I am currently feeling very mellow. We have just returned from a mammoth seven hour wine tasting session and I am awaiting a cup of tea made for me by The Mother-In-Law. Yes, it’s almost the drinking hour of 6pm and all I am desperate for is a cup of tea. We have drunk a lot of wine. Six wineries and eight tastings at each makes for a lotta lotta wine. Not that I’m complaining, I do love my wine after all, but I am feeling quite sleepy now and am in need of something with which to perk me up. This has been our first full day in Margaret River and we made sure we did the most important thing on our list. Margaret River is known for its wineries and we were ready to visit a few of its 138+ wineries as a priority. It would have been rude not to really.
As each of us wanted to partake in the supping of wine, we booked onto a tour that transported us to several wineries, including one at which we stopped for lunch. We were picked up at 9.40am and were at our first winery, Stella Bella, by 10am. I don’t think I have ever drunk wine (apart from sparkling of course, which everyone knows can be drunk at any time of the day or night) that early before. But I bravely sipped my way through every bottle on offer and emerged into the sunshine slightly dazed but ready for the next winery. We visited two before our lunchtime stop, which was in stunning grounds, complete with rose gardens and the second tallest Australian flag in the country. The guy who owns the winery is from mining stock so he has a lot of money and the belief that bigger is always better. After a tasting and lunch we clambered back on the bus and visited three further wineries, plus a chocolate shop.
Despite the vast quantities of wine being drunk, we returned back to our apartment without too many injuries – The Father-In-Law bashed his head on the door of the bus (there’s always one – I’m just glad it wasn’t me as it normally is), The Mother-In-Law attempted to leave her seat without unfastening her seat belt, and we ran over a man-sized kangaroo. Other than those little incidents, our tasting our way round some of Margaret River’s finest wineries was a complete success. Now I just need a little snooze before I’m ready for our evening drinks!
About Me
- The Secret Life of an Expat Wife
- “We’re moving to Thailand!” came my excited scream upon being told by The Husband that he was being assigned to an engineering project there. Just the mention of the name evoked tropical paradise. Ok, so I had to give up my job and we left behind our friends, family and new house, but who could turn down that opportunity? Through battles with man-eating stray dogs, to the endless struggle to understand Thai logic, my journey into the life of an expat wife wasn’t without complications and was certainly not the utopian existence I thought it would be but I tried my hardest to adopt the Thai ‘happy-go-lucky’ attitude to life. The constant sunshine, beaches and inexhaustible supply of delicious food helped somewhat too! Sixteen months later it was finally time to leave the Land of Smiles, but not the life of the expat wife - our destination was a small town in Western Australia. The expat life here is very different but, just because it is an English-speaking, western-minded country, doesn’t mean it isn’t just as mind-boggling as Thailand. From the deadliest creatures in the world to mystifying local behaviour, rural Australia can seem just as alien.
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