Last November, we made a trip to visit friends, had grand hopes about catching crabs and drank wine in the afternoons.
Mandurah is a quiet seaside town and an easy 1 hour drive from Perth, where our grand hopes for crab catching were meant to be realised. The process itself was enjoyable for us Singaporean city dwellers, but I suspect, if you are living in Perth and go out on boats every other weekend, the prospect of spending an afternoon casting nets filled with rotting fish with no crab to show for, might have been a rather silly afternoon :) It's a sleepy town where you're bound to find someone with a bucket full of squid/prawns getting reading to cast a line along any stretch of water. It is also home to the Miami Pie shop, which you can't miss as you will have to pass it if you make your way to the boating area. Their signature outback pie made with kangaroo meat, was highly recommended, but we found it to be a little bland. However, the steak and oinion and steak and guiness pies were juicy, tasty and full of meat. We loved it so much that we made a point to go back for round 2 and 3, but much to our dissapointment was closed on the third trip. A must go for pie lovers.
We were extremely lucky to have Kim, Shifaa's supervisor to host 4 of us, along with Shifaa's other supervisor and his wife. It was a cosy stay, Australian style, complete with wearing of shoes in the house (it's an asian cleaniness thing this walking barefoot in one's home, which I honestly, am grateful for, of course the Japanese take it one step further and offer you house slippers when you enter) a generous Aussie Barbie for dinner which also became breakfast Barbie, bird watching and star gazing.
After Mandurah we headed back to Perth for a day and then it was off to Margaret River, which is about a 3.5hour drive from Perth City. In retrospect, it would have made more sense to go straight to Margaret River from Mandurah, so do that if you're planning to go. We stayed at Waterfall Cottages (http://www.waterfallcottages.com.au/), because Hendri had specifically said "I want something in the middle of a forest Jo". So forest surroundings it was with a small waterfall nearby and no mobile reception and internet access to speak of. A perfect set up for a cheap B grade slasher flick. We knew we were in for a treat when we drove quite a distance into forest area with free range kangaroos bounding alongside our car to get to our cottage. They provided an extremely well stocked kitchen and we even had a fire place. The owner Sue was warm and helpful and has 2 very friendly lovely dogs that would gladly roll over for a tummy rub complete with leg flicking action.
We only made it to 3 wineries and 2 resturants on our list, and of the 3 wineries, these 2 stood out for us:
Voyager Estate http://www.voyagerestate.com.au/home.html
This was the most impressive of the lot with a colonial facade, and in addition to the vineyards had rose gardens and a HERB GARDEN! The steak we had at their resturant was divine.
Vasse Felix http://www.vassefelix.com.au/frames.htm
We had the appetizer sampler and their beautiful famous sparkling white wine to start off, and slow roasted goat for mains. We brought home 2 bottles of the sparkling wine (my mother and I finished an entire one whilst baking christmas cake). I have to say though that the dining ambience at Voyager was far more impressive, Vasse Felix is alot more casual.
After Margaret River we spent 2 days in Perth and Shifaa brought us to her's and Pam's favourite Italian resturant for dinner Ciao Italia. It is your cosy family run Italian joint, complete with jolly Italian music and an even jollier ower. Everyone there seems delighted with their jobs, even the dishwasher looked happy. We had the seafood marinara, lagsane and a traditional bolognase. The pastas were fanstastic, though a little soft for my liking as I usually like mine Al Dente but they were delicious nonetheless. The portions are HUGE, so I would recommend sharing a pasta and a side if you are not big eaters like us :) Even I was struggling, whereas Shifaa the seasoned pro, had no problem wolfing down her entire plate of marinara.
On our last day we went to Freemantle for the 2nd time and spent the day at cafes and bookstores. A very bohemian laid back place with good fish and chips, reminds me very much of Glebe in Sydney, but bigger and better.
All in all, a good inexpensive trip, somewhere we definately plan to return to, though at a more leisurely pace. A must visit if you've got $1800 (including airfare) to spare for a week away :)
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