Petra Olive Oil Estate

Sunday 25th October 2009
Having had an early night we were able to wake up early and go out for breakfast, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and at about 28c, the perfect temperature for not doing a lot.
We went for breakfast at Petra Olive Oil Estate in Yallingup, or at least somewhere near Yallingup, it was recommended to Ian by one of our suppliers, so with only one child in tow we thought we would give it a go.
It is a bit out of the way, but we found it in the end and after tasting a few dips and oils we ordered our breakfasts.
Ian had had the Olive Pickers Breakfast which was basically a big breakfast with a twist, the scrambled eggs were mixed with an Indian style chutney to give a very tasty and interesting flavour, the only downside was the Yallingup Wood Fired Sourdough Toast, which didn’t seem to be as fresh as some that we have tried.
Carolyn had the Poached Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon and enjoyed it apart from the eggs being a bit under cooked, she doesn’t really do runny poached eggs.
Kristian had Toast and Jam, except he didn’t want it toasted and that was fine, it was the same Sourdough and he did struggle to get through it a bit, but he did enjoy the jam, although his favourite part was probably making friends with the house dog “Gemma”, but then he is young and has never been hungry enough to really appreciate food.
It was a very nice setting with a good ambience and a nice dog; we will try it again sometime. They also have dog friendly accommodation, just in case you are interested.

After breakfast we drove to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse so that we could go for a walk down to the Whale Watching area, it is Whale Watching season, we haven’t seen any in the wild and we wanted some of it.
As we walked round the headland we saw a couple of spurts of water going into the air as whales surfaced or submerged or whatever they were doing, when we got to the Whale Watching platform we saw a few more.
Unfortunately they were quite a way out and there weren’t any Liverpool fans around, so no beach balls to play with, they were barely breaking the surface and even with binoculars we could only see the water breaking as they came up for air or went under, but based on the position of them we reckon that they were Humpback Whales as they don’t come too close into shore.
After that we went to a school fete in Dunsborough, talk about a professional job with plenty of local business backers, this was an event that was going to raise a fortune, just not out of us, we wasted a couple of dollars on a wine raffle then headed for home.
We got home to find two manic puppies, starved of attention for more than ten minutes and desperate to get outside to relieve themselves, so we let them do that, put out some washing to dry and went down to the jetty for a coffee in the sun.
After coffee we went for a walk round Busseltons two art galleries, before stopping at Gelato for the obligatory hot weather indulgence, ice cream.
From there we went home to wait for Fraser and Marisa to come back from camp, when they arrived we were informed that Marisa was grumpy because she didn’t get much sleep, no surprise there then, she never does on theses things then wonders why she is tired.
It’s been a very enjoyable day for us and we weren’t going to have it upset by grumpy kids, so we stuck them in the shower, fed them and sent them to bed, peace by 7.15pm, not bad.
We watched a couple of episodes of guff that we had recorded and had an early night ourselves.

Jungle Bungle

Saturday 9th May 2009
Tomorrow is Mothers Day over here so the town was busy this morning, the problem was, it was all men with kids and men with kids going shopping for a present for mum are not generally in the mood to browse and stop for a coffee while discussing what they are going to buy.
So the Café was pretty quiet today due to the lack of females about, fortunately one of the staff rang in sick so at least we saved a few bob there.
Marisa and some of her friends went to Jungle Bungle this morning for a couple of hours play as part of Marisas week long birthday celebrations, they ran around like lunatics while Carolyn sat outside soaking up the sun, drinking coffee and pretending she was the responsible adult.
After Jungle Bungle they all went to the Chinese for lunch, they had a great time in there with Marisa and her mates sitting on one table while Carolyn and the boys sat on another, we thought they might like to feel like they were young adults dining out together but with the knowledge that Carolyn was watching from a distance.
After the Chinese, where the kids behaved themselves more or less for more or less the duration of the meal, they went to Gelato for in Ice Cream before heading home.
After Ian finished work we drove to the Jetty to have a look at the Jetty Jamboree, a celebration of the fact that they are at last going to start work on rebuilding and making it safe again.
We got there at about a quarter to six and it was due to be going on until 7pm, but we had missed anything that was going on in regard to entertainment.
We did meet the parents of one of Kristians friends and had a chat with them while the kids ran wild, then we had a sausage sizzle and went home, it was a bit of an anti climax for us as far as Jamborees go.
When we got home we put the kids to bed and watched the film Jewel of the Nile with Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito, it is a great fun film but no good for the kids and not as good as Romancing the Stone which we saw the other night.

2003 Claret

Thursday 16th April 2009
We were busy in the Café today, it was almost like all those people who had decided to have a day away from Busselton yesterday, had decided to stay in town today.
Marisa had to go and see the Orthodontist again this morning, he had to adjust her brace a bit, but other than that was quite happy and sent her away for another three months.
Carolyn, her dad and the kids went to Tuart Forest on the outskirts of Busselton in a last ditch attempt to see some Kangaroos, they were not disappointed and saw quite a few.
They then went to Wonnerup House which is one of the few buildings of historical interest in this area that hasn’t been ripped apart.
The couple who open the buildings are real fanatics and know all sorts of interesting snippets about the family that lived there, where they came from in England (Bedfordshire), where the original owner was speared to Death by Aboriginals (next to the original house) when he got involved in an argument (with men with spears????).
There is an old stable with log floors, a Blacksmiths shop with all sorts of old ‘stuff’ that Carolyns Dad enjoyed poking through, explaining all of its uses to the kids as he went along, all just laying around, have we mentioned how honest everyone is out here.
After a wander around the pasture and inspecting a wheel from a train that used to roll through the area, they drove across the road and looked through the one roomed schoolhouse and the schoolteachers house, the school was last used the year Carolyns dads old Renault was built, a while ago…Dad?
They went to the Café for lunch before going home and getting the bikes out and riding along the Cycle Path back into Busselton, in true HoJo tradition they had an Ice Cream from Gelato before heading for home again.
Tonight we finished off our final Bottle of House of Commons wine, it was the House Pinot Noir given to us as a leaving present from one of our customers when we left the Pub in Axbridge.
He actually gave us a couple of bottles of Red Wine, the other was a 2003 Claret which we drank a little while ago now and it was absolutely gorgeous, thanks Mark and if you happen to be working there again and they still have some you could do a lot worse than buying a few cases of it for yourself.