Apr 11/11 9:05pm
This is night number three inside a van. We picked up our hire after a lovely breakfast out with Theresa and Mick. They took us to a place in the Swan Valley in Perth. We all had eggs benedict or a variation thereof. We got repacked and sorted out by around noon or so and then headed south. We stopped for a sausage sizzle and then continued on. We got into a place called Bunbury to do some grocery shopping and then figured we had time to get in another 50kms or so before sunset. (They advise you don't drive after dusk here in case you hit a kangaroo. This is serious as we know of people who have hired cars and hit one and boy does it get expensive after that. So all the tourist info you pick up mentions not driving at night.) We spent the first night in a place called Busselton. The holiday park office had closed but she thought we were her other pre-booked late arrival so opened up for us. It was only shortly after 6pm. We were able to check in and cooked up some kangaroo for dinner before our first night in the van bed.
The rental is definitely newer than the one we had hired in NZ back in 2008 that we despised so much. We didn't end up with a high top so you can't stand up in it but it's clean and the bed is comfortable. There is even power but the interior lighting runs off the car battery so I am never sure how long we can have it on before we should be worried about starting up in the morning. We don't have jumper leads anymore. It's been a bit weird to travel in a vehicle without being as well-supplied as we were in our Terrano. There aren't too many shelves or places to store things in here so we have to be very organized. The dishes and stuff are pretty decent and they ended up not charging us for the bedding so although two sleeping bags is overkill, at least we didn't have to pay extra. It's about the size of a double bed and the one half lifts and slides over the other half of the bed for daytime.
We didn't make it to the surf comp yesterday. Unfortunately I had a very bad sleep the first night so I wasn't the most pleasant and I didn't have energy to explore much. So we attempted to go out onto the 2km jetty they have in Busselton but instead of getting changed and putting on sunscreen when we got back to the van I just laid down. So we ended up going to this lighthouse out at Cape Naturaliste. In general we are roughly 3-4 hours from Perth at this stage. I was getting attacked by too many flies for the lighthouse walk so I laid down again in the van. We got some pretty dang good local ice cream and then popped into a local brewery fora tipple. None that we loved but a couple all right brews. It was sunny but very windy as we continued on to a place called Yallingup. The holiday park was right across from a surf beach but the wind was onshore and the conditions were like a washing machine. Then just as we're cooking up some dinner it starts pouring down rain. We are in an area that hasn't had rain for months on end, or they've had a sprinkle here and there in the last several months but nothing substantial. So we manage to get back to the van without soaking the chicken. We've sat down to a lovely chicken taco meal and as Dustin's cutting the chicken up on the table in the van, the whole table takes a spill and collapses! Salsa is everywhere, the tortillas are wet with cordial and our perfectly-grilled chicken is on the highly-suspect van floor. We salvage what we can and are just lucky that we'd already had a taco each by this point. What a mess! Apparently when I set up the table it wasn't exactly right and the cutting action played on the weakness of my set up.
We laid in the van that night with rain continuing to pour down by the bucket full. We have a little sink, a camp stove and space for a cooler but no toilet, shower or other cooking facilities. So now that we've experienced this I'm thinking that it's better to go all the way and get all the facilities or you might as well be in a tent because you still have to get out in the rain for the bathrooms and to wash up and put food in the fridges. Ah well, ok I do admit it feels about ten steps up from a tent to at least have space and know that the rain won't affect you too much - it did seem that one of the door seals isn't up to snuff as the edge of the bed get dripped on last night.
The sun has been setting by about 6:30pm lately so it's pretty dark pretty quick which is kind of tough when you're living outdoors without much to do. We've played a lot of crib and I won't even mention all my wins. We've been reading lots too and going to bed early even for us. We had one of the wines from this morning with dinner and it was delicious. It was a 2004 cab merlot that they had made a mistake and not labelled so it was $5 if you can believe it. I am contemplating heading back there tomorrow to grab another few. I'll have to look at the map again to see how far off it would be from the vague direction we have in mind. You see, we've already passed through areas where I thought we might spend a few nights each. It's only night 3 and we have 6 more to go in the van. Initially we had grand dreams of travelling to Esperance which is like 9 hours from Perth. Then we adjusted the plan to go to Albany which is about 6 hours and then I figured we should just take it slow in the Margaret River area which is like 4 hours away. Well, we're nearly through Margaret River so we might end up further on than I thought. We finally took a lesson from other travels and decided to just move through the areas as we please without keeping a destination in mind. We've been rushed through so many spots just to get to somewhere we heard was nice, only to be not too impressed. So even though there's heaps of wineries we've left untasted, there isn't much to keep us interested in this area if the surf doesn't pick up. There are supposed to be absolutely lovely beaches further on but beach weather is slipping away. We both had to wear hoodies today to keep warm! It's definitely feeling like autumn down here - which makes sense because it should, we were just enjoying the long summer they have been having.
