Time for another trip to a winery. This time we will be visiting Sittella Winery in Herne Hill, Swan Valley. We visited on a lovely sunny day in the week and it was a good job we had booked as it looked very busy. We had a table overlooking the beautiful vineyards that surround the restaurant.
The winery is named after the Sittella bird and they nest along the banks of the Swan River.
It was opened in 1998 by Simon and Maaike Berns. Maaike is Dutch Indonesian which is why the menu is so interesting.
My mum and dad enjoying the view
The restaurant is called The Nest and the menu had a great variety to select from so it took us a while.
Winemakers Plate; Kangaroo and to finish Sittella Strawberry Basket were just some of the dishes we had.
I have to mention the Sittella Strawberry Basket was without doubt the best dessert I have tasted in a long while!
Inside the restaurant, decorating the walls were some beautiful murals and artwork.
Even though it is winter now, everything is still so green and lush, except perhaps the vines themselves! The gazebo looks to be sinking and it’s not just a wonky photo I took.
Sittella is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 11 am to 3 pm. It’s definitely best to book especially on a weekend. As I mentioned it’s situated in the Swan Valley just over 30 minutes from Perth’s CBD. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did if you ever get a chance to visit.
I’ve just got back from a five day trip to Melbourne to see my son and his girlfriend once again! As they live just outside of St. Kilda I had the opportunity to see different places in Melbourne. It was a gastronomic gourmet getaway, eating and drinking our way around many different cuisines.
I had the first day to myself so thought I would walk to St. Kilda. Sounds simple enough but those who know me well also know I have no sense of direction. But armed with my google maps I managed to get there with a stop on the way to St Kilda Botanical Gardens. Of course with a few little detours!
St Kilda Botanical Gardens
The rain man in St. Kilda Botanical Gardens
St. Kilda Botanical Gardens
St. Kilda Botanical Gardens
Cute little duck!
St. Kilda Beach
Some shots of the art deco buildings along the beachfront.
Painted van
Apartment block with art deco features
Palace Theatre
The entrance to Luna Park, spewing out visitors!
From the beach
St Kilda Lighthouse
We also tried to catch the penguins on parade at sunset but not much luck. The fairy penguins are a nightly event and come up on the rocks down by the pier just after sunset. There are hundreds of people trying to get photos and all standing on one tiny wooden walkway, it was a bit worrying that the whole thing would collapse.
View of the city from St. Kilda Pier
My solitary Fairy Penguin
Dinner @ St. Moritz, Acland Street, St. Kilda
Yarra Valley
We drove to the Yarra Valley one day to celebrate Maddy’s forthcoming 21st birthday, with so many wineries to choose from it was difficult to make the right choice. Soumah Winery won the prize! On the way we stopped at Oakridge Winery for a quick tasting. It was a really nice place and they didn’t charge for the tasting! The day we went was a very smokey day due to bushfires very close by, at first not a single cloud or blue sky could be seen, which is why some of then photos look very overcast.
Winetasting at Oakridge
Very generous measures for a tasting
Choosing the wine for lunch
Our Lunch
Fig Rocket and Pancetta Salad
Seafood Pasta
Sweet potato Feta and Basil Bruschetta
A very smoky photo of the Yarra Valley
Posing amongst the grapes!
Vineyards of Soumah
Walking off into the smoky hills
Rustic rusty farm machinery
No matter which vineyard you visit anywhere in Australia there is always the rusty old farm machinery, the rustier the better!
Brighton Beach Bathing Huts
The last day we drove to Brighton Beach to have a look at all the amazingly colourful bathing beach boxes. There are 82 in all and they date back to the late nineteenth century. They are all painted different colours and sit on the beach. I took so many photos and here are some of my favourites.
Brighton Beach
My favourites below:
Life’s a beach!
