Back to Margaret River

Well it’s been a while since the last post. A bit of writer’s block I suppose, or perhaps just writer’s fatigue. Life has definitely become “normalized”. Same ole’ same ole’ as they say. Just goes to show you, you can get used to anything, regardless of how many bowls of rice you have for breakfast and how many times a wailing Imam wakes you up at 4:30 am.

But hey, all of that came to a screeching halt last week. Amy had a week off (teacher’s eh….do they ever actually work? J), so the quintessential first-world problem of “where to go, what to do” was upon us yet again. Seeking a break from this wineless land of nasi goreng (remember: fried rice), we decided on busting a move to the nearest straight-line point of contact with western culture: Southwest Australia (Jakarta – Perth: 4-hr direct flight). We had completely run out of wine at the time, so that made the decision that much easier. Life without wine….it’s an inexplicable world of darkness and despair (OK, it was only 2 weeks, but it seemed like a post-nuclear apocalypse).

losing count of how many planes this box has been on

The loyal followers among you will know that SW Australia was not a random choice. In fact, it was only 10 short months ago that we were on a 2-week cycling mission from Perth to Augusta, Western Australia (see past post). On that trip, we passed through, and spent 3 days (Christmas day, in fact) in Margaret River. So taken by it, we vowed to come back and spend more time there.

Margaret River, AKA Margs (pronounced “mawgs” in that ever-so-interesting Aussie accent), is a very cool place. We’re a tad bias given the uncanny parallels to our home base of Nelson, British Columbia. The parallels are striking. Both are small towns (MR population = 5K, Nelson = 10K), in relatively out-of-way places, that one must really want to get to, to get to. Once there, both offer disproportionate levels of culture, great food, good coffee, and most importantly, blue sky, fresh air, and outdoor recreation. It was like coming home.

Margaret River’s claims to fame are diverse, making it the cool place that it is. Top of the list for most Aussies is probably the surfing. Mawgs is a renowned, world-class surf break. Not for the faint-of-heart though, it’s a serious, cold-water, reef-bottom, big surf situation. If you want to be in a surf movie, good place to come. If you are two Canadians who have spent a total accumulated time on top of a surfboard of under 5 minutes….not so good. We didn’t come for the surfing, and never went in the water. J

So why did we go? Two words (well, actually three): mountain biking, and wine. Mawgs is ground-zero for the burgeoning southwest Australia wine area, known as, wait for it: The Margaret River wine region. Reminiscent of all wine areas in the world, the area boasts a Mediterranean climate of hot dry summers, and cool winters, complimented by that iconic rolling landscape of sun-drenched hillsides covered in vineyards. Where wine meets the ocean…what’s not to like?

What really drew us back was the prospect of doing some real mountain biking. While our default go-to on the weekends in Bogor, is biking, with our mountain bikes….no self-respecting mountain biker would actually call it true mountain biking. Of course, coming from British Columbia – god’s gift to mountain biking – pretty much everything everywhere falls short. However, Mawgs is giving it her all, and a respectable mountain biking scene is emerging. Nice!

The riding is dominated by well-organized and maintained, x-country, single-track areas, that can be done in sets of one-off trails, or in a series of consecutive trails strung together for a longer ride. Everything we rode (and we pretty much hit it all) is beginner friendly (i.e., nice smooth single-track) but interspersed with enough non-mandatory stunts and downhill sections that anyone could have tons of fun. Our fav was a place called “Middle Earth” – a fantastically flowy 28-km single-track about 30 mins outside town littered with log rolls, skinnies, and ramps. In the words of one guy who whizzed by us while we were taking a break: “heaps of fun mates!” If yer going to Margaret River, and have yer bike, download this app: www.margaretriverfindthefun.com.au. This indispensable app tells you everything you need to know about Mawgs (click on “mountain biking”).

So ya, a week in Mawgs. We landed at the Perth airport, grabbed a rental car, threw (i.e., squeezed) our bike boxes into the boot, and headed south (3-hr drive) to our Airbnb just outside town. Amy’s internet skills found us, yet again, a kick-ass house, walking distance to the ocean, and complete with hot tub on the front deck. Sweet!

The daily routine evolved into waking up, first wake-up coffee, second coffee in the hot tub, nice breakfast, pack up the bikes, shred the trails for a few hours, hit a winery or two on the way back, back to the hot tub for winery wine number 1, walk down to the beach for sunset, back for winery wine number 2 and a gourmet dinner. We rode every day, drank as much delicious Australian wine as we could, and ate nothing but Australian beef, cheese, prosciutto, and gourmet appies. Could get used to that sched! I had to kidnap Amy to get her back into the car to head back to the airport J

There was one hiccup though. Both of us had colds! Amy brought hers along and suffered through the first few days. She then passed me the baton and I was sick for most of the rest of the week. Sinuses be damned though, we forged ahead with our heads full of snot! Pretty hilarious at one point. At one of our favourite wineries (been there twice, therefore it's our fav), Cape Mentelle (www.capementelle.com.au), after the first couple tastings of 80-dollar Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, I realized I had lost my ability to taste, along with my ability to smell (or breath through my nose). Hmmm, I was thinking….the Chardonnay tastes exactly like the Sav Blanc….and really, they both taste like nothing. I’m not paying 80 bucks for this crap! Amy assured me they were both delicious, and we settled on the 20-dollar rosé. Apparently, it too was delicious J