Margaret River= caves, whales and lots of wines!

So the weekend after our trip to NZ we went on another quick trip.  This time it was still in Australia (although the actual flight time was even longer than our last international flight!)  Brian had some work to do in Perth and so I booked a flight to meet him on Friday evening so we could drive south to the beautiful wine region of Margaret River.  We actually stayed at a lodge in Yallingup (for anyone who is familiar with the area!)

The first morning we went to Lake Cave.  It was really amazing!!  To be honest, I cant remember any of the cool cave facts (which is why I should have written this blog 2 weeks ago...)  But I do know Brian would love to tell you all about stalagmites and stalactites... whether or not you were interested.  He is not really concerned with his audience (my) interest level while giving this information but that's one of the reasons I love him!  Anyways, here are some pictures of Lake Cave....

heading to the cave entrance....

Pretty amazing :)  Gotta love a little spelunking to start off the day.

Next up-- wineries!!  yahooooo!

There are so many wineries in this area so we just drove along with a map and stopped as we went.  We probably went to 5 or 6.  Lunch outside was great and the food was delicious.  The wine in that area is just so good, and we were not disappointed at any of them (and trust me we tried A LOT!)

That evening before dinner we decided to do a bit of whale watching!  We have been to many areas where they have a whale season, when they cruise by the shores, but we have never been at the right place at the right time.  Since, we discovered it was this areas "season", we both really wanted to spot one!

 well... unfortunately we did NOT see any whales... we did however, polish off a bottle of wine while watching a gorgeous sunset, so I would still call the evening a success!

Wave crashing/ sunset pictures courtesy of Brian :)  His favorite 2 types of pics in one!

The next morning we went out to a specialized "whale watching spot" and after only a minute out there we spotted one (or two or three, who's to say)!  HOORAY!

Here is the best picture of a whale tail but they were very far away so it was hard to snap pictures. Brian and I loved sitting out there seeing the whales spout out water and flap their tails in the air.  It was really the coolest.  We sat there for about an hour and a half just watching (didnt hurt that it was a gorgeous day)

Whale tail :)

what the picture looked like before i super zoomed in... they were pretty far away :)

The last stop of the trip was to gorgeous Bunker Bay.  It was still a bit too chilly to get in the water (not to mention the teensy shark problem they have there) but we still enjoyed walking along the beach and having a yummy lunch with the best view.  Here are the last few pictures from our trip south of Perth.  After the beach we went to the airport and went home...

I was worried there was an accident but they were just practicing :)  Good on em, Im sure they need to with all the SHAAKS

enjoying our lunch (we really were!  even if he does looks like a grump!)

pretty wild lilies

It was such a great weekend away in a beautiful part of Australia.

Right now Brian is in the US for a few weeks but before he left he planted lots of herbs, 4 tomato plants and 7+ pepper plants....  I foresee lots of homemade fresh salsa in our future.... YUMMY!

Happy Spring Time and Grand Final Day-- Go Swanies?