I seem to recall that when there's a cricket test match on in Perth, the hot weather kicks in - we'll that's how today was. As we'd had issues with the power supply to our bus at the Water Ski Park we hadn't been able to use the air conditioner and today was going to be hotter than the last couple which were 33 and 36 degrees respectively and quite warm overnight. Because WA chooses NOT to have daylight saving the sun rises at some ridiculous hour (before 5.00am!!!) so by the time we were packing up, the heat was ON.

We were away before 10.00am which is early for us, clearly having no creature comfort gave us a wriggle on. However grateful to say we had the generator going so travelled in absolute comfort with the air conditioner on.

As seems to be the norm in Perth, traffic was heavy but it was sad to see the last of the beautiful city skyline for now.

Filled up with fuel at Upper Swan and thankfully only took 450litres and then we then turned west and headed for the beautiful deep blue Indian Ocean. Nobody told us however that there were road works and our clean bus is clean no longer! I was thrilled to see so many wildflowers and flowering trees still around and the typically Western Australian grasses that were once called black boys but I don't think we can call them that any more.

We travelled the Indian Ocean Drive from Guilderton to its end about 60km south of Dongara. We did intend staying alongside the Moore River at Guilderton but we were a bit late for that (midday!!!), the camp area was packed. The decision was made to push on until we found a suitable stop to pull up stumps. Well that took all day. Sadly the "big rig" spots are few and far between these days and we wanted to get some kilometres under our belt and not stay in a caravan park again just yet.

It was wonderful to finally have a decent view of the Indian Ocean and although all the little seaside villages in name were familiar, my how they've grown. There were new housing developments everywhere. Can't blame anyone for wanting to live here, although the wind can be relentless, guess that's why it's the windsurfing mecca of Australia.

Finally just after 4.00pm we found a parking area about 7km inland from Dongara and decided that that would be it for the day. There was another motor home already there, they too had their generator going so suspect it was for cooling purposes, although we did see a TV dish outside so maybe they were watching the cricket! Once we stepped outside we realised exactly how hot it was (41 degrees), however the wind had died off and the flies were loving the new arrivals!

Unfortunately Kimbo had to undertake some repairs in the heat as the step flap had fallen off, thankfully after we'd stopped as all the rivets had broken off (another dodgy engineering effort by Chris Wright Motorhomes!!!!) I think the beer helped him achieve a great result.

We had some light entertainment as we watched a calf in the paddock across the road playing with what looked like a jumper, (I hope it wasn't a plastic bag). He had it in his mouth, shaking his head like a puppy and running around in circles. We got the distinct impression that his mum wasn't impressed as there was a bit of mooing and other calves wondering what all the excitement about. Eventually, as we all do, he got bored, dropped it and walked away.
Maybe it was one of those "you had to be there moments".

Having not used the generator much we decided to give it a good test to see how long a jerry can will last, so we left the air conditioner on all night. Pleased to say we had a very comfy sleep, in fact I think Kimbo would say it was a very chilly sleep even with the quilt on.

Next stop Geraldton.