1/2 day Swan Valley self tour - Perth, Western Australia

- October 15, 2012

We took a midnight flight and reached Perth early in the morning. It was summer and the weather was hot! We rented a car from Redspot for 3 days and cost us RM507.22. The procedure was fast and easy. We did an online booking and once we reached Perth Airport, we collected the car from the Redspot counter. We returned the car to them after 3 days by just dropping the car key into the box provided at the Redspot counter.

Redspot

This is our rented car from Redspot

We had our lunch at Elmar's in the Valley. This restaurant is located in the heart of Swan Valley. It is a German style restaurant, brewery, gift shop and smallgoods (a term used in Australia for small meat products such as hams, bacon & sausages) Lovely restaurant and the food was nice. We had this German sauerkraut which was made from cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid. Something new to me but I don't really enjoyed it as it tasted sour.

Elmar's in the Valley

Restaurant ambience

Elmar's Bratwurst Plate = $36.90

A trio of Elmar's Bratwurst - Grillbratwurst, cheese kransky and coarse bratwurst served with royal blue mashed potato and sauerkraut, crisp garden salad and mustard.
Bratwurst is a sausage made from pork or beef. It is a favourite in Germany

Beef knackwurst = $18.90

100% beef knackwurst served with potato salad, crisp garden salad and mustard
Knackwurst is a short thick sausage

Elmar's Speciality, Pork Shank - $42.90

Slow cooked and roasted pickled pork shank served with tradisional German sauerkraut, onion, bacon, fried gourmet potatoes and mustard

Pan Fried Salmon Fillet - $34.90

Crispy skin grilled salmon fillet served with lemon infused rice, honey glazed snow peas & carrots, drizzled with white wine sauce

Next, we went to this Margaret River Chocolate Company. They have factories both in Margaret River and Swan Valley with free chocolate tastings. Wide selection of chocolate from chocolate bars, chocolate coated delights, hand made truffles, novelty chocolates, chocolate sauces and much more. Check out their milk chocolate chicken and bunny. Very cute indeed.

Free chocolate tastings

Variety of chocolates

Milk chocolate chicken

Chocolate bunny

Souvenirs

If you are a wine lover, Swan Valley is the right place for you. Plenty of wineries for you to explore. We dropped by the Lancaster Wines for some free sampling of wines. Can't comment much as I am not a wine lover and I seldom take wine. Just right infront of Lancaster Wines you can see their winery farm.

Lancaster Wines

Winery farm

Besides Lancaster wines we dropped by the Sandalford Wines as well, one of Western Australia's oldest and largest privately owned wineries. No free wine tasting here and you need to pay a certain amount of money to try out their wines. They have a beautiful garden and you can even plan a wedding ceremony at Sandalford Wines.

Sandalford Wines

You can have your wedding ceremony here as well

Wine tasting

Car park

Next, we made a stop in Mondo Nougat. Mondo nougat consists of roasted almonds, natural honey, egg white, sugar and glucose. There are 2 types of Mondo nougats - soft or crunchy. They have vanilla, lemon, apricot and chocolate crunchy or vanilla, orange, cherry, and cappucino soft.

Mondo Nougat

House of honey was our last destination of the day. They specializes in pure, unpasteurised and unadulterated varietal honeys. You get to sample their variety of honeys. Besides all the pure honey, they have beewaxs candles, candies and even honey soaps with healing powers.