Weekend Getaway

Peter was kindly given a voucher for 2 nights at the Busselton Mercure Appartments nearly 12 months ago. We finally got around to using it this weekend. We dropped the dogs off at High Trees boarding kennels (much to their disgust!) and continued on to the Mercure. Janelle travelled down from Perth and met us there. We had a 3 bedroom appartment overlooking the pool area...Janelle and I went for a lovely long walk along the beachfront on Saturday morning. Peter hobbled along behind us slowly after having a mole removed from his leg on Friday...Then we went for a drive down south first having a look at Yallingup then heading to the Olive Oil and Soap Factory. The driveway into this is stunning with the trees and the grapevines with their autumn colouring...We spent quite a bit of time (and money) trying all the products and tasting all the olives and oils...We then called into a few wineries and admired the views...And had lunch at the Duckstien Brewery...

We then moved onto some more wineries and tastings. There are so many pretty places - loved the vines on the wall here...This is called Brookland Valley and has lovely gardens. We had a bit of a wander and Janelle and Sarah took some nice photos...We think Janelle may have had one too may tastings as she suddenly did this...Yes she became a "Planker".

The fallen leaves off the trees everywhere were very pretty...

We eventually made it to Margaret River and looked in a few shops before heading to Cowaramup. Here we went to the Candy Cow and found another Cow from the Big Cow Parade from a few years ago...With our candy supplies to chew on we drove onto Providore where we had a yummy afternoon tea overlooking the vineyards...And checked out all the goodies in the shop...More tastings followed at the Chocolate Factory and Sandalford Winery before we made our way back to Busselton. Checked out all our goodies we purchased ...Janelle and I went for a swim in the heated pool and spa - Janelle had fun with her underwater camera...

We had some Chinese for tea and spent the evening relaxing. We had to leave early on Sunday morning to collect 2 very excited dogs and Sarah had to go to work. Janelle had water in her ear from all the swimming - which despite trying all sorts of acrobatic moves wouldn't come out, so we tried ear candling... Lots of ear wax but water remained! Janelle went back to Perth after lunch and was happy to report that night that the water had gone. It was a nice - if very short - weekend escape.