![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Yelverton Brook (+ Indy)
Saturday, May 24th, 2008 08:58 pm
Yelverton Brook is a wonderful retreat a little south of Busselton. There are five chalets set within a 100 acres conservation sanctuary - plenty of bush and animals. Zig gave me a getaway there for the two of us for Christmas, so I've been eagerly anticipating it for a while now.
We packed on Wednesday morning and had some delays due not being able to find the cat - problem finally solved by leaving a key with the replacement cat feeder just in case. Had read that there would be a "welcome platter" upon arrival along with fresh bread, so we stopped by the shops in Busselton and grabbed some deli meat, cheese, crackers, olives, and artichoke hearts to round it out for dinner. We ended up getting to the retreat at about 5pm. The place was lovely! It was an open plan style of chalet, so I got to see most of it all at once. Near the front door was a table with champagne glasses and chocolates waiting - the champagne was chilling in the fridge. The bed had burgandy satin sheets, with ballons and two teddy bears that had burgandy ribbons around their necks. So cute! Grabbed a bag out of the car, and by the time I had put it inside, two kangaroos showed up. There was specially formulated feed on top of the fridge for each of the various animals, so we got to feed the kangaroos some of that. They ate right out of my hand, and their fur was so soft, it was amazing. Dark started to fall shortly after, so I organised our food and we started eating it a little before 6pm. At just after 6pm the lady of the place arrived with the fresh bread and welcome platter. The platter was amazing - it had some more meat, three types of cheese (different from ours too) crackers, chocolate, vegetable crudites, dip, fruit, and some of those gourmet almond cake slice things. We had so much food in the end that we ate it for lunch the next day too! While we were eating, a bandicoot showed up and we got to feed it, although the bandicoot was much too skitterish to get within a couple of metres so we didn't get to stroke it. Brush-taiil possums showed up later, we put their feed in a bird feeder hanging off the verandah, and they climbed up there to eat it. Their fur was soft too, very slightly coarser than the kangaroos though. There was a stereo with three classical CDs and two love pop tune mix CDs. I put the classical on before dinner and the night became perfect, with the animals and the food and the champagne and the lovely little chalet and Zig and I together.
There was a massive thunderstorm during the night, multiple flashes lasting for several seconds worth and the thunder almost never stopping at all. It was nice to listen to while snuggled up in bed. The shower in the morning was interesting, as the bathroom floor was heated. Zig made pancakes for breakfast, and then we relaxed and enjoyed ourselves, mostly reading together all day with a few breaks for bird and kangaroo feeding. Took a trip to the nearest general store for dinner supplies, and ended up making an interesting fried rice/risotto thingy with leftover ham and roast beef, tinned corn, tinned peas, sliced olives, sliced artichoke hearts, an egg, olive oil and soy sauce. Picked up more champagne too. It was a delicious dinner, and there was enough left over for a yummy breakfast in the morning too. Friday morning we cleaned up and left at 10am, but not before feeding the kangaroos again. Six of them showed up all at once to say goodbye to us.
I had thought it might be nice to visit the Metricup Bird Park for an hour or two before having lunch at Cape Lavender, however it was closed on Fridays. Zig wasn't hungry - he doesn't eat much during the day - but I certainly was, so I convinced him that I'd just have morning tea at Cape Lavender instead, then we'd hit the beach before heading to the next place. The gardens were full of many different lavender varieties, all with name placards. The one that is most common in our suburbian gardens is call "Grey French Lavender". I had devonshire tea with lavender scones, lavender and raspberry jam, double cream, and lavender tea that came with a mini shortbread cookie with lavender in it. It was most delicious, although it was a little disconcerting to burp a lavender taste about two hours later! We headed to a random beach after that, and ended up at a place with rather large waves, lots of wind, and fascinating coastline. Many photos were taken. Next stop after that was the Bush Shack Brewery. I had been aching to get there the whole trip - my mission was to finally taste the mystery of Chocolate Beer. Well, I tasted it and it was interesting, but now that my curiousity is sated I don't feel the need to drink it again. I aso had a Mango Madness, which was based on wine and tasted exactly like a girly drink. Zig had a Yallingup Old, which was a little too sweet for a beer, but would've been alright if that was the mood one was in. He also had a Dirty Dan which had a slight coffee flavour and was quite tasty. One sip left an aftertaste that lasted through several sips of Mango Madness.
Headed back to Perth after that, got back home about 5pm. The cat was rather pleased to see us. I had a hankering to see Indiana Jones and had decided on the trip home that I was going out to see it. I convinced Zig that it would be good for him to come too since it was a good veging activity. So we headed out again almost immediately (much to the cat's disgust) and hit the 5:45pm session at Midland where I had cheap vouchers. The movie had an object in it that was magnetic***, and the writers stuffed up a little by making its magnetic properties not consistent. For instance, a person a few feet away had a metallic thing attract to it, but the buttons/belt buckle on the person holding the object magically didn't get affected. Other than that, I really enjoyed it - definitely lived up to one's expectations of what an Indiana Jones movie should be like. The credits were amazingly short, and there was no extra scene at the end of them.
