On my first day at Gemma & Rob’s “Leschenault resort”, I
decided to have a lie-in and make this a lazy day. That does not mean that I
didn’t do anything! I took the opportunity to sort out some admin stuff and
reply to some e-mails, upload some photos and read up on what the hell was
going on in Mexico.
That took me quite a while, although I did also play with Molly in the garden
inbetween…
When Gemma got home from work, we took Molly for a walk
along the “local” beach (Buffalo Beach),
which was really nice, because the sun was just setting. Western
Australia is pretty famous for gorgeous sunsets, and
certainly tonight was a very nice example. One thing that is pretty weird
getting used to though, already in India,
is that the sun set so early (around 5.30 pm),
having just gotten used to the days getting longer in the Northern hemisphere.
That evening, Gemma & Rob took me to a very very nice
Thai restaurant in Bunbury, where I had the best green curry of my life.
The next day, I got up early to drop Gemma off at her school as she had kindly offered me her car for the day. From her school I drove straight to the Dolphin discovery centre in Bunbury. This centre
is run by conservation volunteers and is one of the few places in Australia
(and the world?) where you can get very close to wild bottlenose dolphins. In
this particular bay (Koombana bay), a number of Dolphins pay regular visits and
come so close to the shore, that you can get knee- to waist-deep into the water
and be about 2m away from them! It was a good thing that I arrived early (at 8 AM), because half an hour later, a female
dolphin and her calf approached the bay! They came right up to the shore, and
all the people that were there (about a dozen) went into the water in a
straight line and just watched the two dolphins do their rounds in front of us.
Amazingly, the volunteers of the centre can pretty much recognize every single
dolphin that is a regular visitor and hence they have given them names. They
identify them mostly by the size and shape of their dorsal fin, which they use
to maintain stability in the water. I learned a couple more interesting facts
about dolphins. For example, a dolphin never sleeps for more than 30-90
seconds! And even while they sleep, only half of their brain is asleep! Crazy insomniacs! (I think that must be similar to the state I was in when I was writing my thesis...)
In the afternoon, I visited Busselton, about 50 km further
south, which is a little sleepy seaside town that boasts the largest jetty of
the southern hemisphere (2km). Now, you
might wonder where is the largest jetty in the northern hemisphere, and
more importantly, which one is the longest in the world? Well, I looked it up and it is in Progreso, Mexico, an impressive 6.5km long! The water there was so
crystal clear and inviting, that I had to brave myself and get in for a swim.
But it was freeeezing! I only managed to stay in the water for about 15 min:
during the first 5, I was frantically swimming because I was so cold, then I
was ok for about 5 min, and in the last 5 min, I got cold again and just had to
get out. Anyway, it was still a nice swim and warm enough to dry off in the
sun.
That evening, Gemma & Rob had planned a very nice
barbeque, and I had the opportunity to receive full training in bbq skills. An
Aussie-style bbq is a serious business…and as a result, we had delicious
steaks, sausages, and veggies, all accompanied, of course, by a gorgeous red
wine from the region.
The next morning, everyone (except Molly)
went on a day trip to Margaret River,
1 ½ hours south and famous fir waves & wines (what a perfect combination...).
It was another lovely day and perfect conditions for winetasting. By the time
we arrived at the first winery, it was almost time for lunch, so we had a quick
tasting round and chose a bottle of Cabernet Merlot to have with our lunch in
the patio area of the little restaurant adjacent to the winery, set peacefully
amidst the forest trees. As Gemma had offered to do the driving, the bottle was
pretty much emptied by Rob & myself…For desert, we went to the Margaret
River Chocolate Factory (also known as Mr. Chocolate Facory…haha.) where you
stuff your face with their free chocolate buttons but don’t actually intend to
buy anything because it’s way overpriced. We managed to visit two more wineries
in the afternoon, take a scenic detour via North Point and buy our dinner at a venison farm. When we got home at about 6 pm,
I had a stinking headache, and only after copious amounts of water, barbecued
venison sausage and steak, I recovered well enough to watch Mr Bean’s holiday
on TV!
The next day was Sunday, and there was another “tasting”
event awaiting: this time it was a local beer festival, held at the golf club
in Australind. There were about ½ dozen of local, Western Australian,
Australian and International breweries and there was even some cider for taste!
My favourite was Barefoot Radler, a light refreshing beer with lemon & lime
(tastes almost like shandy). This event, like so many in Australia,
was very family friendly, and there were lots of kids playing on the grounds of
the Golf course, while their parents were merrily tasting their way through the
beer section. The golf club must have also loosened their dress code for the
day, because practically everyone was there in shorts and flip flops (or
“thongs”, like they call them here). We hung around for a couple of hours and
drove back with just enough time to take Molly for a walk along the beach. I
chose to leave my camera at home and I was punished with the most beautiful
play of colours above and below the horizon! Gutted to have no photographic
record, yet grateful to have fully memorized the changing image in my head.
There was a low-lying, thin veil of clouds just above the horizon, which was
tainted pink by the glowing ball of the sinking sun. The warm light was
stretching out as an orange gradient all across the fading blue sky. But most
striking, the reflection of the red line on the horizon made the grey sea turn
purple and gave the whole composition a unique finish. Ah, I love sunsets…(I
also like sunrise, but I need a good reason to "rise" in time to catch it...).
The 4 leisurely in Leschenault were extremely pleasant,
relaxing and full of leisurely delights, not least due to my fantastic hosts!
(Thank you guys) It has been really great to have some time to spend with Gemma
& Rob and catch up, and I wish Australia
was just around the corner from Europe and I could
return more often!
