It is time to find out if we can still do an overnight at our favourite beach spot Pinaroo Point. Since we were there last the new ‘beach club’ has been completed and is now open. My online research suggests that Friday night is not a good night for sleeping due to live music until midnight. We first want to try out a weeknight, just to see if it is still possible.

We have a backup plan, to go to the Whitfords Nodes car park which is a couple of beaches south, but still north of Hillarys Boat Harbour. It does have the advantage of having a lot more shade than the Pinaroo Point carpark.

Of course, these are unofficial camping areas, only possible through the tolerance of rangers and police who patrol at night, and the good behaviour by campers. Plus, it does not appear that the locals have complained, although the new beach club owners might have complained.

We plan to take advantage of the new beach club for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow morning.

I’ve checked with the Quindanning Hotel for our overnight with M. and G. We’ve chosen a couple of possible dates (Sunday nights) and they do indeed have meals on Sunday evenings. We might need to do our own breakfasts as breakfast seems to only be available to people staying in rooms.

They leave the toilets and showers open 48hrs for campers and you can actually stay for two nights. The deal is that you at least have at least a drink at the pub, but all of the reviews are very positive about the food and overall hospitality. I will book us in when we know what the weather will be like for our first chosen weekend. If it’s very hot we will try for the second date a couple of weeks later.

I will bring the Ecoflow Delta Mini for M. to trial as a backup power source and the Starlink, which can be used for wifi calling as there doesn’t appear to be any phone signal in the town. M. will want to be available for her son if necessary.

We like to give the Sherwood a run during breaks between our trips. We took our bathers hoping the beach would be suitable for swimming, plus we like Clancy’s Fish Bar kiosk and cafe for breakfast.

The waves were a big larger than we wanted, but we took turns to go in and found if we went out beyond the breakers it was still shallow enough to stand and enjoy being in the water. We couldn’t see any lifesavers around, but there were people doing laps further out, so it felt relatively safe. We also saw a helicopter patrol, which was reassuring, even if we were both out of the water by then. But, there were some kids swimming.

Stephen was steadier on his feet in the waves than he usually is, that was also reassuring. I had worried about him going in, but he was fine. We really enjoyed it. We don’t really swim, as such, but just bounced around with the waves and generally enjoyed being in sea water. Our last swim was at our local pool, which was nice too, but it was lovely being at a fairly uncrowded beach on a day that wasn’t hot, but still warm enough to enjoy.

I went back to the Sherwood to shower, dress and blow dry my hair. I left a lot of sand on the floor, which I cleaned up the next day. We hadn’t put the hot water heater on, so it was a cold shower, but Stephen said the public showers were cold water only as well.

Then we went for breakfast and decided to share a big breakfast, one of our favourite cafe meals. It’s about $31, but really good value, with doubles of everything, so easy to share across two plates. I’d ordered an extra slice of toast, but we agreed later it was a bit much, the slices were a generous size and there were two of them included with the meal. Note to self for next time. We felt we had over eaten afterwards.

The cafe is very open to the fresh air, with sections where you can be sheltered. We could actually see the Sherwood from our table.

Why City Beach? It has heaps and heaps of parking, with some of it shaded by peppermints. It has a range of cafes, though we haven’t strayed from our favourite so far. It’s very easy to get there and doesn’t go past schools with all their traffic congestion with parents dropping kids off. Cottesloe is really bad. It’s also the easiest journey from here, onto the Graham Farmer Freeway, through the tunnel, then onto Cambridge Street, which changes it’s name, but basically leads straight there.

We visited M and G yesterday to have a look at their new second hand caravan. We were trying to plan a trip together, but have settled on an overnight pub stay at Quindanning to take place on a Sunday night, when we have cooler weather. That might be soon, or we might need to wait. It’s a fairly short drive from Perth and the pub is a lovely, older style building with lots of wooden panelling and beams.

Monday 15th January, 2024. Brookton to Victoria Park via Roleystone

Our overnight at Brookton was very quiet. We saw one other new camper arrive (a large caravan), but otherwise, apart from the two cottages occupied by workers the other two caravans and a tent seemed occupied by residents. We enjoyed using the ensuite style bathrooms and the campers kitchen for washing up.