*** Not spoilerific, you find this out in the extreme early stages of the movie.
We packed on Wednesday morning and had some delays due not being able to find the cat - problem finally solved by leaving a key with the replacement cat feeder just in case. Had read that there would be a "welcome platter" upon arrival along with fresh bread, so we stopped by the shops in Busselton and grabbed some deli meat, cheese, crackers, olives, and artichoke hearts to round it out for dinner. We ended up getting to the retreat at about 5pm. The place was lovely! It was an open plan style of chalet, so I got to see most of it all at once. Near the front door was a table with champagne glasses and chocolates waiting - the champagne was chilling in the fridge. The bed had burgandy satin sheets, with ballons and two teddy bears that had burgandy ribbons around their necks. So cute! Grabbed a bag out of the car, and by the time I had put it inside, two kangaroos showed up. There was specially formulated feed on top of the fridge for each of the various animals, so we got to feed the kangaroos some of that. They ate right out of my hand, and their fur was so soft, it was amazing. Dark started to fall shortly after, so I organised our food and we started eating it a little before 6pm. At just after 6pm the lady of the place arrived with the fresh bread and welcome platter. The platter was amazing - it had some more meat, three types of cheese (different from ours too) crackers, chocolate, vegetable crudites, dip, fruit, and some of those gourmet almond cake slice things. We had so much food in the end that we ate it for lunch the next day too! While we were eating, a bandicoot showed up and we got to feed it, although the bandicoot was much too skitterish to get within a couple of metres so we didn't get to stroke it. Brush-taiil possums showed up later, we put their feed in a bird feeder hanging off the verandah, and they climbed up there to eat it. Their fur was soft too, very slightly coarser than the kangaroos though. There was a stereo with three classical CDs and two love pop tune mix CDs. I put the classical on before dinner and the night became perfect, with the animals and the food and the champagne and the lovely little chalet and Zig and I together.
There was a massive thunderstorm during the night, multiple flashes lasting for several seconds worth and the thunder almost never stopping at all. It was nice to listen to while snuggled up in bed. The shower in the morning was interesting, as the bathroom floor was heated. Zig made pancakes for breakfast, and then we relaxed and enjoyed ourselves, mostly reading together all day with a few breaks for bird and kangaroo feeding. Took a trip to the nearest general store for dinner supplies, and ended up making an interesting fried rice/risotto thingy with leftover ham and roast beef, tinned corn, tinned peas, sliced olives, sliced artichoke hearts, an egg, olive oil and soy sauce. Picked up more champagne too. It was a delicious dinner, and there was enough left over for a yummy breakfast in the morning too. Friday morning we cleaned up and left at 10am, but not before feeding the kangaroos again. Six of them showed up all at once to say goodbye to us.
I had thought it might be nice to visit the Metricup Bird Park for an hour or two before having lunch at Cape Lavender, however it was closed on Fridays. Zig wasn't hungry - he doesn't eat much during the day - but I certainly was, so I convinced him that I'd just have morning tea at Cape Lavender instead, then we'd hit the beach before heading to the next place. The gardens were full of many different lavender varieties, all with name placards. The one that is most common in our suburbian gardens is call "Grey French Lavender". I had devonshire tea with lavender scones, lavender and raspberry jam, double cream, and lavender tea that came with a mini shortbread cookie with lavender in it. It was most delicious, although it was a little disconcerting to burp a lavender taste about two hours later! We headed to a random beach after that, and ended up at a place with rather large waves, lots of wind, and fascinating coastline. Many photos were taken. Next stop after that was the Bush Shack Brewery. I had been aching to get there the whole trip - my mission was to finally taste the mystery of Chocolate Beer. Well, I tasted it and it was interesting, but now that my curiousity is sated I don't feel the need to drink it again. I aso had a Mango Madness, which was based on wine and tasted exactly like a girly drink. Zig had a Yallingup Old, which was a little too sweet for a beer, but would've been alright if that was the mood one was in. He also had a Dirty Dan which had a slight coffee flavour and was quite tasty. One sip left an aftertaste that lasted through several sips of Mango Madness.
Headed back to Perth after that, got back home about 5pm. The cat was rather pleased to see us. I had a hankering to see Indiana Jones and had decided on the trip home that I was going out to see it. I convinced Zig that it would be good for him to come too since it was a good veging activity. So we headed out again almost immediately (much to the cat's disgust) and hit the 5:45pm session at Midland where I had cheap vouchers. The movie had an object in it that was magnetic***, and the writers stuffed up a little by making its magnetic properties not consistent. For instance, a person a few feet away had a metallic thing attract to it, but the buttons/belt buckle on the person holding the object magically didn't get affected. Other than that, I really enjoyed it - definitely lived up to one's expectations of what an Indiana Jones movie should be like. The credits were amazingly short, and there was no extra scene at the end of them.
*** Not spoilerific, you find this out in the extreme early stages of the movie.
