Margaret River Surf Pro

Wednesday was a really great day…what I expected and hoped my days would be like here. I had the day off and Melia from work wanted to show me around, so I met her and her friend Luke at 8am in Dunsborough for a long fun day. We grabbed some coffee from the outdoor coffee shop window and headed down Caves Road to Prevelly beach to watch the surfers rip up some waves. The coastline of cliffs and huge waves in Margaret River is incredibly different from the calm glassy waters in Busselton. The Margaret River Surf Pro (http://www.drugawarepro.com/) has been going on this week, apparently it is one of the best surf spots in the world with massive waves of 3-4 meters or larger. So I sat with Melia and Luke in the grass overlooking the beach and watched tiny surfers on the horizon battle waves two or three times their height. I've never watched live surfing and it was pretty amazing, I can't believe how long they can ride the waves without crashing into the water. Just watching the waves was mesmerizing, just waiting for the huge wave to build up and crash into the next. I couldn't put my camera down, trying to catch the biggest waves and best few seconds of surfing action. The weather was perfect, sunny with a light breeze as we chatted laying in the grass, talking about surfing and traveling and wine, watching the surfers walk by (didn't see any of the top guys though). It was a pretty great morning so after we had seen enough surfing we took a drive through the Boranup forest. After a few twisty roads we rounded a bend and the huge expanse of towering Karri trees shaded the forest ahead. The spiky tall trees stretch up toward the sky and since there are no low branches on the trees you can see rows and rows of skinny pale white tree trunks in lines like soldiers spread through the forest. It felt so green and calm under the shade, the silent breeze fresh and cool.Melia thought Hayshed Hill winery (http://www.hayshedhill.com.au/) would be a nice place for lunch so we ordered our food and tasted some wine while we waited. Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc blends (SSB) and Chardonnays are really popular in this area so we tried a few different varieties of those as well as a Shiraz-Tempranillo blend that was pretty interesting. Margaret River is a cool place for wine because they can really grow any kind of grape since there are so many different micro-climates, they literally grow everything. So we enjoyed an afternoon lunch on a back porch picnic table overlooking vineyards sprawling in the sun. Next we visited Bootleg Brewery (http://www.bootlegbrewery.com.au/) which was a really cool place with all outdoor seating at picnic tables under shade trees scattered across the lawn. I would love to go there one weekend when they have live music.We shared a pitcher of their pale ale which was really great and just relaxed in the shade for awhile. Next we stopped by Melia's family's winery called Windance (http://www.windance.com.au/) and she let me sample all their wines. The wine was amazing, really good and pretty cool that it was basically in the side addition to her parent's house. I was really surprised but I think that is how a lot of wineries are here, just little boutique places with their own unique character. Melia really wanted to show me Yallingup beach and take her puppy for a walk so we went by Luke's house so he could get the dogs and we headed to the beach. It was a breataking view driving to Yallingup beach, reaching the top of the hill as the huge white sand beach surrounded by cliffs appeared infront of me.The waves hissed loudly as they meet the deep sand, my feet sunk past my ankles as I walked along the coast, the wet dogs ran in circles teasing each other and barking at the waves. The water was chilly and the current was pretty strong even in the little strip that is supposed to be the calmest. After a refreshing swim we said goodbye to Luke and Melia took me to see her horses Gus and Missouri. I hopped on Gus bareback and took a little ride down the path, it was fun. The sun was almost gone as we headed to Melia's house for a quick shower to wash away the smell of ocean and horse before going to dinner. Dunsborough is apparently the place to be and on Wednesday night everyone goes to Malt for a Burger and a Beer (http://www.maltmarket.com.au/). I was starving and still buzzed from my one beer and a wine tasting hours ago so I was so excited to devour my delicious portabello and goat cheese burger on a freshly baked bun, mmm good. It was nice talking to Melia outside of work, she is such a nice girl. We talked mostly about traveling and where we had been and wanted to go, it is pretty cool to be around people who love to travel as much as I do. Melia traveled for about five years and kind of had my same philosophy about just going where life leads you, it sounds like she had some great experiences. It was such an exciting day, I feel like I am finally living here and not just working all the time. I can't wait until everyone is back on day shift so maybe I can make some plans with other people. I can't just wait around though so I've been trying to make plans for my days off. So much here is just being outside and seeing things so it is also kind of hard to make actual plans. I'm going surfing with Drew today though so that's exciting and I think I will take a wine tour tomorrow. Next weekend I may try to make it to the West Coast Blues and Roots concert in Freo which would be amazing.