Edgie: Off to the Gourmet Region of Margaret River!

Once Matt climbed one tree, he became determined to climb all three! Luckily, we had tackled the tallest already. When we got to Pemberton (pop. 800) the weather turned out to be a little bit yuck so we 'took the day off' and hit the vineyards and then I got a massage while Matt worked away on the computer.
We visited two vineyard's. One, Mountford, also made their own ciders. The cider I enjoyed much more than the cab merlot and pinot noir. The next stop was Knights cellar door, distillery and chocolatier. Matt got himself a chunk of rocky road and some truffles, while I sampled the liqueur and schnapps... Including some Kentucky corn moonshine. 37% alcohol. BANG. That'll wake you up! And then knock you down!
Heading west from wet Pemberton, we stopped off at the Gloucester Tree so Matt could get another climb... but it was much too popular only being a few kilometers out of town. After a short walk through the forest hoping for the crowd to dwindle, we gave up and moved on to the Diamond Tree.

Diamond Tree - Pemberton, W.A. 51 meters/167 feet.

Matt in front, we climbed this one together. Matt took a few frightful photos of me as evidence of making to the top.

As you can tell. I am thrilled to be 52 meters/170 ft up in the air!

As we wound our way to the west, we started seeing more and more cattle, sheep and vineyards. The traffic too, became heavier and the little towns became less town like and more city like. We headed south to Augusta to see Cape Leeuwin where the Southern Ocean gives way to the Indian Ocean... well, according to the Aussie maps we have around in the car... Strictly speaking there is a school of thought that the Southern Ocean is only up to the 60 degree south line and that the Indian and Pacific oceans cradle around Australia... I'd like to think that the south coast of Australia is the edge of the Southern Ocean, because that way I have seen 4 of the 5 oceans. In the next few days I hope to actually have placed my feet in 4 of the 5 oceans when the weather cooperates and we get ourselves back to the beach!

We stayed a few nights in the town of Margaret River (pop. ~9000) which divides the land between Cape Leeuwin to the south and Cape Naturaliste to the north. This region was proclaimed in the 70's to be a great grape growing region and has since developed into the gourmet food capital of Australia (competing strongly with Tasmania and I think only winning because of population!). If you aren't a foodie, the best activities include some of the best surf beaches in the world and caving. We visited the big three - Lake, Jewel and Mammoth Caves. They were out of this world and involved plenty of up and down stairs!