Wed

We'd been told that if you're here over 3mths you should get a W.A driver's licence. One guy said he showed them his NZ licence and paid $40 - done. That however was 8yrs ago. They now want a birth certificate as well as your passport, an Australian bank a/c, and a tenancy agreement or proof of address in W.A. After going away to check, the lady at the Dept of Tpt said I could stay on my NZ licence. Lynn however, being a native, needs to get a licence after 3mths!

A walk along the Swan revealed recycled plastic posts and signage to match the duckboards. It is great to see the W.A local govt. finding so many public uses for them.

Down to Freo again doing our tourist research before our Visitor arrives.

The first permanent structure in W.A was a jail. Unbelievable I know, but I have a photo of the sign, and signs don't lie….

Memorial Hill included recognition of U.S submariners based here in WW2 plus a Dutch submarine and many Dutch merchant ships supplying Australia.

Notre Dame University means a lot of young folk in town.

We came back up the coast road along the beaches, but it was showery and on-shore windy today so didn't really do them justice. My dentist had recommended Cottesloe and City beaches. Clancy's fish restaurant at City Beach needs a return visit, though they do have one in Fremantle too.

Thurs

Constitutional. After a showery night the morning is cool enough that, not only can you see your breath, but also there is steam/mist rising off the local lakes. I asked an older man (on a bench with his coffee cup and accompanied by 2 dogs) to identify a scaupe-like duck. He didn't know, but -

was a Sth African who has been here for 35yrs. He—

discussed last Saturday's Bledisloe

explained how the AFL draft system worked

loved Christchurch

told me some things to see down south.

I eventually got away to head back for breakfast. We hope to pick up the Ranger today and the caravan tomorrow.

After organising the bank cheques we had a wander thru Ikea. When outfitting a new (mobile) home this is a great place to go, particularly for Kiwis, and there were some outrageously low prices. Kitchenware was today's theme.

Picked up the Ranger and managed to stay together on the freeways back to Karrinyup, which I didn't think was possible at rush hour. Playing in the back when we got home I discovered a compressor in a little compartment, wired in. Score! The car sales hadn't discovered it. That's for pumping your vehicle, and in our case caravan, tyres back up after you've deflated them for bulldust or sand. From what I've read so far, 10% down for bulldust and a standard 20psi for sand. *Subject to alternative theories further down the track.

Fliday

• While on the subject, when talking to the caravan mechanic about tyre pressures, he claims they deflate their tyres to 25-30psi on all gravel roads, as the gravel is a really fine pea-gravel which just slides around otherwise.
• Picked up our new home! Since arriving we've had a bit of navigating experience on the Perth freeways. Yesterday we picked up the Ranger, so were still finding features and controls. Today we went and hooked the new caravan to it and hit the freeways to get back to our caravan park. I was worried about the requirement for quick lane changes without enough vision, but a couple of things were really helpful. The Clearview mirrors that we had installed are great - they're really big to start with, and extend almost double. They have a convex section which helps reveal that little vehicle in your blind spot. The camera on the back of the caravan gives a really good view of your lane and a bit of adjacent. And so much easier when you're lining up your slot at the caravan park. You can even see the missus's directions.
• The caravan park calls up a young guy who meets you with a golf cart and takes you for a ride to choose your site. Nice touch.
• There are a couple of little tackers next site along who have been practising with little bullwhips, and they're really good. We reckon about 5-8yr old brothers.

Loving the new digs, more windows than most Aussie vans, plus 2 skylights. Everything is double (plastic) glazed and has a choice of sliding insect screens down from the top or curtain screens up from the bottom, and all the windows are opening style. Just as well, as our 1st effort was to lock ourselves in (no, you wouldn't think that would be possible) and I had to get out via window. Everything is shiny white and LED lighting everywhere, like living in a space-ship. The only drawback has been that some ants got here before we did, in an upper cupboard.

Overnight the rain came down hard, and we haven't found any trace of a leak, which is reassuring.

Marketing signage of the day: "Koala Storage - your room without a view."