After all that hard work we had some drinks and potato chips. Berry Fusion is from the Margaret River Beverage Co. which we weren’t able to visit due to lack of time. Their products are available everywhere.

Our favorite potato chips! We developed a deep love for anything rosemary on this trip. You’ll see why in the next few days. It definitely started with these potato chips.

I conked out at 8:00 pm.

The Berry Farm
222 Bessell Road, Margaret River
telephone: +61 8 9757 5054

Blue Ginger Fine Foods
31 Station Road. Margaret River, WA 6285
telephone: +61 8 9758 7619

Margaret River Day 3 – Part 1 Sea Gardens, Jewel Cave

Day 3 starts off with the best breakfast we’ve had in Australia. It was a short drive from MR to Prevelly where Sea Gardens restaurant was located.

view from the restaurant

the beach looks so near

The brekkie (breakfast in Aussie) wasn’t cheap but it sure was good and unique. We ordered 3 entrees and split it among the 4 of us. I loved having fresh mushrooms for breakfast. It’s so un-Filipino breakfast food. I wish we could have it here but fresh button mushroom costs about US$11-15 per kilo in Manila. Unbelievable huh? Forget about Portabello mushrooms. That costs double if you can find it. I just had to rant about mushrooms.

Bombie – free range fried eggs, crispy bacon,
sausage, mushrooms, tomato on toast A$20

another view of the Bombie

My favorite was the Mediterranean brekkie below. It’s the healthiest too.

Mediterranean – ciabatta toast w/ roasted tomato,
spinach, mushroom, goat curd, pesto w/
poached free range eggs A$19.50

Eggs Benedict – ciabatta toast, smoked salmon,
poached free range eggs, asparagus &
hollandaise sauce A$19

It’s good we had a heavy and hearty breakfast because we went to 2 caves where lots of stair climbing was involved. Need the energy!

Our first stop was Jewel cave. We bought a Grand Tour Pass (Jewel, Lake & Mammoth Caves) Adult A$45 Child A$22.

Very little can be found about the caves is Western Australia and I forgot most of what the guide said. I was too busy taking pictures. So I copied the text below from here. All I remember was there was sooooooo many stairs going up! I didn’t mind the going down part since we’d stop often to look at stalactites while the tour guide would explain how it was formed. But on the way up it was quite challenging. If I remember right there was a total of 300 steps round trip.

Jewel Cave is Western Australia’s largest show cave and is home to one of the longest straw stalactites found in any tourist cave in the world.

entrance to the cave

The caverns of Jewel Cave sink to a depth of 42 metres and stretch 1.9 kilometres long. Your guide will take you on an incredible and informative journey following 700 meters of walkways and stairs through several large caverns.

Inside the cave you will be bewildered by the colossal formations. The first descent takes you down a long, narrow tunnel which opens into a giant cavern. Jewel Cave creates the sensation of being under the ocean without the water. It has a soft golden glow and the sheer magnitude of its structure dwarfs its visitors.

Jewel Cave is home to many impressive formations. Soon after entering the cave you will see it its most famous formation, the straw stalactite that hangs delicately 5.4 metres from the ceiling. Your imagination will come alive in this cave – try to spot the organ pipes, giant shawl, friendly ghost, Jedi and the jewellery box.

at the 1st landing

Locals knew about the cave for many decades but it wasn’t properly explored until 1958 when two intrepid explorers, Lex Bastian and Lloyd Robinson, were brave enough to discover its depths. The following year, Jewel Cave was opened to the public and become an iconic tourism attraction.

Jewel Cave has revealed many surprises over the years, including the remains of a Thylacine, which is now safely stored by the Western Australian Museum.

very low clearance

Sea Garden Cafe
9 Mitchell Drive
Prevelly WA 6285
Australia
telephone: +61 8 9757 3074

Margaret River Day 2 – Bushtucker Tour Part 3

Fermoy Estate was the last winery we went to.

This winery reminded us of a French chateau.

I don’t know what animals these are but they were running around the grounds.

the ‘whites’

the ‘reds’

We were more interested in the fragrant lavender bush right outside the window.

Of all the beautiful places we went to the last place was my favorite in terms of design and architecture. The Duckstein brewery and Saracen Estates are combined in one gorgeous, modern building. The minute we stepped foot on the pathway and walked in and saw the interiors and the view of the river it was evident the US$20 million investment in the place was well spent.

beer menu

beer sampler

This is the area of Saracen Estates. We didn’t have enough time to try any wine there so we just stayed in the brewery section.

We didn’t have beer but we shared dessert and a cappuccino. Both were yummy!

flourless chocolate cake w/ raspberries

When Silvano dropped us off at the apartment he handed us our purchases. We laughed out loud when we saw what he wrote on the bags filled with liqueur from the Grove vineyard. A perfect end to a fun day.

For dinner we went to Settlers Tavern. It’s the only place with free wifi in Margaret River that we found. The food was reasonably priced and very good.

French lamb cutlets w/ mashed potatoes A$26

Tav burger w/ giant slice of beetroot A$10

fish & chips A$16

That’s the end of day 2 in Margaret River. I recommend anyone visiting MR to take the bushtucker tour so you can drink all the wine samples you want without having to worry about driving.

Part 1
Part 2

Settlers Tavern
114 Bussell Hwy
Margaret River WA 6285,
Australia
telephone: +61 8 9757 2398

Margaret River Day 2 – Bushtucker Tour Part 2

After lunch we proceeded to the Grove vineyard. In this vineyard we tasted liqueurs and port. This was our favorite in the whole tour. They timed this visit very well because the tastings of the liqueurs served as our dessert after lunch.

I guess the distillery is part of the vineyard? We didn’t see any wines. Maybe it’s in another area.

their resident ‘faux’ alligator

assorted vodkas

We loved all the liqueurs because most of them were served with double cream and it tasted more like dessert than alcohol. They did warn us that the alcohol content was higher than wine so were limited to 5 tastings and had to drink water after each tasting. I think that was just a ploy to rinse our glasses so it can be used again 😛

frozen raspberry liqueur

This white chocolate liqueur had a butterscotch taste and was totally yummy!

Here Silvano is topping the white chocolate liqueur with double cream.

Young Steve is the other reason we loved this place. He was hilarious. I kept taking pictures while he was talking so he kept giving me the EYE. At one point he even called me a tourist/terrorist.

He even put this closed sign in front of me! Even though I was treated that way we ended up buying several bottles of liqueurs. This is the only stop where we bought something.

types of liqueurs

We needed to let the alcohol go through our system so they gave us a break and brought us to the Margaret River Dairy Co. for cheese and yogurt tasting.

These cheeses and yogurt are commonly available in Coles and other food establishments. We didn’t buy any cheese here because we still had a lot from the other cheese store we went to.

After the cheese we went to the Margaret River Chocolate Company. We were excited to try the chocolates. So it was a letdown to see three big bowls of white, milk and dark chocolate chips as the only tasting. I bought a bar of dark chocolate orange. I haven’t opened it yet so I can’t report on what it tastes like.