"Meadows of Heaven"
I'm in Coral Bay again! After nearly 2 years since I missed those bloody whalesharks and got the 3-year voucher card for free tour, I returned...and paradise has not looked better. Coral Bay is still totally unspoilt small little hidden gem in northwest corner of Australia. Temperature is around +35 during day and dropping to comfortable +20 during night.
Ok, but more rave(and pics) about Coral Bay on next entry, lets go back to Pemberton briefly. I noticed that I completely forgot to say what I did there...well, what can you do in small cillage with population of 590 and main economics timber. Thats right, climb a tree and drink at the pub :-) Here is the tree I climbed...
..pretty damn big btw. 61m in total and regarding safety...everyone climbs at his/her own risk but climb like that would have never been allowed to public in pussy countries like Finland ;-)
After Pemberton it was time for Margaret River, my last wine region I was about to explore on this trip.
So far Marlborough in New Zealand has easily been the best with Central Otago - also New Zealand - coming as runner-up. I was hoping that Margaret River would be able to push bloody Kiwis to 2nd place and while it made pretty strong case, after dust settled, I would have to place Margaret River 2nd behind Marlborough.
Phenomenal wines, but I think Marlborough had slightly better consistency and better value for money. For example Leeuwin Estate in Margaret Ruiver boasts to have highest rated Chardonnay in Southern Hemisphere. Yes, it was good but price tag of 89 Australian dollars is not what I would be ready to pay for it. Then again Saint Clair in Marlborough had world's most rewarded Sauvignon Blanc and guess what they charge for bottle? 30 NZ dollars(=23 Australian dollars). Saint Clair could charge as much as 50-60 NZD per bottle but they still keep the price low, gotta respect that.
Best wines of the region: Cape Mentelle as usual
...and I have to give special nomination to Voyager and the lunch they served us there. Now, how often can backpacker enjoy something like this?!?!?
...easily the best meal I have had in past 10 months :-)
After Margaret River my plan was to stop for 1 night in Busselton and walk the longest Jetty in Southern Hemisphere(2.1km long). But...as I got to Busselton and went to the jetty I was greeted only by this sign. Bugger!
So no walk in the jetty. Since it was R-Posse's birthday I decided to honor it by having good old fashion Kalsarikannit :-) ...well, tbh I walked around in Busselton and while the town has more residents than for example Esperance or Denmark, it didn't have even one decent pub.
From Busselton it was one night stopover in Perth, grabbed my new passport from sub-consulate there(now I'm seriously running out of fresh ideas to stay here longer and not go back to Finland) and after that exhilarating 17h bus journey(1200km) to Coral Bay where I arrived at 3am this morning without any sleep. Oh well, I have plenty of time to sleep after this is done. Tomorrow Manta Rays, then whalesharks, then...
Ei kommentteja:
Lähetä kommentti