Wednesday 16 July 2008

Holiday update #6

Saturday 12th July

Today was the day I woke the earliest … 7am! Of course this was bound to happen because last night was the latest night I’d had. (Must have an early night or five or I’ll never be able to get up for work!) I had thought I was the only one awake but then I heard the other shower start just as I was about to get into my shower. The water pressure isn’t strong enough to have both showers going at the same time so I waited until whoever it was finished, then jumped in quickly.
When I emerged, Debbie and Mina were having an in-depth discussion about the joys of raising teenage daughters. (Mina’s daughter is 13 and Debbie’s are 15 and 11). Once Mina realized I was out of the shower, she went for one, then packed up to go back to Perth. I tried to talk her into staying for the morning and going back after lunch but she had already made plans for the afternoon. Once Mina had left, Debbie and I got organized and went in search of The Berry Farm for some of their scrumptious jams.

After we had perused all the available jams, chutneys, sauces and wines, we tasted their apple vanilla port. Smelled divine but boy, did it have a kick and a burn! Then we tried the chocolate liqueur that Mina had had as part of her dessert at The Spaghetti Bowl. Another one that smelled fantastic but it had a bit of a kick as well. Debbie bought some after we worked out that we could make our own mudshakes with it! Then we headed over to the café where we had the most delicious Devonshire tea. The strawberry jam was, of course, the Berry Farm’s own and the scones were fresh out of the oven. Delish! I would even go as far as saying they were the best scones I’d ever had!

The rain had let up a bit by this time so we went out to the back verandah to check out the parterre garden. Of course, as soon as we stepped out from under the roof the rain started again, so we contented ourselves with using the zoom lens to take pictures. It’s funny how much we think alike. We both took pictures of the exact same things in the garden!

The rain was still coming down quite heavily so we moved to the front verandah where we noticed quite a few pretty little birds hanging around the railings. I had noticed some children feeding the birds on our way in and the birds seemed to be waiting for another feeding so I obliged. Debbie managed to get some photos of all the birds sitting on my hand helping themselves but they moved so quickly, most of them were just blurs. It was the strangest feeling having them moving around on my hand; almost a tickle but kind of scratchy as well. Another lot of kids had noticed what I was doing so I left them to it and had a look around the cottage garden instead.

After we finished at The Berry Farm, we went into Margaret River to check out some of the galleries and shops. I finally managed to have a look inside The Melting Pot, a glass studio and the Christian Fletcher photography studio. So many beautiful items and images to look at and I would have loved to take some home, but the prices were most definitely aimed at the more affluent tourists. Oh well, at least I got to look … that still doesn’t cost anything!

We wandered up one side of the main street and down the other, stopping at a few places to buy a couple of things, before stopping at Brumby’s for some crusty bread to go with our dinner of creamy chicken soup. A bit more wandering down the street to where we collapsed into the car (I’m sure that street gets longer every time I walk it!) and went back to the house for a quiet afternoon. Reading, puzzles, cuppas and a bit more updating of the holiday journal.

I noticed that there was a fair amount of mist outside, so I grabbed my camera and went down to the creek at the end of the street to try and get some of those lovely, misty scenery shots. I need to take the legs on my jeans up though because even though I got a couple of ‘decent’ shots, the bottoms of the legs were soaked from the wet grass and puddles. I should probably pay more attention to where I’m standing instead of just focusing on the picture!

By the time I got back, Debbie had the fire going nicely so we did another crossword puzzle then had a leisurely dinner. I settled in front of the computer to update the holiday diary while Deb watched the football before we both decided to have an early night … 9:30pm.

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