Swan Valley Winery Experience

Wednesday, April 4

Just a short drive from here (25 min) is the beautiful Swan Valley - home to 70 wineries. As mentioned in earlier blog entries, we had already visited one or two. However, since we really couldn't drive and sample all the great wines, we signed up for a day tour of the area.

The 21-passenger bus picked us up outside the train station around 9:15 a.m. for the drive to the first winery. Our tour guide and bus driver, Claude, was personable and knowledgeable about the area and the wineries. He kept up a steady pleasant chatter on the way to the Sandalford Winery. This is one of the largest wineries in the area using commercial methods to produce their wines. In the beautiful, modern tasting gallery we were given a lesson on how to taste the wines and the fun began. Our Sandalford wine-pourer introduced each of the wines starting with the whites, then the reds and finally a Port. I lost count but I think we sampled at least 7 or 8 wines there. And, it was only 10 a.m. We had a few minutes to browse the shop and purchase any wine if we wished, but were under no obligation to do so. We did enjoy the Port so bought a bottle of that to take back with us to Mexico.

The other four wineries we visited were small, family owned vineyards as are most of the wineries in the Valley. While you may run into Sandalford wines elsewhere in the world, it is unlikely that you will find the others that we visited - like Windy Creek or Lancaster. Our second visit was to Lancaster - a very small vineyard where they send their grapes elsewhere to be processed according to their specifications. We again sampled several whites, reds and a Port. Swan Valley specializes in their white wines but also produce some nice reds and Ports. At the Lancaster tasting cellar we also enjoyed a sampling of delicious cheeses produced in the area.

Next stop was a lovely botanic garden on the river where our driver picked up the rest of the tour group who had taken a cruise from Perth to this point. We now had a full bus as we headed to the third stop - Windy Creek Estate. Again, we had a diverse selection of wines to sample and the group was definitely getting a little livelier.

It was approaching time to absorb all this wine with a little lunch so we drove next door to the Sittella winery. Unfortunately, we had to sample the wines there before lunch. By this time, they weren't tasting quite as good - my taste buds were already getting worn out. We sat down to platters of meats, cheeses, tempura veggies, salad and fresh bread. We enjoyed visiting with a British couple and another couple from Queensland, Australia while dining. Other tour members were from New Zealand and Italy. We were the only Americans. Everyone was very friendly.

Now we were ready for our fifth and last winery - Heafod Glen. Again we had 7 or 8 wines to try and I have to admit that I could not sample all of them. There was a noticeable lack of enthusiasm at this tasting cellar - I think we were all getting wined out. But, we had two more stops to make.

Elmar's in the Valley was a micro-brewery and we were offered to try a small glass of one of their 4 brews. We tried Ein Stein - a Pilsener and were not very impressed. However, we continued our visit with the British couple we met at lunch.

Our final stop, thank goodness, was the Margaret River Chocolate Factory - yum. There were bowls of chocolate buttons - dark, milk and white - which we could eat at much as we wished. We each received one truffle of our choice and a couple of other pieces of chocolate candy. There were viewing windows to watch the workers making these luscious truffles and other candies. The shop had lots of chocolate Easter bunnies and chocolate eggs.

Completely sated with wine, food and chocolate, we climbed wearily back onto the bus for the short trip back to our drop off at the Perth train station. Just as we were making the last turn onto the street by the train station, a large city bus turned into Claude's lane and dragged our bus several feet. It was clearly the city bus driver's fault and Claude had 21 witnesses to that fact. After a short slightly heated discussion with the guy, he (the city driver) admitted to his fault. There was not a lot of damage and we hardly felt the impact. Since we were so close to our drop off at the train station, we said our good byes to everyone and jumped on the train for our 25 minute ride back to Joondalup. It had been a lovely day and a great way to see and experience the Swan Valley.

36 Holes of Golf

Mini-golf, that is. Just down the road in Wanaloo is an unusual mini-golf course. The two 18-hole courses are in a botanical garden setting which is tropical and green unlike the surrounding dry, brownish bush. There were several waterfalls and ponds and the holes wound through the gardens blending in beautifully. It’s an oasis in an otherwise parched land. Beside the gardens is a lovely little café where you can have breakfast or lunch.

We arrived for golf around noon with the plan to eat after our 36 holes. Just ahead of us, a school bus load (79) of children had arrived and was swarming through the golf course. We decided to return later. At 2:00 we had a pleasant outdoor lunch and then played golf. We were practically the only ones playing and it was a very peaceful and quiet afternoon – except for the occasional expletive heard when certain golf strokes went awry. The first 18 holes were conventional mini-golf – some easy holes and some more devious. The second 18 hole course was different – it was called billiards golf and you had to hit the bumpered edges of the greens to go into the hole - you were penalized if the ball went in directly. It was very challenging – I won at regular mini golf but John cleaned up in billiards golf since he is the more skilled billiards player. It was a beautiful walk through the gardens even if we didn't par the courses.