Down the coast

After a long trip with limited sleep, our next priority was to find a good spot to recover. On the recommendation of a kind lady at the airport we decided to stay at a B&B up in the hills east of Perth, close to some smaller national parks. Rosebridge House was a beautiful place to stay with gardens, parks, wild flowers and ring necked parrots. We fell into bed fairly early, unable to keep our eyes open any longer.

We rented a Hyundai Getz, a small economy car with just enough room for us and our luggage. Lucky for us the host of the Bed and Breakfast were kind enough to let us store a few pieces of our luggage, allowing Aiden more wiggle room in the back seat. Our plan is to do a loop down along the coast to Albany and then back up to Perth. There is always a bit of adjustment on this side of the planet. For one, getting used to the sun being in the north. It throws off your sense of direction more often than I care to admit. With the sun in the north, it is the north facing slopes that are the warmest and driest, and the south slopes that are cool and wetter. North winds are warm, south winds cool, but most of the weather still seems to come from the west.

The cultural differences are often just as striking. For example: rather than 911 for emergency services in Australia you dial 000. Driving on the opposite side of the road of course, which also means looking the other way first before stepping out on the street to cross and cars do not yield to pedestrians here no matter how determined they are to get across. The only place they might stop is if there is a pedestrian crossing with flashing lights. There is also more of a 'do it yourself'' attitude with many things like mopping up your camp shower after you are finished.

After roughly twelve hours of sleep we were feeling somewhat human again. With a lovely breakfast of bacon and eggs, fresh fruit salad and fresh mango juice in our stomachs we were ready to hit the road. First on our agenda was to pick up a few groceries, just the staples; PB and jam along with some bread, juice and some snacks. Grabbed a bite for lunch then headed off to check out some of the specky beaches just outside of Perth. South Beach was our first stop and we were not disappointed, beautiful fine white sand and clear blue ocean. Too cool and windy for a swim but Aiden was happy with some beach combing and a play at the playground. He is already feeling a little kid deprived and anxious to get to Halls Gap to see all his friends.

We traveled along the coast rather then taking the main highway which was inland a ways. Along the coast there were a number of little towns, more like suburbs of Perth. The area is quite developed and is being developed even more.

Stopped for supper at a greasy Red Rooster (a fast food chicken, or chook as they are called here, place) and camped for the night near the beach in a small town called Myalup.