Into the land of up

 

Given the crash situation on the evening prior, it’s understandable that the nights downtime was full of fitful visions of crushed bumpers, limping mammals and exorbitant insurance excesses. Subsequently waking up to the inevitable picturesque view of the early morning sun glinting its delicate myriad of crystalline gems off the surface of the Eagle Bay waters did little to placate the stress of sorting the whole mess out.

In actual fact it hardly even got a shoe-in to the focus of the day. Two days ago it was “Woe Be Tide if you ever get tired of this view” and now here we are – driven to the depths of unappreciatedness of nature due to the fact that the whole holiday has just doubled in cost. All because one didn’t pay the extra insurance cover.

A few emails and subsequent phone calls realised the best way forward was to drive the car back to Busselton – albeit without the FLH indicators not working and the faring cabletied up so it didn’t dislodge in the wind. “Be prepared” says the scouts (btw. this blogger wasn’t one – figured we knew enough about camping anyway... anyhoo.. we had cable ties … but not insurance cover.. suspect the scouts don’t teach about insurance – if they do… please let me know). Digression is what this blog does occasionally and so to pull us all back into the unfolding story… we limped back to Busselton with cable ties holding the beast together. On the way noting the bevvy of religious beachfront camps which hold sway over an entire swathe of extremely expensive beach front acreages. This is bordering on being weird… we counted 10 religions proudly displaying the driveways into their compounds. God knows what they do down there.

Being early, we did (as expected by the name of the town) bustle around for a bit, getting a proper coffee prior to heading off to the car rental place. Regardless of the underlying current of the situation it was a very pleasant sunny warm, calm, relaxed feel in the heart of the town. Swapping over the damaged vehicle for exactly the same one (even colour wise – not happy because we now have a theory that white attracts Kanga’s) was always going to be time consuming and inevitably expensive. First world issues… get over it and move on which is exactly what we did. In the new (can’t tell the difference) jalopy we headed off into the ‘up’ region.

Yesterday we were in Yallingup. Today we drove through Carbunup, drove along Metricup road, bypassed Wilyabrup, ignored Quinniup falls, drove through Woodtiup National park and we have the opportunity to capture yet more over the next two days… Gnarbup on the coast looks sublime, Boranup Beach (woo hoo!), Kudarup, Kaloorup, Gingilup, Peerabeelup - which are on the way to Beedelup, all look enticing .. beyond there being Yeagarup which, heading down south a bit is Callcup, Meerup and a bit northwards is Channbearup. Heaven forbid if we ever get to Milyeannup or indeed the obvious centre of the UPiverse – Nannup. Got to love a love a good vernacular – this place has their own all sown up nicely.

Stopping off at the obligatory winery on the way down to Margaret River was fabulous – had we have not lost a few hours (and a few thou!) on the car swap we would have experienced a few more. The amount of vineyards in this area is extraordinary…actually..upon reflection “ridiculous” is a better description. They literally adorn the landscape… and the road signs. If one wanted to visit them all (apart from the inevitable another one which would be wondering why one would worry) it would take a significant time out of ones life,... sure it would be fun, however over time they would all blur into a collage of fermented grape induced memories….I guess if you wrote it all down on the way…. Ahhh now I see that thus a life can be created on the back of the consumption of the grape. James H has it all sorted.

The region is yet to be fully explored – we only have 2 days whereas it looks like we need weeks (and liver transplants waiting at the end) so in the interests of keeping you the reader engaged we checked into the very interesting ex Nunn abbey of our B@B and wandered up and down the town enjoying the afternoon warmth.

Being a Tuesday in off season the first two bars we looked at were closed. So we ambled down the main street and discovered the main pub is shut due to renovations and so we ended up at the Settlers Tavern.  Possibly due to being “Rooed” in the last 24 hrs this experience was "fun" in that the recently acquired taste for sour beer was stretched to the point of breaking by a Hong Kong can and the rest of it was simply bogan, all easily surpassed when we moved onto the swinger’s bar down the road. Here we felt far more at home. Not unsurprising.

The ambiance was uplifting, the staff were welcoming, the background music was well chosen (George Harrison – the entire album!) whilst at subtle volumes. The wine tasting platters were exceptional, the rest of the fare well presented, tasty and all the guests were thoroughly into the vibe of the place.

Leaving the swingers to do what only they know is best to do in the world we headed back to our Anglican Convent abode to have a quick shower, rose’/beer before heading off to Morries for dinner.

Morrie does tapas and they do it extremely well. This place was full of vibes. The staff were vibing. The patrons were vibing. The pictures on the walls screamed vibes at the guests. The food vibed in conjunction with the drinks that then vibed the livers of the guests. Good vibes all around. Welcome to Margret River. Center of the “up” universe.