My husband has a milestone birthday today, so I’m taking the day off and we’re going to Mt Barker for lunch… as you do!
Mt Barker is in the heart of the Great Southern wine district of Western Australia, so we hope to taste some nice wines, have a nice lunch, then come home. It’s about 2+ hours drive from here.
We expect that all the farm country will be green as we’re now into winter. Which also means it’s likely to be cool, rainy, and grey. Hmmmm… sitting by a nice log fire at a country pub or winery for lunch sounds good!
Update: We had a *lovely* day yesterday. As expected, it was ‘as green as’ on the drive over to Mt Barker. We had a very spartan and – for what we got – a very expensive steak sandwich lunch at the Plantagenet Hotel, which was the biggest disappointment of the day. Then we stopped in at Plantagenet Winery to try (and buy!) some of their lovely Omrah range. We also took a detour to Ferngrove Winery near Frankland, and spent QUITE a bit of time there. It was just delightful! Massive tasting room, terrific range of wines, good service, and just a lovely afternoon. We were the only ones there, which meant that we had all the attention. Can’t get better than that! It was just over an hour’s drive home the back way from Ferngrove to Bridgetown, and we had to go slower as it was dusk (watch out for roos!) and the road is pretty narrow and winding. Then to top it all off, we had a delicious dinner at the Bridgetown Hotel (grilled sirloin with a to-die-for cognac sauce, layer potatoes, and fresh veges). A lovely day.
More photos here: http://travel.webshots.com/album/71773727xgkIhB?start=132
Rhonda Bracey: At Random 