On Friday at about 6.00 p.m. we set off from Wembley Downs, with all our stuff, to Victoria Park. David did most of the heavy lifting. I could have done it, perhaps, though you have to lift things up very high to get them into the SUV. We put things into the living room and did a little bit of spot checking to see if all was well. The battery in the caravan was still ‘live’ and I plugged it in to recharge.

We then had a meal at the Dumpling House with Lesley and David to say our farewells. We really enjoyed our time staying with them. A pleasant evening. I picked up a couple of things from the 24 hr deli, and Stephen and I walked over there again a bit later to get some cold, sparkling water. We had a good night’s sleep with the ceiling fan.

Yesterday was 38 degrees, with very low humidity. We have a date and rough time (Tuesday 11.00 onwards) for the air conditioning to be repaired. The house stayed reasonable until about 12.30, we then took to the caravan and it’s air-conditioning to have a comfortable afternoon. In a way today is worse because although it’s only about 30 degrees, there is a storm pending and it is very humid. We did’t do much in the way of unpacking yesterday, just used clean clothes from our cases. I have done a bit more today (Sunday), but am not too worried as it can be done gradually over the next few days. Of course, I haven’t been able to resist doing lots of washing since we got home.

I left my iPad over at WD, so in the evening yesterday we went over to pick it up. We stayed talking for a while and heard their good news about Sam. He has worked out that he can buy a small, ground floor unit, which won’t be too much more expensive than paying rent (in a shared place). They had been to have a look at it during the afternoon.

Saturday morning I got up early and did some shopping. I got more than I planned as it seemed worthwhile once I was over in Coles. Quite busy around the aisles, but I only had to wait for one person before me in a queue. Stephen helped with bringing things in a bit, but can’t lift anything heavy, of course.

He has been generally well, and was able to enjoy being at the beach after we picked up the iPad. I packed cold drinks and some crisps, intending to drive home for tea, but in the end we stayed for the sunset and shared a burger and small chips. This was at Brighton Beach, which I discovered during our stay in WD, a southern part of Scarborough Beach which is much less crowded. We were able to get a parking spot overlooking the sea.

The coffee machine indicates an error, but works anyway. Very odd. I had it serviced before we went away, but didn’t really feel that pleased with it when it came home, so wouldn’t use that service place again. There must be somewhere in Perth that looks after domestic coffee machines properly. George found it wasn’t working when he arrived, but he was able to revive it. He also fixed the water feature in the garden. No one has been able to do this in the past, so it feel like a miracle. We will have to use it for part of each day to prevent mozzies breeding in the standing water. It doesn’t make much of a sound, but seeing the water gently bubbling at the top, then cascading down the front is very pleasing, particularly for someone who is out the back quite a lot, either hanging out washing or bringing it in!