Keith & Irina, Brighton, Victoria, 29/4/09. Very Classy set-up. A unique experience in Margaret River. Thanks for the special breakfast. We enjoyed our stay very much. Will recommend.

Keith and Irena left after a two day stay. They had driven around the town and not liked the look of anything there and then went to Prevelly and again could not find anything to their liking, and had then seen our place on the map. So they drove in about 5.00pm and asked if we had a room. Keith is a vegan and doesn't eat eggs, so Rocksand cooked him some mushrooms and onions, with a grilled tomato and of course our special beans.

They obviously liked what they saw and the next day decided to stay another night. They visited lots of wineries plus the chocolate factory, nut factory and had an early dinner at the Providore which they said was very good, and then watched the sun set at Gracetown (which they thought was rather special -both the location and the sunset). They spent every evening nearly till midnight in the lounge watching their favourite soaps on the big tv. They did enjoy talking and it wasn't until 12pm when we all went to sleep.

Anzac Day

Big Anzac Day weekend. On Saturday I went into Margaret River at 11am and watched the Anzac Parade go down the hill and to the Memorial Park, led by a brass band. Quite a large contingent of veterans with several in two cars. We were able to get a seat and enjoyed the service. The wreath laying was particularly poignant and the band played some lovely music.

My son James, daughter-in-law Lindy and granddaughter Camilla arrived and we had dim sum lunch at Rasa's in town. Sunday we were going to have lunch at the Colonial Brewing Co. but were told it would be 50 minutes before we could be served, we went to the Berry Farm and had strawberry champagne with a very lovely meal in a beautiful garden setting. Camilla had a wonderful time here and learnt several new words including Casey (the house dog) and Chooks.

Lots of guests coming and going over the weekend. Craig and partner went to a wedding in Busselton then to the reception at Clairault, they thought it was absolutely wonderful. The bride came several days before and left a bottle of champagne for them to enjoy.

Mary and Martin, a lovely pair of refugees from South Africa had a great time here. They are also refugees from Hopetoun but seem to be picking themselves up again which is great.

Mitch and Nichola are also refugees but from Kiwiland. They loved the caves and Cape Leeuwin and the drive back up to the Berry Farm. Nichola had her palate so affected by the licquers that she was unable to taste the jams. What a pity ;)

Nichola & Mitchell, Brydon, 28/4/09, Thank you very much for your lovely hospitality. We had a great experience. See you again soon.

Martin & Mary, 26/4/09. We really enjoyed our stay. What a great location! We loved your dogs!!

Misty Morning

On the 19th there was a lovely misty morning, quite unusual. A foretaste of winter perhaps.

Spiders

There are quite a few of these spiders with webs between trees in the forest, usually over kangaroo pads and firebreaks. Finding their daytime hideout is always a challenge. They need to hide well as there are lots of big wasps about that would quickly turn it into breakfast for their larvae.

Rocksand, our B&B assistant has walked into the web of this spider twice now as it is across the path she takes when she walks to here in the mornings. She says the web is very strong and sticky, like some alien has sprayed her with a web and is about to capture her.

Ben left early this morning to go back to Victoria after spending a week with us. He spent a lot of time contemplating and reading and visited quite a lot of the area, driving to Pemberton and looking at galleries in the region. He was also a "bit of a teetotaller" so did not visit any of the wineries.  Next month he will join a monastery so this was his last indulgence for a while.