Western Australia - Day 3 (Pt 3): Margaret River | Sunflowers Farmstay

From the Busselton Jetty, we continued to drive southwards towards our accommodation for the next 2 nights - Sunflowers Farmstay.  We made a couple of stops along the way for some retail therapy.

#1 - Vasse Virgin
I loved the beautiful tree-lined driveway that would lead you to their store and small soap factory.

The store stocked a wide range of olive-oil products that would take care of you from head to toe.  I purchased a jar of the aloe vera facial moisturizer in hopes of alleviating the sunburn that we had sustained from day 2.  There was also a range of products for children, which I grabbed a bottle of shampoo, conditioner, and body moisturizer.  (These proved to be handy in the subsequent days of travel as we ran out of what we had brought with us.)

They had a basin where you could test out the hand soaps that came in several lovely scents.  As we made payment for our purchases, the kind lady gave each of our children a small soap sample.  

#2 - Margaret River Chocolate Factory
Just a short distance from Vasse Virgin was the famous chocolate factory.

They had huge bowls of samples of their chocolate pastelles in 3 flavours - milk, white and dark.  Our children were fascinated that they could help themselves to these chocolates for free.  While they were busy munching down the chocolates in their little hands, the Dad headed to the cafe to purchase a cup of hot chocolate, and the Mom was busy adding boxes of chocolates into the shopping cart.

#3 - Candy Cow
Candy Cow is a candy store in the cow-themed town of Cowaramup, where the streets are dotted with statues of cows.

The children had a lot of fun here picking out their sweet treats for the car rides in the days ahead.  We purchased the honeycomb out of curiosity, and they turned out to be amazing (highly recommended for the sweet-toothed).

#4 - Millers Ice Cream
An ice-cream stop for the adults and a quick playground stop for the children.

Although this was far from a real cow, the children had a ball of a time at "milking" it.

#5 - Settlers Tavern
It seemed to take such a long day to finally arrive in the town of Margaret River, when the actual travelling time from Perth should take only 3 hours or so.  It was about 5pm, and we decided to have our dinner first at this popular joint.

The friendly waitress handed us 2 pieces of colouring sheets and crayons for the children to while away the time, as Dad queued up for food.

Had a taste of the local wagyu beef.  Thumbs up!

We also ordered kids spaghetti and seafood pasta, and both had exceeded our expectations.


Sunflowers Farmstay
We did a quick grocery trip to the nearby Woolworths before heading towards our accommodation.  On our way to the farm, we passed by a mob of wild kangaroos on the fields.  It was the first time that we had encountered such a huge number of wild roos.

Although we arrived after their office hours, it was no problem for Debbie, one of the owners, who checked us in quickly and gave us a quick briefing.  Thankful for the late sunset in summer, it was still bright enough for us to venture into the animals area to do some feeding.  The entire property was already closed to the public for the day, and it felt rather special because we had the whole place to ourselves.

It was amazing to see so many different animals in a farmstay (the pictures above were just some of the animals).  As it was getting dark, we did not wish to remain in the enclosure when there was nobody else around!

This was our room for the night.  There were only 4 rooms on this property for rent, and this had to be my favourite with the gorgeous view out front.

This was our view from the patio.  Wild roos were often seen in the field far ahead.

Unpacked the products we had purchased earlier in the day to use!

And finally, a little alcohol to unwind...

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