wine, beer, chocolate tasting in swan valley

a great last day in perth! i wish it could have lasted longer. we took a tour of swan valley with out and about tours and had a ball.  we went to 5 wineries (pinelli, lancaster, windy creek, sitello's, jarah ridge) and then 1 brewery (elmar's, a german brewery), and 1 chocolate factory (margaret river chocolates)! we got to try 45 different wines and had fabulous cheese platters, chutneys, sausages, a lovely lunch buffet, yummy beer and incredible chocolate.  what a decadent day! and this was jose's first wine tour of course and i think he was rather impressed.  we got some wine and chutney to take back to derby with us.  caught the train home and cleaned up the place, packed quickly for tomorrow and then went out into leederville to meet his friend from the detention centre.  he no longer works up in derby and is in perth full time. it was nice to get to meet one of his colleagues and friends.  claire met up with us and we had a great time until i could no longer keep my eyelids open.   jose has really loved perth and since it is so much like california i think both of us could imagine settling here someday.  we both wished we had at least another week.  can't wait to see miski though!  more photos in the perth 2011 album