I am trying to keep up my steam for this trip and it seems like we have about 2 weeks to go! Which really should be short enough to get amped up for but anything after being gone this long starts to sound like too much. Plus unfortunately our timing into Melbourne isn't awesome and a couple people we wanted to visit with will be out of town! It's school holidays and leading into Easter weekend when we're there so lots of people are off work and off around the country. Pete gets about 3 weeks off for Easter alone and a lot of Australian jobs aren't too far from that. So, the one plus is that there's a hugely iconic surf comp that will be going on when we're there. It's at Bells Beach and I think this is the 50th year as well. Trouble will possibly be finding a place to stay or being able to camp without being equipped too well. It's cold over in Melbourne as they have barely had a summer this year and there will very likely be rain in the forecast when we visit. Just like we experienced when we lived there! haha.
Another week in the van and we'll see how far we venture. Hope the weather holds up, I think and hope that tomorrow is the last of the showers so keep your fingers crossed! We seem to be just a couple weeks out of so many places we visit for their prime times. We'll keep finding the positives even if it means getting more of that cheap as wine...
I am trying to have kangaroo on the dinner menu every second night and so far we're onto it! There are a couple varieties we haven't had yet so I think it will be good! Tonight it was kanga bangas - translation: sausages that are so lean they didn't even spit any grease into the pan! So at least I have some more kangaroo to look forward to eating. We haven't seen any live ones yet though, sadly just as roadkill thus far. If we don't see any, I might push for us to return to this wildlife park outside of Melbourne that was pretty awesome last time.
This is night number three inside a van. We picked up our hire after a lovely breakfast out with Theresa and Mick. They took us to a place in the Swan Valley in Perth. We all had eggs benedict or a variation thereof. We got repacked and sorted out by around noon or so and then headed south. We stopped for a sausage sizzle and then continued on. We got into a place called Bunbury to do some grocery shopping and then figured we had time to get in another 50kms or so before sunset. (They advise you don't drive after dusk here in case you hit a kangaroo. This is serious as we know of people who have hired cars and hit one and boy does it get expensive after that. So all the tourist info you pick up mentions not driving at night.) We spent the first night in a place called Busselton. The holiday park office had closed but she thought we were her other pre-booked late arrival so opened up for us. It was only shortly after 6pm. We were able to check in and cooked up some kangaroo for dinner before our first night in the van bed.
The rental is definitely newer than the one we had hired in NZ back in 2008 that we despised so much. We didn't end up with a high top so you can't stand up in it but it's clean and the bed is comfortable. There is even power but the interior lighting runs off the car battery so I am never sure how long we can have it on before we should be worried about starting up in the morning. We don't have jumper leads anymore. It's been a bit weird to travel in a vehicle without being as well-supplied as we were in our Terrano. There aren't too many shelves or places to store things in here so we have to be very organized. The dishes and stuff are pretty decent and they ended up not charging us for the bedding so although two sleeping bags is overkill, at least we didn't have to pay extra. It's about the size of a double bed and the one half lifts and slides over the other half of the bed for daytime.
