Truffle science a secret
In recent years, Manjimup has become well known for black truffles and the name on everyone's lips is Al Blakers.
But despite cultivating land to produce one of the world's rarest foods, the international truffle magnate says he's "no farmer".
"I'm an entrepreneur," he said.
Before brushing shoulders with celebrity chefs at top restaurants and building global trade partnerships, Al was a kid on the farm in Manjimup with a passion for "fast things".
"I grew up around cars and motorbikes and planes," he said.
"My uncle was the first bloke to land a plane in Manji.
"Before the air strip was even here, he put a Cessna in the back paddock."
Al's curiosity for engineering contributed to his decision to join the air force at 15.
"I knew there was more to life than picking apples and digging spuds," he said.
"So I went to Wagga Wagga in NSW and did an aeronautical airframe engineer course."
He had originally planned to become an engine fitter, but became an aircraft technician instead.
"The air force didn't need any more 'sumpies' so I became the next best thing," he said.
"Looking back, it was a good decision - we pretty much owned the whole aircraft.
"My only regret is that I would have loved to have built a plane from scratch."
After completing the 18-month intensive apprenticeship, Al went to work repairing and maintaining the Mirage fighter aircrafts at age 17.
But being on the frontline fighter squadron left little time to be a teenager, Al said.
"All the blokes I was around were upwards of 20, and they were a wild bunch," he said.
"I had to grow up pretty quickly".
Al's career as an aircraft technician - or "black hander" - took him all over Australia and Asia, and during this time, he met and married his wife Julie.
He recalled his time in the militarily fondly, but through admittedly blurry eyes.
"To be in the air force at that time, it was practically mandatory to be an alcoholic," he said. "I wouldn't change a thing, but it's a good thing I left when I did.
"I enjoy the odd beer now, but those boys were in a different league."
After 12 years in the military, Al was medically discharged with a bad knee and began making plans to relocate to Hong Kong.
"The Cathay Pacific yard in Hong Kong is pretty much a retirement home for ex-air force," he said.
"I was going to go there and work on the jumbos, but the wife didn't want to so we came back here and had our son, Ben."
After returning to Manjimup in the late 1970s, Al began toying with the idea of cultivating black truffles.
It is common knowledge in the agricultural and culinary worlds that Al was a key player in the meteoric rise of the region's truffle industry, but few are privy to the finer details.
Al's techniques were developed locally and were used to inoculate the majority of truffle producing trees in and around Manjimup, including those at The Truffle & Wine Co.
Truffle and Wine Co manager Stuart Hutchinson said this "truffle science" was a major factor in the region's success.
"The inoculation of the trees is something we don't even know about because it's all done at the Blakers' farm down the road," he said.
"It seems any tree that comes from there has a very high success rate."
But Al has no plans of sharing the secrets of his success any time soon, choosing only to share that he expected "big things" for the industry's future.
"I have no doubt Manjimup could become the truffle capital of the world," he said.
"The scale of production and level of quality is above anywhere else I've seen."
Despite being at the centre of truffle mania, Al has never let go of his need for speed, having ripped up Targa tracks at the weekend in his 1977 A9X Torana.
Looking to the future, he said all he really hoped for was a calm, quiet place to work on his loud, fast toys.
"The real issue is finding a place with a big enough shed," he said.
"I'll probably just have a lot of cars, but not like a three-car garage - I need a shed big enough for probably 10 cars."
Ten cars, or perhaps a plane - built from scratch.
