Caves Road North

On our last day in Margaret River, we took a gourmet drive up Caves Road towards Dunsborough.  We had already purchased some chorizo at the Venison Farm (the only meat product that the vegetarians amongst us will eat, as they can observe the deer roaming free in their paddocks as we drive past, i.e. not factory farmed!)  C was keen to stock up at Gabriel's Chocolate Factory, so we tasted a few dark varieties and had coffee there.  Across the road we did some cheese tasting at a new place.  We tried 3 cheeses made with Jersey milk: curd, marinated feta and Brie.  Produced by the Yallingup Cheese Factory, all were delicious.  Afterwards, C and E had a game of Jenga in their play area and I went for a stroll up the lane, where there was a housing development which had been going for several years.  Only 3 out of the 10 blocks were sold and no building had started.  It is a lovely location with mature trees, but it is only zoned for holiday homes not permanent residences.

Playing Jenga

Land near the housing development

Who wouldn't want to live here?

We continued on our drive as far as Meelup Beach where we had lunch. it was quite a hot day and lots of kids were swimming.  A group of teenagers were having a canoeing lesson and we were entertained by a few who couldn't get their boat out over the breaking waves.  I took a short walk along a coastal footpath with lovely sea views.

Meelup Beach

In the evening, we were booked into Miki's Open Kitchen, a new Japanese Restaurant in Margaret River which has been getting rave reviews.  We tried their 6 course degustation menu and were served tiny but delicious morsels and longed for more!  The 3 chefs were busy in the small space allocated to them.

Chefs at Miki"s

Back home, we enjoyed our own cheese platter, drank some of Claire's dessert wine from Redgate and watched the final episode of our Endeavour DVD.