Albany to Mt Barker via the Porongurup Mountains, Western Australia
A simply wonderful day: picked up some hard-to-get native plants seeds at a seed shop, walked 4 kilometers to a wonderful lookout in the forest, ate an amazing lunch at a Thai cafe in the countryside, visited the Banksia Farm where all 79 banksia species are grown, and tasted some good wine--including finding The Bomb, a 2000 Plantagenet Shiraz.
Well, it's all pretty easy--a day in five parts.
Seeds
Well, on the way out of Albany, we stopped by a seed business that specializes in Australian native plant seed. Most of these plants are hard to find in nurseries in California, despite a very similar climate to temperate Australia. The plants are just too odd or strange looking, they're not the comfy English cottage garden plants with soft flowers in pastel pinks and purples go for. But they're neat. I picked up quite a few to try out: Anigozanthos flavidius in green/yellow and red/green (a kangaroo paw); Banksia audax, blechnifolia, gardneri, menziesii (dwarf), solandri, speciosa, hookeriana; Eucalyptus jacksonii (red tingle); Erythrina vespartillo (batwing coral), and Patersonia occidentalis. Sadly, no Eucalyptus rhodantha, which is a small, 3 meter shrub with huge red flowers the size of a rose, and huge nuts 4 inches across that look carved. Oh well.
Hike and Wine
North of the seed place (and Albany) are the Porongurups, a range of modest granite mountains stretching 30 kilometers or so from east to west. We came around the east side of the mountains, and stopped first at Castle Rock Winery. The Mt Barker region is known for riesling, and we found theirs to be pretty good--dry and a bit steely.
Just a few minutes to the winery is the track to Balancing Rock and Castle Rock lookout, 600 meters high above the plains stretching south to Albany. The view was wonderful, with green paddocks of sheep, yellow paddocks of rapeseed, and blue green tree farms of Tasmanian blue gums stretching down to the hills of Albany, with puffy white clouds just like in the opening credits of The Simpsons. The track up was a good hike as well; while it took only thirty minutes to make it to the top, it was up a fairly steep to start, through forests of tall karri and marri eucalyptus. Underneath were purple hovea and yellow acacia and small blue fan flowers. The forest--and it felt like a forest--smelled clean and fresh from the rain last night, very springlike.
To the north of the lookout, the Stirling Range stood out abruptly on the horizon, 50 kilometers away, very jagged. Looking forward to hiking tomorrow!
Thai Food
So, driving west to Mt Barker from the hike through sheep paddocks and the occasional vineyard... there was a strange sign: Thai Food (Open). Huh? Here? Yep! We drove into Meeleya's Thai Cafe, and had some of the best Thai food we've ever had. Chris proclaimed the beef masaman the best he's had. Meeleya is Thai, and married a Swiss Swede (born in Stockton, California!) when they lived in Switzerland... but after a dozen years there, they decided to move somewhere nice and warm, and now are in the middle of temperate western Australia where it's green and sunny. It was very mellow, very good.
Banksia Farm
Well, one of the reasons why we came to Australia is for me to see banksias. This is a plant species that's pretty much unknown in the US, but it's an amazing one. All of the species come from Australia, and the plants themselves have huge flowers, many four to twelve inches long, in cones on top of the plant, in many wild colors. And near Mt Barker, Kevin Collins runs the Banksia Farm, where you can see all of the species happily in the ground, many of them blooming! Kevin gave us quite the entertaining talk before setting us loose on the garden path, where we wondered at the many varied species. Afterwards, I purchased some seed off Kevin, and got a bonus: some hard to get Banksia epica seed. We'll give that a go once we get back.
The Bomb: Plantagenet Mt Barker 2000 Shiraz
From the Banksia Farm, it's just a couple of miles to the Plantagenet winery, where we sampled a few of there wines. The first were just so-so... the riesling was interesting, the pinot was kinda boring, their mass market shiraz wasn't peppery enough... and then we got to their cellaring shiraz, and it was great. Deep, dark, opaque ruby red. Full mouth feel. Not all fruity and jammy. Some subtle flavors, then a nice long finish. It is more than competent, and one of the best wines we've had in Australia. We purchased a bottle, and will enjoy it in four or five years.
In fact, it was so good we asked for a couple of glasses for it to sip at the tables in the tasting room... and we mellowed out as the winery closed up for the day. One of the workers came over and gave us a nice plate of English-style cheddar cheese and crackers! Mmmm! That wine went down nice, as we just enjoyed the cool spring afternoon. The breeze was fresh, the iris and daffodils and ixia flowers were blooming in the gardens, the cool limestone and brick of the tasting room, the deep dark jarrah floor and overhead beams... it was such a mellow time, and it felt like everything was right.
And it was, a great way to wind up an unpressured day.
Weird Wildlife Sighting
Another black skink on the trail. Spring is here; the reptiles are getting out and warm and about!
Where we stayed
- Valley Views Motel, Mount Barker
- $79 - queen motel room
- Best motel in Australia. Fresh milk, free movies, great room.