Margaret River road and camping trip

So after numerous people recommended Margaret River to us we knew we had to go. We waited until we had 2 consecutive days off together and booked a little car, a campsite and a wine tour.

For those of you who haven't heard of Margaret River, it's 3 and a half hours South of Perth and is famous first and formost for it's wineries and there is also breweries, cheese factories, chocolate factories, etc. Basically anyone who likes consumable goods mainly wine head to Margaret River. 

We left early on Tuesday morning in our little Hyundai arriving in Margaret River at lunchtime. It was Nath's first time driving in 5 years so it was a huge occasion. I now know Mum and Dad the stress you probably went through being in a car with Adrian and I for the first time!! Although all went well, thankfully! 

We could only check into our campsite at 2pm (which is slightly closer to the coast in Prevelly) so before heading off to do a food shop for the few days and a bit of an explore, we drove along the sea front and stopped by a few view points.

On our way back to the campsite we discovered a wine estate so we decided to stop by and see what it was all about in preparation for our tour. We stopped at Cape Mentelle which was amazing! The location was lovely and during peak season (summer) they offer an outdoor cinema. We missed it by a week and were gutted. 

After having a few tasters including an incredible dessert wine that tasted and smelt just like apricot we decided it was probably time to pitch our tent.

Now I consider myself an expert campsite and Nathan and I both like to be right all the time and prefer not to admit defeat. I thought I'd just mention this so that you know Nathan's expertise does not lie in tent building, however he is learning. Leave it to the expert. 

Tent courtesy of Philippa and Marika, so thank you.

Soon after we were pitched and had showered it started to get dark. Thankfully the campsite provided bbqs and an outdoor (with a roof) eating area. We BBQed ourselves a feast of sausages, beef burgers with salad and sweet chilli cheese and drank some pink bubbles.

The good thing about camping is that your pretty much guaranteed an early night unless you have cards or something to entertain you. 

The next day we embarked on out Bushtucker Wine Tour (recommended via an Aussie friend) at 10am and we had a super confident, full of jokes your guide. 

We visited various wineries including Adifern Estate and Knotting Hill, a liqueur place called The Grove, a brewery called Cheeky Monkey, the Margaret River (personal favourite) and Jam, oil and chocolate liqueur place. It was a fab day, where we drank too much wine and are some great food including kangaroo and crocodile. I also signed up to eat an Aussie grub, yuck! (Picture I follow). The majority of people on our tour were from Melbourne but we had 2 girls from Ireland and some more local people from Perth.

Enjoy the pictures.

The grub!

When we got back it was late and we had a quick BBQ before heading to a place nearby that had live music we then had an early night. Because the following morning our alarms were set for 4.30am to put down out tent and say goodbye to Margaret River. 

Leaving at that obscene hour was worth it to see sunrise.

Xoxo

Aussies 2014, Scarborough Beach

So when we first arrived in Australia, I googled 'Things to see/do in Western Australia' and one of the first things that came up was the 'Aussies2014', also known as Australia's Surf Life Saving Competition. We straight away tweeted using the hashtag #Aussies2014 asking whether they need any keen helpers and we pretty quickly got a response saying that they needed volunteers. 

We weren't too sure on the volunteer part, however we decided we should go along and see what it's all about as we probably wouldn't get the opportunity to help out at something like this again.

Our first shift was the Sunday before it all kicked off and we helped the admin team distribute all the information packs and rash vests to the Team Managers and also learnt a bit more about what the Aussies were all about. 

The Monday was where all the fun started. We arrived in our team 'Offical' gear, complete with a cap, long sleeved shirt and a rain coat. We were assigned to the position of 'beach recorders' which in my eyes seemed to be the best job where you got to see all the action.

Monday and Tuesday of the Aussies is for  the Masters with age categories 30-40, 40-50, 50-60 and 60+! I've never seen such ridiculously fit 70 year olds, running up and down the beach, swimming fast out far to cones and swimming back. To say it was impressive is an understatement.

The weather wasn't the best on the Monday as you can see from the above picture and it was quite cold and windy*. However from a first experience of surf life saving competition's perspective it was awesome. What I didn't realise is that, everyone that competes in the Aussies or any other related competition has to have completed their bronze medallion award and done a certain amount of hours life saving. Don't quote me on any of this information as I might be slightly wrong. But anyway to even get to participate in one of this competitions means a long of hard work, plus their fitness levels are pretty extreme.

After our first day volunteering Nathan and I found ourselves super envious of their fitness, and we were both motivated to work harder!!

On Tuesday we were greeted with the same weather, however we were lucky as after midday passed it seemed to improve and the sun appeared.  We also found that, even though it was a competition the men in our area we all very friendly with each (having known each other for years) and shook everyone's hands after a race to congratulate them. It's this sort of sponsorship that ought to be acknowledged.

Finally day 3, Wednesday arrived. The hotly anticipated Opens. The people that participate in this are the kings and queens of surf life saving, the best in Australia. Some even having competed in similar events in the Olympics. And not only all this exciting information, they also have the cream of the crop bodies, not an inch of blubber to be seen. So obviously I made very sure that we were volunteering with the men! Need I say more.

Their competitiveness is a whole different ball game to the masters, each and every man/boy taking all the races very seriously. Some would even compete in 6  different races in a row. Now I thought I was fit, pah! 

And to top it all off the weather was beautiful! 

The Aussies continued for the rest of the week and onto the weekend.. However Nathan and I had to get ourselves a job and couldn't really afford to spend anymore days volunteering. Please note this happened before we started at our new job, I had just forgotten to finish writing it! I also got myself a souvenir of the event, a Scarborough Beach swimming costume (team Scarborough). Please also note that Scarborough Beach (where the Aussies took place) was named after the beach in the UK.

*Perth is meant to be the second windiest place in the world after Chicago.

Xoxo