We flew into Perth on the West Coast of Australia and spent the first couple of nights in backpacker dorms, whilst establishing that it was a pretty bland city. So, we secured ourselves a hired campervan and made a swift exit. Well, actually we had to wait about five hours for the company to finish cleaning the van before we could drive away, so it wasn't that swift...
It became evident in our first campsite in Fremantle (just South of Perth) that the battery powering the fridge, lights etc. had seen better days. A morning of phonecalls, driving around town, and a trip to 'Beaurepaires', Australia's answer to Quik-Fit, and we had a new battery, which seemed to last marginally longer.
Before heading off down to the picturesque South-West, we spent a night in Mundaring National Mark, about an hour inland of Perth. It was here we did our first bush-walk, with Ben perfecting the 'spider-hand' defence. This involves walking with arm in front, palm forward, in order to encounter any potential webs with hand before face. Any meeting of face and web would result in both us squealing like little girls and checking each other for poisonous arachnids.
This was also our first night camping alone in a relatively out-of-the-way spot. Quite idyllic at sunset, with a wonderful moment when two big kangaroos jumped past, by nightfall we started remembering too many horror films and slept with the pen-knife at the ready!
South West Australia is lush and green and a prolific wine-making region. We had a brilliant time exploring 'tall timber country' and visiting the most South-Westerly point of the country where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. The coast is just littered with gorgeous beaches, some a bit breezy to swim on, but all with beautiful golden sand and clear blue sea. Topped off with a couple of wine tastings, it was 10 days well spent.