It cooled down a little after sunset and we only had the fan on when we went to bed. In the night the breeze dropped and we had to use the air conditioning again to be comfortable. There had been threatening clouds around sunset, but no resulting storm, which meant that things remained very humid.

It does appear that the weather turns stormy out of nowhere, we were threatened by a storm here in Victoria Park this afternoon, but it appears to have bypassed us. The sky outside our living room window is now perfectly clear, but earlier it looked quite threatening and we thought we could hear thunder.

Yesterday morning, after a leisurely breakfast, showers, and packing up, we set off at about 10.10 a.m. and arrived at M and Gs at about 11.20. We stayed to catch up on news, then headed off again for home. It wasn’t hot in terms of temperature, but the humidity was high and our airconditioning struggled to deal with the hot air in the house. At times it was as though we had it set to warming!

Over the afternoon we brought all food and most of a gear inside. Today (Tuesday 16th) was supposed to be a very hot day and we didn’t want sensitive electronics or food to be spoiled in the heat.

This morning, Tuesday 16th January, I met Matthew and his support worker for his appointment at the ENT department of QEII Hospital in Nedlands. The white patches I had seen in his mouth appeared to have resolved, I couldn’t see them either. They did a thorough examination and said that without a family history of cancer they did not think he has a problem. Matt was extremely serious up to the point where his support worker suggested having a coffee before catching a taxi home, he then cheered up considerably and really enjoyed having a coffee and people watching in the cafe.

They caught a wheelchair taxi home and I caught an Uber ride. The driver arrived so quickly that I left well before them. I enjoy using Uber, though Stephen and I have caught buses to the hospital and it works well. I arrived at the hospital well before Matt due to not being sure how long it would take me. They arrived about 10 minutes before the appointment, so actually timed it well.

So, here we are, up to date. There is a lot of cleaning to be done, inside and outside of the Sherwood. East Bay Campground has a beautiful white sandy beach, but behind is bushland and even camping right on the edge we were on dirt, a lot of which got inside. As it was such a short trip I decided to wait to do a thorough clean until we reached home.

January 14th, 2024. Katanning to Brookton

After about 2 hours in the Dome at Katanning we ventured out to a much cooler world. The breeze that had been a little cool had become quite cool and we were able to open the windows and feel quite comfortable. We had tuna melts with salad for our evening meal, so not much cooking to be done, apart from frying slices of bread and then melting the cheese on top of the tuna, onion and mayonaise mix. Overnight was cool enough to snuggle under the doona.

We did a little shopping in the IGA, but found it didn’t have the meat I was wanting. The Woolworths would have been better, but it had a later opening time. But we stayed a bit longer to have hot drinks at the Dome.

On the way here to Brookton we stopped at Wagin, where I was able to get some meat, and at Narrogin where we found a very nice deli and had some lunch. There was no seating inside and we returned to the rather nice little park next to the Sherwood and sat on a park bench. Although it was warm the breeze kept us comfortable.

There was a large dog wandering around the park and we were worried that it would come up and beg for food, but it turned out to have beautiful manners and left us alone. Later a woman came over and said it was a stray. She said she would take it home and advise the ranger in the morning. She had given it a little bit of food and it followed her over the road to her car and got in. Such a fierce looking dog, Apple Photos has identifed it as a Dogue De Bordeauz, a French Mastiff. It’s hard to imagine that someone would abandon such a beautiful animal, so there must be a story around it being lost.

Brookton, when we arrived at about 2.00 p.m., was about 41C (106F), extremely hot. Our airconditioning has done an amazing job of keeping us cool. The insulation inside our ‘house’ is good as far as the walls go, but the windows let in so much heat. We have doubled the insulation by using our extra car window screens and then pulling up the blinds on the windows facing the sun. We tried for a bit of shade, but that has moved beyond us now at 5.30 p.m.

Brookton is a very plain but nice little caravan park run by the Shire. I was able to book our place online, that was after we had plugged in and were using the airconditioning. One of the nicest things is the ensuite bathrooms. There is a dump point and some extra showers and toilets for women. I don’t know what the men are supposed to do.

