We are preparing to tear another month off the calendar. March will be our 6th month of travel, although the halfway point of the trip won't actually occur until April. Seems like it's really starting to go fast! Maybe we're just getting used to being on the road, or maybe it's that life moves past us too quickly. Whatever the reason, I would like it to slow down a bit. I am nowhere ready for the half-way point of this trip!

But I digress from the story ... For the past few days we've been staying in a little town called Bussleton about 250 km south of Perth. Our first day there we struck out on our own and did some beer tasting. Yes, I know it's wine country, but there are a few microbreweries and we decided beer was on the menu today rather than wine. We did stop at one winery, Vasse Felix, because we had tasted their Cabernet in Canberra and really liked it. It is a huge winery for the region, and pretty high-brow. Needless to say, we tasted a bit of wine, bought an overpriced, but still inexpensive wine, and headed back out to find more beer.

The breweries we visited were the Wicked Ale House and Bootleg. Wicked Ale was funkier and probably the place I would be more likely to hang out and 'session' at. Bootleg was more like a winery that happened to brew beer instead. A bit pretentious, but there was one nice beer. The Wicked Ale house made a Chocolate Beer that made Rogue's Chocolate Stout taste like water:) Unfortunately, they don't sell any in bottles at the brewery, only by mail order. Oh well, such is the fate of a beer drinker in wine country.

The next day we decided to do some serious tasting (drinking) so we went on a tour. Yes, we normally don't do that, but having a driver made a lot of sense. As it turns out, we had a small group and after a few tastes, everyone loosened up and we had a great time. We visited 5 wineries, a cheese factory and a chocolate factory. Our driver made lunch for us that included smoked kangaroo, wichity grub pate and assorted other 'bush' foods. I was a bit hesitant to eat the pate, but it was great. The kangaroo was absolutely delicious. It's very much like venison, lean and tasty.

This morning we left Bussleton and headed south and then east to a small logging town called Pemberton. Along the way, we visited a lighthouse in Augusta which is right at the point where the Indian and Southern oceans meet. Pretty cool! It's the most southwestern point in Australia. The drive from there to Pemberton was in some very remote area. It's actually a bit stressful driving here since you have to be paying attention at all times in case a kangaroo decides to try and mate with your car while your doing 110 km/hour. There was evidence of this all along the road ... not pretty. We have yet to see a live kangaroo, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

Tomorrow we head off to Albany for a few days and then up to Wave Rock before heading back to Perth by the weekend.

Stay tuned,

Eric & Val