After roughing it in the Cape Range national park we spent a few days in the relative luxury of nearby Exmouth. We chose the Big 4 campsite mainly because it had an excellent kitchen - excellent by Australian standards, that is, though only a little above average compared to those in New Zealand.

We didn't do much in Exmouth, to be honest, apart from chores such as cleaning, washing and cooking. Our use of the kitchen was limited, however, by the price of fresh fruit and veg in the town. There were two supermarkets, but both were part of the IGA chain and both reportedly belonged to the same person. While the cost of canned or bottled goods was fair enough, fresh food was horrendously expensive.

Our main accomplishment in Exmouth was to mend our tents. The small one needed a new elastic cord for a tent pole and the big one needed a new pole section and repairs to a tear in the fly sheet. The only camping shop in town luckily had a repair kit which contained all the essentials as well as a few extra bits and pieces. The guy who served us was really nice and not only cut the pole to the correct length, but provided us with some very thin wire to help us feed the new cord through the hole.

Thus equipped, we swiftly re-corded the small pole and replaced the broken section on the other tent. We then put duct tape on each side of the tear - it probably isn't waterproof and is unlikely to withstand the west coast wind for long, but hopefully it will last a while. At least we sleep well away from the tear so if the rain comes in we won't get too wet.

From Exmouth we drove south, stopping overnight at the Minilya roadhouse before arriving in Carnarvon, just south of the Tropic of Capricorn. As we approached the town we both realised we could see something we hadn't seen for thousands and thousands of kilometres - crops! Neither of us could recall seeing planted fields since the acres of sugar cane in Queensland. Carnarvon is apparently well known for its agricultural produce and there were fields of bananas and signs everywhere advertising fresh fruit and vegetables.

We chose a campsite near the centre of town and even there we found bags of tomatoes on sale for $1. Huge lettuces were the same price and two aubergines or two peppers were only $1.50. Katy in particular appreciated being able to have as much fresh salad as she wanted without breaking the bank.

The contrast with Exmouth was marked, yet it's only the next major town up the coast. Other places to the north were nowhere near as bad and we had trouble believing that the 350km distance was responsible for a virtual doubling of prices. Anyone travelling this route northwards should stock up in Carnarvon and save a bundle of cash. And those heading south should just hang on and get all their vitamins once they leave the Tropics.

Carnarvon was a pleasant enough spot to spend a couple of days. We ended up with a third night thanks to getting distracted by a bottle of Bundaberg rum and some coke. We decided that we wouldn't be getting up early the next day!

When we were in Townsville, Katy had her hair cut at the local college - it was cheap at $15 but it took about five hours. (Ok, I'm exaggerating, but it was at least half that.) This time, she found a really ragged looking hairdressers just down the road from the camp. The sign "hairdressers" looked like it had been cut out of cardboard by the local junior school and then spread across the three sections of the window. Another sign - hand-written by someone from the same school - announced the opening hours as "9.30-ish to 12.30-ish" A third notice advised potential clients that on Saturdays, sometimes they cut hair, sometimes they sold flowers and sometimes they stayed shut. What brilliant public relations, we thought!

However, once again we were seduced by a bargain - $20-25 for a ladies cut. We went in and the rather brusque woman asked Katy to wait as she had another client to deal with first. Hardly had we sat down, however, before she summoned Katy over, saying that the other woman was late.

As I sat there I looked for something to read and my eye fell upon a hand-written booklet entitled "How to get a better haircut". Thinking it was better than the single magazine on offer (about hair styles of course) I picked it up wondering what pearls of wisdom it might contain.

Clearly written by the owner, the booklet contained advice such as, "Don't move the chair when you sit down. We place it exactly where we want it so we can move around you when we need to." Another entry was, "Don't turn up early as we haven't got enough seats" which was coupled with, "Don't ask for magazines to read because we don't provide them." Why? "Because if we did then people would come early and…" yes, you've guessed it, "we haven't got enough seats"!

All this was fantastic, almost unbelievable, and I had to read on.

Another page said that the reason they sold plants as well as cut hair was because the shop was large and therefore had a high rent - so they needed to take money any way they could. A related notice pre-empted similar questions by pointing out that the Woolworths supermarket across the road sold ironing boards as well as food. Therefore why should a hairdressers not sell plants?

But I have to admit that my favourite was "Don't ask if we close at 12.30 - if you're unsure, then go out of the shop and read the notice in the window again". Even if you ignore the fact that the notice says "12.30-ish", it's quite clear that Basil Fawlty learned all he knew while sitting at the feet of this master of customer relations!

Richard