Swan Valley

This post is about a Swan Valley where not a single swan is seen. Instead, there are vineyards, a chocolate factory, and a shooting club (as in real guns, live bullets-kind of shooting). It's 20 to 30 minutes away from Perth city if you intend to drive, but if you intend to rely on public transport, consider yourself lucky if you manage to get there within an hour.

The Swan Valley, like the more well know Margaret River, was originally settled by colonists who believed the soil was suitable for growing grapes. And they were right. Today the valley is full of vineyards and wineries, and many travel there for wine tasting. Margaret River has always been the number 1 destination for wine tasting in Western Australia, but it takes you 4 hours to get there by car. So if you do not intend to be on the road for that long, you'll have to settle for Swan Valley.

I did say vineyard. So, there.VINEYARD!!!

Sadly though, winter was coming so the grape plants looked a bit sleepy.

For the benefit of those who do not know, grape plants "die" when the winter arrives. They lose all their leaves and play dead. Come spring, they grow their leaves back and start producing yummy grapes again! The process is called Grapintophosis.

Yes, there is no such term.

More VINEYARD!!!

Shingun's cousin was far from the legal drinking age, but he still had a good time.

Besides wineries, we visited Yahava Coffee, where we got to taste some exotic coffees (by exotic, I mean given fancy names like "South African Mud" or "Moroccan Cow Flies over the Moon with Half-Cooked Waffle"). Yahava also had its own Coffee Academy, where you can learn to make A-Grade coffees and get a certificate for your heroic efforts.

There were many types of coffee. What you see here is only part of the selection.

Ask to have a taste, and they will make a little cup of coffee for you, free-of-charge!

Besides coffee and wine, we had some chocolate. A visit to the chocolate factory is a must for chocolate lovers. The Margaret River Chocolate Factory (which has branches almost everywhere, including Swan Valley) sells all types of chocolate at all types of prices.

3 machines processing, from left, dark, white and milk chocolate.

 

 All types of chocolate you can dream of!

After having chocolate, coffee and wine, it's only appropriate that you try to shoot something. So welcome to the Gun Club! You can choose to wield a rifle or pistol and make your way through the shooting range, annihilating anything in your path.
 

No Gun Club HQ is complete without some heads on the walls.

Deer.

Camera-shy zebra.

Of course, guns and loud bangs may not be your thing. For those of you who hate guns, I recommend archery. The archery center is only a short drive away from the gun club.

Bows for hire.

Arrows are colourful so when they fly they look like lasers.

I wanted to try shooting on that day but sadly the range was fully booked for a competition. So the debut of the gun-wielding superhero Ewe Juan will have to wait. Too bad.