Rhonda Bracey: At Random

W & D, our friends from Perth came to visit this weekend. We played tourist guide and took them around to some of our (my?) favourite places, and some places we hadn’t been before. The weather was typical for early spring – iffy! Patches of sunshine, but reasonably cold and cloudy most of the time. Definitely not weather for wandering about in for too long without appropriate clothing. W and I had rotten colds so neither of us was up for anything too strenuous or taxing on the body, and I think the guys just wanted to sample the beer and wine!

Places we went:

• Donnelly River Village to see the kangaroos and emus. There weren’t many emus to be seen, but those we did see had a clutch of chicks each. Cute as!
• Lost Lake Winery near Pemberton. My cold meant I didn’t do any tastings, but the blokes both purchased some wine.
• Salitage Winery near Pemberton. As for Lost Lake.
• Big Brook Dam. None of us had been here before. It’s about 5kms outside of Pemberton and is just a glorious spot in amongst the tall timber. It has a HUGE picnic area and some people were getting a fire going when we got there. It has two undercover areas, one with gas BBQs, so it would be a great place just to sit and relax and veg away an afternoon with a picnic lunch and a bottle of wine.
• Jarrah Jacks Brewery and Restaurant (see below).

Big Brook Dam picnic area, near Pemberton, Western Australia

Places we ate:

• Bridgetown Hotel (dinner): Excellent food and wine—as usual! Three of us had steak while the other had fish, all washed down with a lovely Scotts Brook Shiraz.
• Jarrah Jacks Brewery and Restaurant (lunch): Two had the beef pie, one had the salt and pepper squid, and I had a steak sandwich. Those who had the pie said it needed something to lift it—it was a bit bland. My steak sandwich was excellent, though a bit awkward to eat. The guys shared a tasting rack of the brewery’s six beers.
• Nelson’s (dinner): A mix of reactions. W had chicken which she said was really nice. D and my husband had steak. I don’t know what D thought of his, but the next day my husband said that his was very ordinary. I had the fish of the day which was salmon. It was just awful and I couldn’t eat it. I *love* salmon, but this was so overcooked as to be bone dry and brittle on all the exposed bits and heading towards a dark grey on the inside near the skin. Yes, I complained—to two different people. There was no refund of even part of the cost of this meal, which was even more disappointing. The best bit for me was the wine—the Scotts Brook Sauvignon Blanc and their 2005 Shiraz.

Jarrah Jacks, Pemberton, Western Australia

We ate far too much and talked for many hours about a vast range of subjects.

Oh, and luckily I took the keys and drove back from our day in the Pemberton area as there was a police license check and breathalyser about 10kms from home. I’m not sure the guy could get a reading from me—I blew in the machine three times, but because of my rotten cold, my lung capacity was severely reduced and I ended up having a coughing fit. I think he just gave up! I wouldn’t have registered anyway as I had nothing to drink all day.