Common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down by the mind before you reach eighteen. Albert Einstein

Thurs Aug 8

I'd been short-listing Jeep Grand Cherokees. Rated highly as a tow vehicle and a terrible lot cheaper than Landcruisers. Camp Mother belongs to a 4WD club and says the Jeeps are always breaking down.

Went to 123 ( Nick) to view an ex-Min of Fish vehicle from Broome. Bull bar, roof rack (With ladder) winch and drawers. But its a GX, so no camera. They'd sprayed underneath, so you couldn't see corrosion. And it's a Min of Fish vehicle from Broome.

Went to Jaco - their new 16 footer has independent suspension. Well priced too and a layout that we could live with, but storage is very limited.

I found a piece of tooth in my muesli this morning. Yep, it was mine. The filling stayed there and the side of the tooth fell out. I'm officially old. The dentist was a young Irish girl. "Would your people be from Derry?" says she. "It's just that I worked in Derry, and half my customers were Duffys."

As Cavan is across the border from Derry that may mean that half of those Duffys hated the other half. Back for some more work tomorrow, then the lab takes 2 weeks to make a cap.

After one of the three receptionists said "how's you're day been?" she soon got with the programme and said "well we're very happy that you made time to come in and see us."

Fri 9 Aug

Got down to 3C degrees overnight.

I knew that Aussies have a love affair with 'utes, but recently saw that they outsell cars here. When you think that 85% of the population live in the big main 4 cities that's amazing. 2.6M souls in Perth put it very much in 4th place these days ahead of Adelaide.

Yes, we put a deposit on a Ford Ranger today. That's not it in the photo, the only thing different on ours is the top of the snorkel, and we've got spotties mate. It's now getting an electronic brake controller fitted, which is compulsory here for towing anything over 2t. It's also quite prescriptive on what vehicles can tow what weights, and all towing vehicles have to pull into weigh-stations. Even the insurance companies turn you down if you're in an accident and over the rated weight for either vehicle or the combination.

We've just returned from another wander around the caravan park at dusk. There's the whole spectrum, from a car and staying in a cabin, highway caravans, to real hard-core off-roaders with shovels and high-lift jacks. At this place that last category is a good 50%. And we're still in Central Perth.

On TV they're really fizzing about the Bledisloe tomorrow.

Sat. I got to the laundry 5 mins before opening time and both machines were in use and one load waiting. Took a quick constitutional down the track along the adjacent Swan River. We still haven't seen a black swan, but there was a pelican and plenty of rowers.

Back to base for a Lynn Duffy haircut and breakfast. Once again I found a filling in my muesli! Well, half a temporary cap this time, the other half lasted until lunch. This Aussie muesli is powerful. The Irish dentist that put it in yesterday is off today but I have an appointment for 9am tomorrow, Sun.

We went 45mins Sth to Rockingham to visit Abba Caravans, as they're the W.A agents for Silver Valley, the one we've been looking at. They had a demo model of the same thing, but we're still leaning towards the used one that I've previously put photos up for. Heading back to Fremantle went through Coogee Beach. Just close is also an Armadale (sic)

The Port at Fremantle is vast and the ship maintenance, wheat storage and loading, and support industries goes on forever. It was a major submarine base during dubdub2. As far as private boats go, there are 80,000 registered vessels in W.A.

And as we went back past the Optus the carparks were starting to fill up and people were arriving by ferry and train. The Wallabies vs All Blacks match drew the biggest sporting crowd ever in W.A. 61,000 odd - And half of them were Kiwi supporters.

What about that game eh, wasn't it a beauty? Mate, I'm devvo'd.

Sun