January 12th and 13th January, 2024. A day in Albany and then heading towards home

Yesterday was mostly grey and slightly wet. We had a brief storm in the evening, fortunately just after we had arrived back at the Golf Links and settled into our space for the night. We heard thunder, did not see any lightning, and had about 15 minutes of rain. Not enough to clean the Sherwood, but still refreshing.

We hung around at camp in the morning, then went into Albany at lunchtime. We had lunch of cheese on toast, then went to the library for the movie ‘A Royal Wedding’. It was enjoyable, but he was quite a bit past his prime in this 1951 movie. The young and beautiful co star, a great singer and dancer, had to be cast as his baby sister and Winston Churchill’s daughter was cast as his more age appropriate love interest, only about 15 years younger than him. Truly, look it up! She was an aspiring actress.

We had to change our parking area as we were only allowed three hours, so drove down to the IGA carpark and went to a cafe nearby. As it sells plants it stays open later than the usual Albany cafes. Then we walked up the hill to the library again to see the plaque for the end of the Bibbilmun track. So, that was our yesterday.

This morning we didn’t have much packing up to do and were easily on our way by 10.00 a.m. Another grey, misty day, quite windy. We drove to Mt Barker to dump our toilet and get fuel. From there we drove to Cranbrook for lunch, then on to Katanning for the night. On arrival here was hot in the sun and cool in the shade, but the sun on the Sherwood made it uncomfortable. Oddly, the easterly wind is fairly cool.

After a rest we have walked over to the Dome for cold drinks and to spend time in air conditioning. It’s as lovely as we hoped. It’s also a good place to get some writing done. Our plan is to keep driving tomorrow as we take the full brunt of the heatwave. Our car air conditioning keeps the ‘house’ cool as well as the cab.

The change from being on Albany Highway to the Great Southern Highway was dramatic. Was was so busy, the other almost empty of traffic. It’s a longer journey this way, but much more relaxing. Our deadline to be home is Monday sometime.

Friday January 12th, 2024. You can also read my posts on Substack

Thursday January 11, 2024. East Bay Campground to Albany

We said goodbye to East Bay Campground yesterday morning. Packing up, including the very dirty outdoor mat took some time, but we weren’t in a hurry and it was quite satisfying to have everything packed away at the end. Before heading away from the area we took a drive down to the campground at Betty’s Beach.

The drive was beautiful with spectacular views. At the campground we got a lot of stares, probably because there was a sign up the hill to say the campground was full, but as we just wanted to see it, turn around, and leave, we ignored them.

Betty’s Beach has ‘shacks’ built long ago by families who fish in the bay. Some of them look quite good, little summer cottages for the families. They are illegal and when the owners die the shacks will be demolished. They can’t kick them out, but only wait for the end.

We still prefer East Bay Campground. It can get very busy and people do illegal things like camp on the beach, but a ranger does visit and check licence plates to make sure you don’t stay too long. I expect he had a gentle word to anyone thinking of camping in the day use parking area, but at night it will be filled with campers.

Another vital stop, but in Albany itself, was to check out a bakery that offers sourdough bread. It is quite lovely and we had lunch there, enjoying sweet and savoury treats and hot drinks. The seating is less comfortable than that offered next door, but the food and atmosphere make up for it.

The bakery is close to Woolworths and we did a bit of shopping as well before setting off for Little Grove Golflinks to book our camping for a couple of nights. There was only one other camper last night so we had a choice of spots. The owners prefer us to be away from the main parking area used by golfers.

The only downside was the toilet, after flushing a large frog jumped into the bowl. I think someone had forgotten to close the lid after using it. I’ve reported the situation to the office and the owner promised to fish it out sometime today. In the meantime this morning I used the male toilet and a little girl followed me in, not realising it was the men’s. I had to explain what had happened to her grandfather.

After booking in we headed out to the Bald Head trail. Stephen did a walk of about two hours there and back, but it is hard going as it is fairly steep, so may have done about 2kms. I walked up about 200kms and sat down to wait for him. I had already stayed behind to have a rest (the driver does get tired), so only had to wait about 20mins.

And then back to camp where we had leftovers mixed with food from the supermarket to make a satisfactory evening meal, followed by fruit and chocolate.

