Day 77. Bacon and eggs for Sunday breakfast as the fine weather returned after rain falling on the van overnight. Today we are visiting the Swan Valley wineries, notably Sandleford, Lancaster and Houghtons. First a detour to the heritage listed village of Guildford and the very helpful information centre. A walk around the old town, so many beautiful old buildings and churches. Morning tea in a quaint little cafe and then drove up the Swan Valley Road to the win...

Day 76. A windy wet morning in Perth so we went shopping at the big Warwick Mall up along North Beach Road. A new iPhone 6 and nails for Raechel while I was happy to drink coffee while reading the Weekend Australian. Dropped into new looking Bunnings warehouse at Balcatta, very impressive plant nursery and leisure department. Back at our van we spent some time reading as the sun returned and the wind receded. Dinner tonight home baked pies, veg and gravy. Windy ...

Day 75. Today we decided to drive down the Indian Ocean coast to visit the port city of Fremantle founded in 1829. First morning tea and a wander through the EShed Markets set in an historic warehouse. Near the marina and town beach we toured a fabulous maritime museum 'Shipwrecks of WA'. Inside was a recovered stern side section of the Dutch VOC ship 'Batavia' wrecked on the Abrohlus Islands in 1629. Lots of restored canons, ropes, silver coins, ceramic flasks...

Day 74. Today we are spending the whole day in Perth City. We caught the 9.15am bus to Stirling, then the light rail into the city. We were very impressed with the speed and efficiency of Perth's transport system. Walked out of the train station straight into the Murray and Hay Street Malls, so much life and activity. After coffee we boarded the free red bus and hopped off near Kings Park where we spent several hours walking amongst the wildflowers with scenic v...

Day 73. Today we headed further south to Perth, our biggest city since Darwin. All along the coast we saw massive white sandhills, distant blue water and golden wattle wildflowers covering the sandhills. A huge expanse of grass trees (xantheria) really impressed us and we stopped several times for photos. We detoured into small seaside village of Lancelin for a break and then onto the northern Perth suburbs, arriving around lunchtime. We are staying for five nig...