When we go down south, I think it goes without saying we should have lunch at the Berry Farm Café. I go there for the birds, but the food isn’t bad either. The Berry Farm is one of Western Australia’s best places in the Southwest to have lunch or even brunch, as they open at 11.
They do have unusual seating. The tables all have numbers on them and then you go inside to tell them your order and your table number. You have no idea if the people in the line in front of you or behind you have also selected that table, so, we’ve often wondered how there are no conflicts. We had picked out a table but as I was in line John came in to tell me it actually had been reserved. So he picked another. That was repeated until he came in to tell me our final table number. Turns out we were seated next to the Irish Strawberry Tree.
Arbutus unedo, the strawberry tree, is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the flowering plant family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean region and western Europe north to western France and Ireland. Due to its presence in southwest and northwest Ireland, it is known as either “Irish strawberry tree”, or cain or cane apple (from the Irish name for the tree, caithne), or sometimes Killarney strawberry tree.
They were sort of prickly like a strawberry.
In no time they brought John his tea. Now even though I was hungry, honestly, this is one place to eat I wish they wouldn’t hurry. I love to enjoy the birds. Here you also see a treat I found in their refrigerator, Bundaberg Pink Grapefruit. We can never find it in our shops in Perth, and it’s one of our favorites.
In a short time John had his scones with Jam and Cream
Wasn’t long I saw a pair of blue fairy wren on a nearby fence. The male was in color, which was a surprise.It’s always nice to see a different bird, there were a few scrub wrens on the ground.A parrot in the Irish Strawberry treeSoon enough, the Silver Eyes were checking out to see what John had left of the jam and cream.Adorable when they had a dunk in the jam together.Very serious looking when they came up for air.Maybe they knew the New Holland Honeyeaters were close buy.Silver Eyes landing on the Irish Strawberry Tree sign, trying to get a close look at the honeyeaters.The smaller but persistent Silver eyes having words with the honeyeater.Looks like the Honeyeaters won that one.Then the silver eyes had another honey eater to deal with, the white-naped honeyeater, who seemed to have a thing or two to say about the jam and cream.But some of the most fun at the Berry Farm is when the honeyeaters come sit on your hand to have some sugar.I guess you could say I am very sweet on the silver eyes, and love when they visit our bird bath at home. So one more photo as they pose on the sign before we leave.As we drive away from the Berry Farm, a few photos of the vineyards in the area.Vineyards have been popping up all down the Southwest for years now.