This morning we are taking it easy as we have a film booked for 1.30 p.m. at the public library. It’s called ‘A Royal Wedding’ from 1951 starring Fred Astaire and Jane Powell.

Then we will start our journey northwards into the heatwave. It’s been unusually cool here, even for Albany, so it’s going to be quite a shock.

Wednesday 10th January, 2024 Three dolphins came to East Bay

There was a great flurry amongst the campers when these three showed up at about 11.45 a.m. Many people went into the water to be close to them. One had a GoPro and expect she was able to get some good closeups, including underwater footage.

I went for the Sony A7R4A with 24-240mm lens. Not the best lens for wildlife, but sufficient, especially after cropping the images this morning.

It was sunny enough to get good solar and at the end of the day the total produced was 2kWH, the highest yet for a day. We put out the awning to provide a little shade and it turned out to be a good move as we could be outside photographing (me), looking through binoculars (Stephen) when the dolphins arrived.

Apart from that we had a lazy day with just a short swim late in the afternoon, followed by a walk along the shore.

Last night I thought I could hear pattering rain drops, and it happened again after we woke up this morning. It was only when I opened the door that I could confirm it was a very light misty rain. I was beginning to think it was just my ears playing up.

Tuesday January 9th, 2024. At East Bay Campground (no bathers, no worries)

We spent a lazy day, mostly sitting inside as it was more comfortable than out in the wind. It was cloudy in the morning, but lots of sunshine in the afternoon.

I cooked a chicken curry which we had for lunch, delicious, and as it has lots of vegetables in it, with a small pack of meat, it will provide for another couple of meals. I’ve been using the gas cooktop as Starlink does take quite a lot of power and we are just leaving it on all day until bed time. Still, the batteries haven’t gone below 80%.

We went for a walk at about 4.30 p.m. It was cloudy, with a few drops of rain as we were leaving, but we went anyway, and by the time we were a long way from camp the sun came out and it was quite warm. There were young people surfing when we set off, but they left as we walked along.

The tides move seaweed around from day to day and our ‘home’ beach had a lot of seaweed on the sand and in the water, even quite smelly, but further along the water was clear and enticing. So much so that I decided to go in, and leave all clothes on the sand so I didn’t have to walk back in wet things. It was surprisingly warm in the sun for drying off. Stephen then followed, and I took a few photos and a video of him. It would be good if he didn’t take photos of me because he was too gentlemanly, but it was more that he said he didn’t know how to operate my camera! A pity, I would have liked a record of it for private viewing.

We were a long way from the campground, though some people were on the beach a little way towards us. When we reached that spot and looked back it was likely that they could see what had happened, but nothing in detail. Whatever, it was well worth it.

We had toasted sandwiches and fruit for dinner. Before the meal we usually have a drink and some crisps, keeping the serving of chips small so that it doesn’t affect our appetite too much. That was the only time we sat outside yesterday.

WARNING! don’t read the next paragraph if you don’t want to know about our toileting arrangements.

Before we left home I had come up with an idea for coping with the East Bay drop toilet. So, we take an IGA shopping bag with toilet roll, gloves and sanitizer wipes so that we can at least wipe down the seat before we use the toilet. It does have an exhaust pipe, but nothing else to mitigate the primitive pile at the bottom of the hole. We have our own toilet, of course, but try to use the public toilet during the day to save room in the cassette. It also helps to not mix the products, so to speak, to produce a less smelly result. A capful of Portisol a day and all is good.

Yesterday morning our three neighbours on the left side packed up and went, and for a time there were vacant spaces. Then a bus came and managed to park in the end bay, with a smallish van coming in close enough that they must be friends. Much later in the day a young couple came and parked next to us with a roof top tent. By then the rest of the campground was filling up with vans, tents, and motorhomes. They use the day use only area as well as an area away from the beach. There is no camp host here, and even at Betty’s Beach campground, the next one along, where there is a camp host, they usually allow this to happen. By late morning there are usually some day use bays free.

We are always very interested in the people camping next to us on the door side as we will interact with them a little bit. So far it has been fine. We had a family with three children the first day, and that was lovely.