Western Australia
Madam was starting to plan the post-Indian Pacific bit of the Western Australian odyssey when she asked how many days I'd need once we got to Margaret River.
The reader might be inclined to disbelieve Hughesy's response that he wasn't too interested in Margaret River wineries, but at this point I'd point out I was getting used to freight charges that ranged between $18 and $24 per carton from South Australia and had assumed that the trans-Nullarbor factor would raise that to somewhere around $3 per bottle.
Given the fact that my buying pattern tended to involve Wine Clubs and freight free I wasn't holding my breath as far as Western Australia was concerned but, predictably, the first three websites I visited all offered freight free shipping to the eastern seaboard.
Having made that discovery, I managed to put together an interesting list of places to visit over to and a half days around Margaret River, finishing with lunch at Cullen Wines before heading back towards Perth.
We'd be passing Capel Vale on the way to Margaret River, so I'd pencilled that in as a possibility after lunch in Bunbury en route to an overnight stop in Busselton.
Given the itinerary before that leg of the trip I wasn't expecting to get to any other wineries, but after Madam's blog friend and her husband met us of the train, transported us to King's Park via the accommodation and suggested a trip up into the hills I found myself being offered an opportunity to call in at a couple of wineries in the Swan Valley on the way back to Perth.
There are enough wineries around Margaret River to keep you busy for a fortnight, but I figured between the must visit icons and a couple of places that sounded interesting we'd get a fair sample.
That meant limiting the list to places that had attracted five Halliday stars, but there were enough of those to fill in a busy week, so we had to be selective, didn't we?
In any case, the interested reader, looking at the list of wineries on the left and possibly scratching the head over some significant omission, knows the thought processes that applied while the list was being compiled.