We didn't make it to the surf comp yesterday. Unfortunately I had a very bad sleep the first night so I wasn't the most pleasant and I didn't have energy to explore much. So we attempted to go out onto the 2km jetty they have in Busselton but instead of getting changed and putting on sunscreen when we got back to the van I just laid down. So we ended up going to this lighthouse out at Cape Naturaliste. In general we are roughly 3-4 hours from Perth at this stage. I was getting attacked by too many flies for the lighthouse walk so I laid down again in the van. We got some pretty dang good local ice cream and then popped into a local brewery fora tipple. None that we loved but a couple all right brews. It was sunny but very windy as we continued on to a place called Yallingup. The holiday park was right across from a surf beach but the wind was onshore and the conditions were like a washing machine. Then just as we're cooking up some dinner it starts pouring down rain. We are in an area that hasn't had rain for months on end, or they've had a sprinkle here and there in the last several months but nothing substantial. So we manage to get back to the van without soaking the chicken. We've sat down to a lovely chicken taco meal and as Dustin's cutting the chicken up on the table in the van, the whole table takes a spill and collapses! Salsa is everywhere, the tortillas are wet with cordial and our perfectly-grilled chicken is on the highly-suspect van floor. We salvage what we can and are just lucky that we'd already had a taco each by this point. What a mess! Apparently when I set up the table it wasn't exactly right and the cutting action played on the weakness of my set up.
We laid in the van that night with rain continuing to pour down by the bucket full. We have a little sink, a camp stove and space for a cooler but no toilet, shower or other cooking facilities. So now that we've experienced this I'm thinking that it's better to go all the way and get all the facilities or you might as well be in a tent because you still have to get out in the rain for the bathrooms and to wash up and put food in the fridges. Ah well, ok I do admit it feels about ten steps up from a tent to at least have space and know that the rain won't affect you too much - it did seem that one of the door seals isn't up to snuff as the edge of the bed get dripped on last night.
The sun has been setting by about 6:30pm lately so it's pretty dark pretty quick which is kind of tough when you're living outdoors without much to do. We've played a lot of crib and I won't even mention all my wins. We've been reading lots too and going to bed early even for us. We had one of the wines from this morning with dinner and it was delicious. It was a 2004 cab merlot that they had made a mistake and not labelled so it was $5 if you can believe it. I am contemplating heading back there tomorrow to grab another few. I'll have to look at the map again to see how far off it would be from the vague direction we have in mind. You see, we've already passed through areas where I thought we might spend a few nights each. It's only night 3 and we have 6 more to go in the van. Initially we had grand dreams of travelling to Esperance which is like 9 hours from Perth. Then we adjusted the plan to go to Albany which is about 6 hours and then I figured we should just take it slow in the Margaret River area which is like 4 hours away. Well, we're nearly through Margaret River so we might end up further on than I thought. We finally took a lesson from other travels and decided to just move through the areas as we please without keeping a destination in mind. We've been rushed through so many spots just to get to somewhere we heard was nice, only to be not too impressed. So even though there's heaps of wineries we've left untasted, there isn't much to keep us interested in this area if the surf doesn't pick up. There are supposed to be absolutely lovely beaches further on but beach weather is slipping away. We both had to wear hoodies today to keep warm! It's definitely feeling like autumn down here - which makes sense because it should, we were just enjoying the long summer they have been having.
I am trying to keep up my steam for this trip and it seems like we have about 2 weeks to go! Which really should be short enough to get amped up for but anything after being gone this long starts to sound like too much. Plus unfortunately our timing into Melbourne isn't awesome and a couple people we wanted to visit with will be out of town! It's school holidays and leading into Easter weekend when we're there so lots of people are off work and off around the country. Pete gets about 3 weeks off for Easter alone and a lot of Australian jobs aren't too far from that. So, the one plus is that there's a hugely iconic surf comp that will be going on when we're there. It's at Bells Beach and I think this is the 50th year as well. Trouble will possibly be finding a place to stay or being able to camp without being equipped too well. It's cold over in Melbourne as they have barely had a summer this year and there will very likely be rain in the forecast when we visit. Just like we experienced when we lived there! haha.
Another week in the van and we'll see how far we venture. Hope the weather holds up, I think and hope that tomorrow is the last of the showers so keep your fingers crossed! We seem to be just a couple weeks out of so many places we visit for their prime times. We'll keep finding the positives even if it means getting more of that cheap as wine...
I am trying to have kangaroo on the dinner menu every second night and so far we're onto it! There are a couple varieties we haven't had yet so I think it will be good! Tonight it was kanga bangas - translation: sausages that are so lean they didn't even spit any grease into the pan! So at least I have some more kangaroo to look forward to eating. We haven't seen any live ones yet though, sadly just as roadkill thus far. If we don't see any, I might push for us to return to this wildlife park outside of Melbourne that was pretty awesome last time.
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