After two fun (and very expensive!) weeks with Jo, we decided that a campervan for the west coast would be the best option. We only had ten days so wanted to see as much as we could in the cheapest possible way. George was not so thrilled as his last campervan experience was questionable!!

After leaving it to the last minute (again!) our choices of campers were limited and it was looking like it wasn't going to happen. Eventually, after playing around with the dates a bit, we found that if we had a couple of nights in a hostel in Perth, we could then pick up a camper for 8 days. Better than nothing.

Perth was ok. We arrived late at night so only had one full day walking around the city and seeing the sights. It's coming in to their winter now so it felt really cold!! We walked across to an island where they have wild kangaroos and we saw the cities main attractions. Everything's very spread out so it's not as easy to get around as other cities we've been to. One day was enough for us.

We picked up our 'Hippie' camper the next day. It was brilliant!! Much better than our camper in New Zealand and we were both pretty happy and excited about it! The plan was to spend the entire day driving up the west coast on the highway to Monkey Mia then take the coastal road (Indian ocean road) back down, stopping at all of the fishing villages along the way.

Now we'd been warned about the distances and the nothingness of Australian roads but we still weren't quite prepared! Within two days of our travels we had been bogged and towed out of the sand and, on a separate occasions, run out of fuel 10km shy of a petrol station, leading to hitchhiking in the out back. Never a good idea!! Images of wolf creak kept filling my head!!

Despite that and probably due to that, we had the most fun 8 days ever!! We saw wild dolphins, emus, pelicans, echidnas and lizards, swam in deserted lagoons, lakes and the Indian Ocean, shared a fresh (caught that day) fish dinner with two kind strangers who plied us with alcohol and we gazed with awe and wonder at the stars in one of the clearest night skies we've seen. We walked along cliffs, amung pinnacles and above stromatolites. We went from sleeping on the side of the highway to parking up right by the water on shell beach. To save money, we found public (cold!!!) showers and cooked rice and noodles then free camped! We had a great time!! George now wants to buy a campervan when we get home!!

Western Australia is beautiful and untouched. The white sandy beaches and the sunsets are out of this world. I would love to, one day, see a little more of it!