Pemberton - Friday 19th December 2008
Car Kilometres: 191,321
Distance Travelled: 978 km (this includes all of our driving around Denmark and its surrounds)
Total Distance Travelled: 23,070km

Pootling along to Pemberton, we spend the drive reminiscing about the things we've done over the last few weeks, and over the five months that we've been camping (bar our jaunts to Perth and Japan in the middle). It feels like the end of yet another chapter, since we plan to go from Pemberton to Augusta, then to Margaret River, with the aim of arriving in Perth on Christmas Eve.
After failing to pick out an absolute favourite moment, we pull up at a beach for lunch and manage to experience a definite top ten moment right there - we've eaten and are just walking down from the coastal path, Dave a metre or so in front of me, when he stops stock still and then starts to reverse. I can't quite work out what all the fuss is about, but after retreating at least ten metres, I spot the problem...
... There's a whacking great big snake in the middle of the path, looking at us. We gawp at him, he appears very unconcerned. Unfortunately, the snake is in between us and the car, home of safety and also the dangerous creatures reference book, so we have no idea whether this particular specimen is friend or foe. We decide to err on the side of caution and stay out of the way until he retreats a few minutes later back into the bush... we tiptoe past and hop into the car, breathing a sigh of relief.
Using a few hasty snaps of him as a reference, we look the snake up in our book - we can't be sure, but the consensus between us is that we have survived a near death experience. Ten metaphorical points to us.
Feeling a bit smug, we pitch up at Pemberton, and sit in the sun for a couple of hours before having a quiet night catching up on our journals. We're feeling relatively at peace with the world, until the heavens open and the rain starts pouring, and the wind starts blowing. This is nothing new, and since our tent is made of sturdy stuff, a quick check on the guy ropes before bed puts our minds at ease.
However, upon waking the next morning (and several times in the night), we discover that not only has the wind continued to blow and the rain continued to fall, but that we're camped on a low spot on the site. We cross our fingers and our toes, but it's no use - the wind gets stronger, and we salvage our valuables and hole up in the car, hoping that it will ease off enough for us to move the tent or at least take it down.
Unfortunately, by 10am the water has risen by a few inches, and is threatening to drown the inner part of the tent; the front right hand corner is several inches under water, and things are starting to float around. We make the decision to pack up as best we can, even though this means wading through some very stinky water (the rain has flooded a ditch of old standing water nearby) and hundreds of beetles and other crawlies who've been floated away from their usual haunts and into our tent.
We wrestle with the canvas and shove it into the back of the car as best we can - it's dripping wet and so are we. Luckily the bedding is still mostly dry, since the airbed kept it afloat, and we are kicking ourselves for not packing up sooner.
After looking at our pitch and equipment once the packing away is done, we realise that there is no way that we can camp again tonight - there's nowhere dry to put the tent down, and it'll be horribly wet even if we do. We still count ourselves lucky though - the self pruning gum trees have gone into overdrive, with several large branches crashing down nearby, one of which lands on the bonnet and windscreen of someone's car.
Although we have paid for tonight's accommodation, we are beaten and decide that we have enough time to make a dash for Perth before dark. However, when we drive up to the camp office to let them know that we're leaving, we see more storm damage - a huge tree in the entrance has fallen over, and several other large branches are in the process of being cleared away.
The owners are sympathetic, but warn us not to leave town today - there are hundreds of trees down in the area, and many of the roads for miles around are temporarily blocked. They have a cabin available for tonight, and kindly rent it to us at a reduced price, along with some free clean bedding, so that we can at least dry out a bit and work out what to do in the morning when the storm has passed.
We drive into town to get some supplies, and find that the power is out everywhere - including the petrol station, who can only power one pump at a time on their generator; and the local supermarket, who are manually operating their electric entrance doors and taking cash only.
We cook up some gnocchi and ham in cheese sauce and share a bit of Rocky Road Cadbury's from the luxury of our cabin, whilst trying to dry a few things out in the porch. The car absolutely stinks from the funny water off the bottom of the tent, and we get everything washed and cleaned up as best we can. With still no power, we entertain ourselves playing cards and reading - opting not to visit the local attractions of some unusually tall trees, at least today.
At about 10pm, there is a big whoosh and we have power - we choose to squander it by watching a really, really bad film called Thunderstruck - although it's appropriately a road trip movie about some AC/DC fans who drive from Sydney to Fremantle... it feels like the tv is trying to tell us something, and we realise that we've given this camping lark a really good go - 114 days in, and only three days ahead of schedule, it's time to give up and get a proper roof over our heads for a while.
We wake in the morning to sunshine and blue skies, and after paying a brief visit to the aforementioned really tall trees, we head for Perth. Although we had already booked a site in Augusta for tonight, we decide to cut our losses, and with a detour via Margaret River to pick up some Christmas cheese and olives, we're too soon on the Albany Highway back to Perth for Christmas...