We left Margaret River and headed to our next housesit at Eaton, still near Bunbury and we're getting to know the area better now, having spent so much time around here. We had to back our caravan down the very long narrow driveway to a beautiful little cottage oasis that was the home of Heather and Craig. We were here for two and a half weeks to look after their home and a very shy cat called Coral who soon got used to us (me mainly) and would come for lots of cuddles but still not let me pick her up. Heather runs her own mosaic school from her garage which is like an Aladdin's cave of all things mosaic. She told me I was welcome to have a play in there while they were away and I did make a small hanging tiled "thing" I just need to find somewhere to hang it, not easy in a caravan when hanging in a tree would look better. We also made good use of and enjoyed both the electric massage chair and the outdoor spa. Not a bad gig, this housesit!

While here we had the work done on our van and decided to have it serviced at the same time. This turned out to be an expensive exercise all together as we also needed new wheel drums as well as the new Red Arc system which replaced our old Finscan system. In total we spent about $7500 but that wasn't the end of it as when we backed the van back down that long driveway again we caught the TV ariel on a tree branch which then got bent, twisted and broken meaning a new ariel costing another $850. Hopefully this will be an insurance claim and we are waiting to hear back from CLI.

After a phone call with our friends near Geelong, we discovered that other friends of theirs lived just around the corner from where we were staying so under strict instructions from Christine, we walked around and knocked on the door of these complete strangers. After introducing ourselves we were invited in for a coffee by Jane and Trevor, and enjoyed their company and swapping stories for a while.

Chris had his day surgery at Busselton hospital and about 10 days later had the dozen tiny stitches removed. The results from the biopsy showed that the piece removed was one of the nasty cancers so we were both glad that we had this matter sorted here in WA rather than wait until we got back to the east coast.

We met up with Chris's cousin's son Michael and his family, enjoying a lovely breakfast with them at the Dome in Bunbury overlooking the water. Michael, Natalie and their daughter moved out to Australia about two years ago and like us, have settled in really well and love this beautiful country. We had a good catch up with them and hope to keep in touch in the future.

As this housesit came to an end we had four nights before our next which took us over Easter. We headed out to Donnybrook again as we enjoy this spot and then one night at a free camp at Burekup. We have done a few housesits here in WA, way more than we would normally do but we have been waiting to catch up with Jo, Phil and the girls. This one will probably be our last for a while now.

When speaking to Jo and Phil we didn't think they would be anywhere close by this time so agreed to a sit for ten days over Easter in Australind, the next suburb to Eaton. The next day after we had committed to this 'sit" we found out that Jo and Phil had changed their plans and would be in Busselton for the Easter weekend. Not wanting to let our people down we stayed in Australind and drove to see the kids on Good Friday and again Easter Sunday. As it's been over a year since we've seen them there was, as you'd expect, lots of hugs and kisses all around. On Easter Sunday we enjoyed watching the girls and their friends on their Easter egg hunt and then the Busselton markets along the foreshore near the jetty. Knowing we are going to see them all again soon, we were happy to do the rest of our housesit while they went off to Margaret River and then Mandurah.

We visited the Dolphin Discovery Centre in Bunbury, courtesy of a voucher from Heather and Craig) and enjoyed a very interesting few hours there reading and watching stuff while waiting for a staff member to feed the fish, sea urchins etc. we even managed to see a not uncommon sight of a dolphin in the bay. It was a great experience that I'm sure the girls would have enjoyed. Thanks Heather.

With this last housesit completed we left Australind behind and are now staying at the Showgrounds in Wagin for $10 a night with power and water. Bargain! We are spending two nights here on our way out to Hayden and Wave Rock where we will meet up again with Jo, Phil and the girls.

Today we drove out to Katanning, a large country town about 50 kms from Wagin. Being Tuesday for some reason most of the tourist places were closed but we did drive around and checked out some of the many street arts about the town. The weather this morning was so much colder, very overcast and quite windy. We found having to put a jacket on was a bit of a novelty.

Driving back into town I called into the Wagin Op Shop only to find it closing but the ladies were happy to let me look. Conscious that they wanted to close up, I didn't take long but on the way out I then spent a good while just chatting with these lovely, very friendly locals. Now we are back at the van and the sun has come out again. The air temperature is definitely cooler but that sun is still hot!