margaret river...what river?

streets of margaret river...the town that is

just returned from a short trip down south to margaret river. it was perhaps more of an escapade than a real trip. nevertheless, i can't help but to feel super excited at the prospects of planning out a trip, getting there entirely on our own. it's the process more than the destination that gives the thrill. it's like a field trip kinda thing. as a kid i hardly went on a real excursion without any authoratative guidance. i am a derprived kid it seems....


we rented 3 cars, a hyundai trajet (an station wagon), a black lancer (what we refered to as the 'black stallion' and a hyundai elantra. both hyundais are white so that really made the lancer stand out, notwithstanding the fact that the guys in the black stallion were doing most of the navigating.


the shire....we're back home mr frodo!!!!

so fours hours drive and 300 odd km (50 of which is a result of a 'temporary displacement') later, we reached the promise land. margaret river. the first thing that hit on me was, 'ok, so where's the river?'. well apparantly, margaret river was more of the name of the town than that of a river. there probably is a river, but it's too far out and dun think people usually go there. it's the wine that everyone's here for. after all the chivas, jack daniels and jim beam i had over the past month or so, it's good to try to feel a false sense of sophistication trying to grapple with the essential differences between a merlot, a chardonnay and a sauvignon. to me, it was quite simply 'excuse me, what's the sweetest wine you have?'



lunch at a quintessentially hill-billy country bar

our home for the night



xanadu winery, the first one we visited. left with a whole cask of featherwhite - a sweet white...at an unbeatable A$12.58 per bottle after discount, or so we thought...
lesson to be learnt, limit yourself to a bottle at the first few wineries, there'll always be a better deal.



Second stop, the voyager estate, perhaps the most scenic of all the wineries we visited.


the rose garden of voyager estate


a pleasant surprise after a woeful shower


at the risk of sounding gay, isn't he cute!



the chocolate factory


the cheese factory. it was a great surprise to see 'bubblegum' - a really cute girl from trinity there (whom we unfortunately din get on camera). apparantly her home's here and she's working here during the break. now who says small town girls are all unattractive.

we spoke to an owner of a tea shop. apparantly he had sorta a mid-life crisis some years back and decided to quit his job as a teacher and retire here in margaret river to 'rest and relax' as he calls it. i guess i didn't grow up in a metropolis, i really wouldn't mind a country lifestyle. it's not like all country inhabitants are bumpkins so as to speak. in fact they every bit as sophisticated as the city dwellers, and i would go as far as to say, perhaps more sophisticated in that they could see beyond the mirage of material imperatives in life.


what we did at night. there was hardly any form of nightlife in the town, so the day ended pretty early (by metropolitan standards) with many many rounds of big 2 and bluff.


we dined at a really weird chinese restaurant, the only one here in margaret river. not only is the chef a caucasian, they have fish and chips in their menu...


the trinity gang


the brave 16 (excluding tom the photographer), who risked the 'economy car syndrome', and an addication for wines just to take their minds off assignments and tutorials


goodbye margaret river, hello hangover

if i ever get a burnout from the rat-race which i unfortunately have to face-off with in a couple of years time, i really wouldn't mind spending the rest of my life, living in the countryside, sipping tea in the morning, tilling my vineyard, watching the day go by, watching the sun set, drinking a glass of port after sinfully sumpteous dinner of chicken and mashed potato and then go to bed by nine. but first, i gotta get the dough (farms are actually pretty expensive), and find a wife to feed the chickens, milk the cow and pluck the fruits like all country wives do.... now perhaps i should stick to the simpler life - that of a city slicker.