Sunday Session

amazing how time is going by...

So somehow I only have a little over a week of class left in Australia, could someone please tell me when that happened? Cause I feel like I've just gotten here and I'm already thinking about packing to come back the USA...kinda weird.

Anyway, this past weekend was simply awesome. Lara, Mville and I along with the amazing help of our Aussie friend Claire took a trip down to Margaret River...one of the biggest winery regions in Australia. So needless to say we did some wine tasting over the course of the weekend.

We left on Friday afternoon and got to MR around 3:30 where the three of us had some time to walk around the town before most of the shops closed at 5. We got some time to relax then before getting some quality dinner at the Goodfella's Cafe where the three of us split a bottle of wine between us. After the meal we met up with Claire and her boyfriend at one of the two bars in the town for another couple drinks before headin back to the hostel to sleep cause we had to be up ealry for our tour in the morning on Saturday.

Saturday Cheers Scenic & Winery tours picked us up at 9AM at our hostel to take us on a half-day tour of the area. We first went to the Lake Cave where we climbed down and back up over 300 steps to see one of the 50 caves in the area but one of the more popular ones. After the hour tour of the cave we got driven down to the Kari Forrest and then up to Redgate Beach for scenic views. From the beach we were taken to the Redgate winery for a tour and a tasting of the wines. After trying around a dozen wines we were then taken to a few more sites along Surfpoint before heading back to the hostel around 1pm.

For the afternoon we walked up to some shops and got some lunch in town before coming back and relaxing in the hostel for a bit. Fellow Eloners Shannon and Justine were actually in MR over the weekend too and saw us walking around the town that afternoon and then we later learned that they were staying in the same hostel as us. So we met up with them late in the afternoon to hang out before the 5 of us went to dinner together that night.

Shannon and Justine made the trip for me though when they let me take their hired car out for a drive during Saturday afternoon. They had hired the car so that they could do some site-seeing of their own on Sunday but when Lara told them that it's been a goal of mine to drive at some point in Australia they gave me the keys and let me drive for a bit. I loved it and it definitly only made me want to drive more! You have to concentrate so hard on what you're doing tho because its not so bad to be on the other side of the road, it's the sitting on the left hand side of the car that really throws you off. Saturday night was really chill, not like their was a whole lot to do in MR anyway but yea we went to bed kinda early.

Sunday was a day to waste because our ride home was picking us up around 1 from the hostel so we just hang around the town for the morning and kept trying to figure out ways to waste time basically until we were going home. Ended up having some brekky...sitting in the "park" for a bit (the park consited of a short walkway, some grass and a bench)....and then getting some lunch and doing a bit more shopping. On the way home we stopped in the MR Chocolate and Cheese Factories and stopped at Sandalford Winery for a tasting. We then drove up to Busselton where we had lunch along the beach and saw the largest wooden jetty (or pier) in the southern hemisphere..over a mile long. Then we made an express trip home to get some work done before classes on Monday.

Basically at this point I only have two papers for one class and a final exam in each of my other two classes to do before the semester is over. We have one week of class left next week, followed by a weekend trip to Rottnest Island, then a study week, then Lara and I head over east to Sydney and Melbourne before coming back for the last of our finals and pack to come back the the US.

That's about it for now.....until next time!

posted by Will181198 @ 2:09 PM