Trying to Go to Margaret River

A plan was hatched – lets go to Margaret River for the Labor Day weekend, we will see some wineries, get some chocolate and cheese and spend the weekend.

The first problem – we waited till Friday afternoon to book a hotel and by that time everything was booked up. I could only find 2 hotels available in Margaret River and they were in the $500 a night range; no way Jose – I have a bed at home that I am still paying for.

So we decided instead to start off early in the morning and make it a day trip instead. By 10 we were at Bunbury having coffee at Dome which overlooks the beachy industrial area below

We then decided to drive up to another beach and look at the rocks

Then the lookout tower from which you could see the entire town of Bunbury

We next headed to the Cheese factory where I picked some cheddar with truffles and one with chives and onion.

By this time we were getting hungry and decided to head for Busselton in search of fish and chips. We had an incredible lunch at a café on the beach. The fish and chips with mixed greens dressed with balsamic vinaigrette took at scant 8 minutes from order to come out. The fish tasted fresh from the ocean and the chips like only the Aussies can do chips – crispy outside, tender inside. (forgot to take a pic) but here is the Busselton Jetty

After Busselton we visited the Happs and Three Hills winery where we got 3 bottles of the Eva Marie Semilion 2008 – they only had 15 left and I thought the owner was going to cry to part with 3.

Next up the Gabriel Chocolate Factory – really amazing chocolate that they make from beans from different regions of the world. I came home with a Venezuelan Milk, an Ecuadorian 58% dark and a 65% Ghanaian dark.

Then we hit the Windows Estate winery which was lovely and modern and I enjoyed all of their whites but purchased only a 2010 Mousseux and a 2010 Chenin Blanc which I had never heard of before but was delightful. Unfortunately by time I paid for them it was 5pm, and everything was closing so it was time to head back to Perth.

We took at stop at a beach something that started with a G then decided to try and make it 3hrs without a bathroom break. A daunting task for two tiny bladdered people. One stop to stretch our legs and do the pee pee dance in the woods and we finally made it back to Perth by 9pm where my grateful bladder was happy to see my own toilet.

Everything here in Western Australia is FAR and it takes a lot of driving between places to get anywhere – going to Margaret River is not like going to Napa. You cannot get there in 45-60 mins its more like 4-6hrs. We never even made it all the way – we only got as far as Dunsborough

Perth, Friends and Singlehood

I was single when I lived in San Francisco but I was never so keenly aware of my lack of marital status as when I moved to Perth.

Let me explain what Perth is like; it is a quiet, clean city where the shops close at 5pm, most do not open on Sundays, there are lots of little parks, trees and tons of suburbs. Most people live in the suburbs and commute long distances via bus, car or train into the city for work each day. At 4:55 each day when I look up from my desk it is to the sound of the mass exodus as everyone heads for the door at 5pm (Granted they do start at 8pm so I do not blame them for getting out of there) but what is interesting is that they are all rushing home to families.

See Perthites marry, or get into relationships really young. So far the only people over 30 who I have met that are never married, have no children and not or have not been in a long term committed relationship are those like myself who have moved from another country. I wager there are more baby faced engaged, married or relationshiped 20 somethings than there are people in that age range with four year degrees in Perth.

And if you have lived here your whole life you also have the same 20 friends you had since kindergarten and Perth is a very cliquey town so most people I have met that are from Perth are not at all interested in making new friends. Don’t get me wrong they are very friendly people and you will enjoy working alongside them, interacting with them in the store, church etc but they have a partner, children and the afore mentioned 20 friends and thus no room to add a new person – you.

So my new strategy is to grab them while they are still fresh off the boat/plane like myself and as such I have met a couple of lovely girls I hope to get to know better. I am still open to getting to know the locals but now that I know how Perth works it no longer bothers me. Plus, I am lucky that I have always enjoyed my own company.

Now that I have the friend thing figured out (fresh off the boat), I have been given random, unsolicited advice by male colleagues on how to go about finding a man. See on Monday when everyone is reciting their family and spousal weekend activities mine are usually solo so one day I have the following conversation:

Male Colleague (MC): “You need to get a boyfriend”

ME: puzzled, what vibe I am giving off “I do?”

MC: “Yeah don’t you want one?”

ME: “Yeah if the right one came along”

MC: “Well get out there and find one”

ME: “Ah So where do people meet other people here?”

MC: “Online, Bars, Clubs, getting drunk”

ME: chuckle “None of those are really my thing”

MC: “You just need to get out there get drunk and meet someone”

ME: “So tell me how did you meet your wife?”

MC: “Oh we were both drunk in a bar”

ME: “Ahh ha how’s that working for you?”

MC: “Great it’s been 10 awesome years, 4 beautiful kids”

ME: “Oh my wow”

I knew so many beautiful, fabulous, single friends in San Francisco so that being single was just a part of life and I will confess that when everyone else in the prayer group was praying for husbands I was praying for a killer body and tons of money. So far God has not seen it fit to answer either of those prayers and now I live in Perth so even if I started praying for a husband now I suspect it will take a miracle and I am still really holding out hope for the killer body and the tons of money too.