margaret river

we spent the weekend at margaret river which famous for it's vineyard, dairy farm and beautiful beaches. it was only a short visit (two day one night) minus 3,5hrs+3,5hrs driving going and back. but the weekend was lovely, and we definitely will come again!

this is where we stayed. i think the hotel was unfair the check in time is 14.00 and the check out time is 10.00. why don't they make it 12-12 just like the other normal hotels? it cost AU155 for the accomodation without breakfast.

the rooms are not in the one solid building, but in two blocks and scattered in small buildings which each had 6 units. we got room number 19 , it was on the ground (thank God because i hate to carry noelle when climbing the stairs). we got a HUGE bed, spacious built in robe, kitchen area (fridge, microwave, kitchen sink, dinnerware+cutlery), bathroom area with sink, shower and separated toilet. all nice and clean. there are 2 set of picnic table behind the fountain.

preverilly beach, 13km from margaret river city centre.

just like the othe cow we saw in busselton, this cowman the moorander by myles and jaquie happ is one of the cow which took part in the cow parade all over western australia. the cow looked like indian cow with those chain and gold plates on it's back, especially the fruity headdress and the make up. sooo bollywood! i think i spotted around 4 decorated cows during our stay in margaret river. this picture taken in leeuwin estate where we had long lunch and of course wine tasting!

our orders took quite some time to make, so the waiter brought a sheet of paper with animal pictures and a set of crayons to make those sticky fingers busy while we're waiting for our order. i observed noelle uses her left hand quite often and you can see she colored with two hands..

our entree was a dozen of oyster kilpatrick, with smoked bacon and red wine sauce. i am not a big fan of oyster but somehow i ate 3 of them.. yum..

my lunch : ricotta and mozarella canneloni with tomato and basil sauce.. double yum! noelle ate some of my canneloni, she just cant resist cheesy meal..

this is what my husband had : ranger black angus scotch fillet, brioche, mushroom dauphinoise, shallot jus. the meat was well cooked, tender and juicy. love angus!!

and this is my desert.. flourless orange cake with sour cream and caramel sauce.. weird combination but it works! noelle ate some of my desert while abenk busy with his raspberry soufle with ice cream.. it was so beautiful looking my husband jump right on it before i got the chance to take photo of his desert :( but in the end, he regreted his decision for not choose the chocolate desert HA!

noelle just had her lunch, finished her coloring activity and started to bite the crayons so we ordered her chips. and you can see the massive pile of chips in front of her, she ate about 10 of it, throwing at least 10 and i decided she need a table manner class.

during our short visit, we managed to buy souvenirs. from left to right on the back : glass markers and 2004 wine from leeuwin estate, chilli + garlic infused olive oil and extra virgin olive oil from olio bello. on the plate : chocolate hazelnut fudge, coffee caramel fudge, banana coated chocolate and peanut brittle. on the right : peach and cream soap bar, aussie map fridge magnet, margaret river magnet.

busselton

we went to busselton, small city blessed with beautiful beach, about 230km from perth. it was only a one day trip because we were so fed up with perth :p we leave our apartment at 10.00 and arrived just in time for lunch. we planned this trip just to get the idea of busselton and therapy for noelle and her sound of wave phobia.

you see, in her first weeks, noelle was a sound sleeper. she slept in my arm while i talked to visiting friends with my loud voice and bouncing body because sometimes i laughed out loud. but she didnt stir even a bit. now that she's bigger and older, she hates when her father sneezed loudly (man heavy voice = loud sneeze/cough) or the sound of sirene, people cheering (she screams during ellen show trying to topped the audience!).

and the first time she set foot on a beach was when she was about 7 or 8 months old, and you can tell she hates being in the seashore. she just held me tight and kicking her feet against my body, her body busily moving trying to get me moving as far as possible from water. i thought it was just noelle and her sound-of-waves phobia. and i was right. on other visit to the beach, we did not even touch the water and noelle happily sat on the sand, touching and getting the idea of the beach sand and the wind and the joy of other people on the beach.

but yesterday, she seems to enjoying herself at the beach. she touched the sand, the water brushed her tiny feet and occasionally she touch the water. YAY!!! but i dont want to get my hopes up because i know she act like that because the sea was so calm and the wave just like a whisper.. i really looking forward to visit cottesloe or city beach again before autumn comes.. anyway, the coastal strip was beautiful, clean, fenced by pine trees. the bridge is busselton jetty, a 2,5km walkway and railway from the beach to underwater observing area, museum, souvenirs shop. too bad, the jetty is on construction rebuilding project so that make a reason for us to come again.

glistening water.. lovely lovely beach but next time we have to come early early in the morning to get a crystal clear water. finger crossed!

and here is the famous cow who participate on cow parade all around western australia. this art called "tru blu" by artist voytek kozlowski. i heard the word tru blu aussie and this amusing cow is trully a TRU BLU AUSSIE because it's so aussie!! it was painted in blue and has aussie flag on its left side, and built to mimic a ute, australian name for utility/pick up car. there are another cow on the beach but i forgot to take the picture, the color was like turqoise and has seaweed and fishes painted on it.

this is where we had lunch, the goose.

handsome fisherman (AHEM) standing at the busselton jetty.

i love the scenery, how about you?

pine farm we saw during the trip to and from busselton.

souvenirs from busselton.. mr pingu for noelle, fridge magnet and lovely seashell ring..