The Big Lap - Mt Barker

 

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We left the Wellstead Bush Camp and headed up the road to Mt Barker,

Ahhhh, Wine Country.  😍

We blew the budget this week lol.

It rained most of the time so we were glad to be staying at the caravan park with all the mod cons and hellaluya!... WIFI! 😀

DAY TRIP TO THE WINERIES

Since it was raining so much, we took the opportunity to go out on Porungurup Road which is where a lot of the wineries are located.

We arrived at the first Winery bang on 10am.  No boutadoubt me. 😜

Duke's Vinyard makes an award winning Riesling however aparently it is so good that they had sold out.  Well never mind, the other wines they do are real good.  We bought a Rose, Shiraz and Cab Shiraz.  The sparkling Riesling had a taste like no other white sparkling.  I was tempted .... but that would have seriously blown the budget.

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PORONGURUP TEA ROOM CAFE

We arrived at the small village of Porongurup and saw a cute little Tea Room Cafe.  Ahhh, Devonshire Coffee and Scones!! 😀  Strawberry jam was such a gorgeous brilliant red colour and tastey.

I would totally recommend this place.

Down the road from the Cafe was Ironwood Vineyard.  We had already tried these wines.  Their reds are real good.  They sell them at the Servo at Wellstead and we enjoyed them at the daily camp fire happy hour.  Cheers, 🍷

So we didn't go there for fear of totally demolishing the weekly and next weeks budget lol.  But I would recommend that you visit. 

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KARRI ON BAR

Instead we saw a sign that said Karri On Bar perched on top of an old Bedford Truck.

'ellYea! 😀

Fantastic decision.  The rain was coming in again and we were greeted with an open inside fire, a bar and a unique woodfired pizza selection.

So we settled in to a couple hours of relaxation.  Especially as there was an Australian joke/small story book full of great Aussie tales, jokes and peotrey etc to keep us entertained.  We laughed bucket loads lol.  I need to buy this book.

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PORUNGURUP ROAD VINEYARDS

We took the scenic route back around which connects you back onto the Porungurup Road. 

We stopped at the scenic lookout.  Not scenic today.  It was grey, misty and showery.  

However I still managed to get a series of shots and made a panorama with the help of Affinity Photo.  I love this softwear.  Better than Photoshop.  

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WEST CAPE HOWE WINERY

We visited this Winery on a day trip from Wellstead Bush Camp - See my Wellstead page.  I thought I would also include it here as if you intend to stay at Mt Barker, then this is a must do.

We were pleasantly surprised by the wines here.  They were all nice.  We overspent, but what the heck; it was well worth it.  They had a cosy fireplace complete with a roaring fire.  The weather outside took a nosedive so we decided to have lunch here.  Not a big menu but everything looked really good.  We opted for a Mediterranean Pizza.  Good choice with our bottle of Shiraz Tempranillo. 

😊

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MT BARKER INFO CENTRE 

&

COUNTRY BAKERY

Mt Barker has a couple of other good things going for it.

The Info Centre is run by gorgeous friendly ladies.  We couldn't help it but spend some money here.  Hubby availed himself of the assortment of chocolate flavours made with local plants.  Unfortunately, they did not have lemon mertyl flavoured chocolate that I bought way back in Walpole but I bought a real cool emu wine bottle holder and a hot sauce that will rock your socks off.

The other foodie attraction in Mt Barker is the Country Bakery.  They are renouned for winning numerous medals for their pies.  OMG!  What an assortment of pies.  Check out the list in the pic below.

I bought a pepper pie.  Wow!  The pepper tasted hot!  And I was in heaven Mmmmm.

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CRANBROOK

Time to hit the road to Katanning and a stunning Salt Lake.

On the way we stopped off at a small village called Cranbrook.

Cranbrook does not have much going for it but we found a small cafe for a coffee and toastie and both were good.  Staff were nice as well.  So we would recommend stop off at Nana Vick's Cafe located across the road from the Community Centre and Men's Shed.  Men's Shed?.....  Huh?

Whilst we were there a goods train passed through so I was able to capture a quick pic.

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Tookie also enjoyed brunch.  He has the best bird's eye view from his cage in the back seat.  Except he does not last long there, but gravitates from one car seat to the other and the cage in between.  Tookie has certainly become comfortable with car travel.  Well except when he chucks a whining kiddie tantie after a while and we sing..... "Are We There Yet" in our best kiddie voices.  

😝  🐦

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Link to Next Stop