Hello! It’s just me, your friendly spa and food loving hound! Did you guess where we were off to next? No? Well our first stop might give you a hint. It’s the Southern Hemisphere’s longest wooden plank jetty and the second longest in the world- Busselton Jetty. Well you know I can’t resist shopping. In fact I have purposely left my bag and money in the van but of course cute little temptations beckon to me and my friendly travelling companions kindly loan me the funds. I resisted the temptation to buy some higher prices items and stay with this cute little anchor cookie cutter therefore satisfying my incessant urge to purchase while not getting Mr NQN upset when the bills come in.

The jetty is almost 2kms long and winds all the way around to the side. There is a giant slide for families and kids and a couple of places to stop and eat or have a drink, one more casual one a little fancier. the jetty is under construction at the moment and we are a week early before the opening will take place. We get back in the van after this short stretch of our legs and rewatering-the drive from Perth to our final destination is four hours and we have another hour before we get to stop for lunch.

If you guessed we were off to Margaret River well then you are very wise indeed! Well you can’t visit Margaret River without going to a winery or several and while we in Perth, we were slightly panicked at the idea of a cyclone hitting the Margaret River region. So we were all on “cyclone watch” and I was doing my best to will the cyclone away. Thankfully the cyclone weakens and we all woke up to the wonderful news that we would be going to the Margaret River! Although let’s be honest we all volunteered to barricade ourselves in the Injidup spa where we were staying with bottles of champagne or wine. We’re a determined lot we are

We arrive at Wise Winery our lunch destination, I’m quite hungry and ready to eat. We order our meals and then go for a brief wine tasting at the cellar door next door. There are also ginormous jars of jams and marmalades made locally with South West WA produce-these huge 650g jars go for $17 which is a great price and a nice gift (and they have testers, the strawberry and rose jam is lovely as is the beetroot marmalade which is like a relish).

Citrus salmon ceviche, witlof, walnut, pickled onion $20.50

The ceviche is unlike any other ceviche I have tried. Presented as almost folded salmon ribbons, it’s very much cooked through (whereas the ceviche I have tried previously still retains somewhat of a sashimi texture inside). Undeniably photogenic it is paired with a freshly and pickled red cabbage and onion, untoasted walnuts and whole black peppercorns and served in little witlof leaf boats. I didn’t particularly go for this dish, it wasn’t bad but the witlof was too bitter for me and the ceviche needed some herbs or seasoning.

Wise tasting plate $37

The Wise tasting plate had several components to it starting with a puff pastry enclosed mushroom pie, thin slices of soft pork belly in a pea and mushroom sauce and topped with a gorgeous pickled cherry, chorizo which is a little hard in texture, cold grilled prawns with a very onioney guacamole and little toast shapes with a mild tasting rillette on top.

Fresh sliced parma prosciutto and melon polenta chips, anchovies, extra virgin olive oil $22

Crab stuffed paccheri, squid, cherry tomato salsa $30

So I swore that I wouldn’t have oysters again today as I figured you were all probably sick of seeing oysters on the site (see how much I love you to give up on oysters? ) so I went with a crab dish. The paccheri (tube pasta) has been replaced with shells today and it is filled with a mixture of crab and what tastes like mashed potato and thyme. I don’t actually taste much crab at all in it which is a bit disappointing but I enjoy the squid and cherry tomatoes.

Margaret river venison, pepper crusted, parmesan custard, apple and radish salad $40

Gnocchi a la Romana Gratin, pea veloute, wild mushrooms, Mediterranean pesto $28

The gnocchi a la romana comes out as three discs of potato and cheese gnocchi which are delicious and go well with the pesto and the tomato, onion and olive diced salad.

Beef fillet, colcannon potatoes, confit tomatoes, jus $40

Local line caught dhufish, Russian salad, apple mint $45

Sadly we don’t have time for desserts (from our experience here restaurants do take an awful long time between courses) so it’s always a challenge to get to other appointment. Plus we are off to check in to our new digs!

Lobby of Injidup Resort and Spa

My email to Mr NQN…

“Hello,

I’m at Injidup spa and my private line is: 9750 XXXX

I’m off to the spa at 7:30 Sydney time so you can call any time before then. If I don’t answer I might be in the plunge pool. sorry

xxx”

We arrive at the Injidup Spa and resort in Injidup and are greeted at the lobby area where the spa also sits (and where I’m booked in for a treatment later!). We take our bags to our villas (unusually for a resort of this calibre, there isn’t a porter) and check into our villas. There are only ten luxury villas here each bordering the clifftops and below is Injidup beach. Everything is tastefully decorated in creams and whites and there is a large living area, a kitchen area, an elevated bedroom and bathroom and my what makes my day, a private plunge pool. Life is just better with a private plunge pool and I wish my regular life included one too.

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Welcome to Alice in Wonderland…

When you think of Bali, you may think of cornrows, humidity and Australian tourists. You don’t really think of Alice In Wonderland. But when the lovely local blogger Sinead from Airy Fairy Cupcakess told me about Divine Wonderland, an Alice in Wonderland themed restaurant, I knew I had to pay it a visit. I am admittedly rather obsessed with Alice In wonderland and all things to do with her and her merry and mischievous companions.

Peering inside the window

Formerly open for breakfast and lunch, Divine Wonderland is only open for dinner nowadays from 4pm (we learned this the hard way when we arrived for lunch to find it closed). There is valet parking outside and the green Astroturf lawn is a colourful contrast to the white walls, chairs and tables outside. We walk inside and the Alice banded waitress asks us where we would like to sit. I look around and the answer hits me instantly. There are two enormous chairs at least double the size of regular chairs. ” We’ ll take those please!” I say happily.

Mr NQN in a giant chair!

We climb up onto the chairs and feel like kids again. “We’ve been shrunken like Alice!” I tell a confused Mr NQN who hasn’t read the book or seen the movie. “Mmm right” he mumbles while climbing up into the chair. I suspect that at 188 cms tall he  hasn’t felt this small in a long time whereas I at 155cms have never felt tall. We start with some lovely drinks. Most restaurants in Bali are open air and it’s usually quite pleasant but today is particularly hot so we need a lot of thirst quenching. The music selection it has to be said is great and on some nights they have a DJ. It’s a shame there isn’t afternoon tea served here.

Red queen 59,000 rupiah (approximately $6.66AUD)

Mr NQN orders the Red Queen which has gin, sweet vermouth, lime, apple, cranberry and grenadine which is sweet and very fruity.

Strawberry juice 18000 rupiah (approximately $2 AUD)

I love the strawberry juice which tastes just of sweet, fresh strawberries. Although the menu does say at there isn’t any sugar added I would have to guess that there is some sugar syrup as strawberries are never this lovely and sweet.

Carne platter for two 78000 rupiah (approximately $8.80 AUD)

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