Itchy Feet!

I was emailing someone the other day and the reply I got surprised me a little - I was told I had been a bit quiet! lol Maybe I haven't posted as much as when we were on the Eastern coast but then things have also slowed down here.
Evelyn came and I think had a really good time. I took her to some of the places that Mollie and I had already visited including Fremantle, Perth, Armadale, and Rockingham as well as a few places we hadn't. One place  I sort of stumbled upon was  Swan Valley which is nothing short of food heaven (2nd to Margaret River!) It's about an hour north east from Byford and is 30km or so of wineries, cheese places, a chocolate factory, a bee hive place which sold all sorts of different honey and candles and even more wineries. The land gives way to mainly farms and so most of them also sell watermelons, grapes, corn etc from the front of the house. The wineries (have I mentioned them?????) are in abundance!  We stopped in at one called Lancaster and you do literally pitch up, have a few tastings and then decide whether or not you want to buy any. There is no pressure if you don't. You just walk away and roll I mean walk on to the next which is 50m down the road. The travel companies do wine tours and you spend the afternoon walking from one to the next. I did a small tasting of a couple and then bought a couple of gorgeous bottles. BUT I wasn't too bothered as tomorrow Mollie and I are heading off on another wee road trip. I've got itchy feet to get on the road again and realloy to see some decent things you need to be able to do that. So, tomorrow we are heading off to Margaret River which has an abundance of wineries, the main chocolate factory of the Margaret River Chocolate company. there is also beaches in abundance, the Bussleton Jetty which is nearly a mile long (Seriously!! Google it) and lots of other stuff to do so here we go again on our mini adventure.
there is loads to do here but I'm now down to my final three weeks and finances are scraping the barrel so I have had to be select with where we go. I have booked a trip up to a place called Ningaloo Reef where the Whale Sharks come in to feed from March onwards. I'm really hoping that they will be there but the tour guide did say it can be in to April before they arrive. Watch this space. Mollie will just be so excited. She seems to be thriving on an appetite on anything to do with marine life. I did look at driving up to Exmouth but then thought better of it. Had this side of the country been on the first part of our journey no doubt I would have been driving to Broome or Darwin (not actually recommended by the way!) As daring as I am I'm not that daft and besides we are near the end of our trip and I don't fancy 15 hours on a dusty, dry road up north. Flights are booked and we head there in two weeks time.

Today was a lazy day down at Rockingham Beach which was packed with families which was lovely to watch. No jelly fish which made it even nicer. The families all gather down on the grassy area behind the beach with their eskies and picnic hampers and fold away chairs and get settled for the day. It's a holiday tomorrow, Labour day (they get countless holidays here) and so many families tend to get together and enjoy beach  and BBQ time and make a family gathering out of it. This is one of the last holidays before heading in to Autumn / Winter time. I did laugh when I saw the winter stock hitting the shops the other day. Leggings, woolly jumpers, hats all in the windows of the shops. The minimum it normally gets to here is 12 degrees. Last time I heard it was something like that in Scotland and most folk were out with short sleeved tops on! It's still a while off  before the temps drop here anyway. It was a balmy 35 degrees today and tomorrow I think it's to get warmer.
I'm quite looking forward to our little trip down south. Do me a favour. Next time you go to the wine section in Asda or Tescos try and find some wine from either Swan Valley or Margaret River. You won't regret it  - promise.