The iconic Blinky Bill
Surf’s up
Some of the beach
Black swans with a view of the skyline
Paddling in the rock pools
Beautiful clear water
Dazzling colours of the seashells
The Baths for lunch and a glass of wine
Some of the places we had dinner
Tulum Turkish in Carlisle Road, Balaclava. Excellent Turkish tapas and would highly recommend if you are in the area. Vamos Spanish in the city. Great for tapas and live music. We had a fantastic night here eating, drinking and dancing the night away. Soumah in the Yarra Valley. An hour’s drive from Melbourne. St. Moritz, St. Kilda. Delicious steaks and burgers with live music.
We often visit a winery on a Sunday afternoon and today was no exception. We’ve not tried this one before and were not disappointed. Set in the rolling hills of Bickley and just a 35 minute drive from Perth, you could imagine that you were in the deep countryside. There are so many wineries dotted throughout these hills, many with restaurants and cafes.
This winery has a restaurant attached, where they offer breakfast and lunch. Today we chose a delicious chilli and lime bruschetta and pork belly with sweet potato chips which was just enough for the two of us to share and paired with the classic white for me and a Pinot Noir for hubby. Hubby enjoyed the red so much he took a bottle home.
With his bottle of Pinot!
Love the description
After lunch we had a walk around this beautiful vineyard and took a few snaps. There are trees and hills as far as the eye can see, it’s so relaxing to spend a few hours here.
A very modern dining area in the old packing shed
Old rustic rusty farm machinery
Cute toilets!
On our drive back I asked Anthony to stop so I could take a photo of the road behind us, as I stepped out of the car I saw two kangaroos hopping through the bush. I couldn’t believe it when one stopped and looked at me and actually waited while I adjusted my camera to take a photo of him!
Even after living in Perth for 14 years, I still get a thrill when I see a kangaroo in the wild!
Yallingup is in the South Western region of Western Australia. Its a great spot to visit for a short break especially from Perth. The drive takes just under three hours.
With so many places to stay it was so difficult to decide, we eventually chose the Sienna Lodge and it did not disappoint! Situated in between Barnyard Winery and Cafe Lavender on Caves Road, it was just a short drive into Yallingup and around 10k from Dunsborough. Its owned and managed by a very friendly Lithuanian couple – Raminta & Egis Rusilas, they also own the beautiful “Barnyard Vineyard”.
Sienna Lodge
Freerange as you can get!
Arriving just after 4pm we dropped our bags in our room and headed over to take a look at the beach and then happy hour at the iconic Caves Hotel. A few snaps of the wild coastline of South West WA.
Dinner that night was at the gastronomic restaurant of Lamonts and as it was so busy Kate Lamont was waiting tables herself. Always a good idea to book ahead as this place is nearly always full.
Next morning as the Barnyard cafe only opens for breakfast on weekends we headed into Dunsborough for our freerange poached eggs on sourdough toast with coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice. Back to Sienna to decide where to have our next feast but first a stop in the Barnyard cafe for a midmorning glass of wine and a little look around.
Testing the local vintage
As there are so many wineries, we again had the difficult task of choosing where to go for lunch. We wanted to try something new so we headed over to the Brookwood Estate.
The menu had some tasty tapas options which was perfect for lunch.
prosciutto wrapped fillet mignon and grilled prawns with chill and coriander aoli
Dinner that night was in Caves Hotel as it was just down the road from us, also many places were fully booked due to the school holidays. Caves is always a good choice as it has such a great atmosphere, you can be casual and eat outside or dress up and eat inside. Food is always good and portions so large that one dish is enough for two. We had a chef’s platter to start, and sticky ribs to share. There were leftovers!
Some sculptures that caught my eye
Skateboarding chick
Stuffed Jeans to go!
The late afternoon sun shining on these trees at Caves Hotel
By the next day it was already time to check out. Time fly’s when you’re having fun, theres only so much you can eat and drink in two days! We drove into Yallingup and had an excellent breakfast in the general store which is also the Post Office, just by Caves House. Its not that well advertised that they even do breakfast. On the drive back we were recommended to drop by the Bunbury Farmers Market. Its a great place to stock up on fresh local produce. We even bought some lunch here and stopped at Heron Point to eat it.
And that was our very short two night stay over, until the next time we fancy a break!
