From Cervantes, the road south became more and more populated with signs of civilisation and the inroads of Man. Bush gave way to cultivated and fenced fields, properties were more numerous and around Yanchep, the establishment of new housing estates was rife. Giant bill boards advertised the latest land release and the newest golf course. After spending the last year in relatively spartan situations that were rich in beauty, but empty of such superfluous trivialities as golf courses, this visual onslaught was bemusing and felt like eating too much chocolate at once.
We stopped at Two rocks for lunch and had fun navigating our way to the coast from the highway. A big, recently built shopping centre had caused a change in the road layout which was not reflected in our map. We ended up beside the harbour, eating in the caravan to dodge the showers, watching the cormorants fishing for crab in the calm waters.
Road changes seemed to be a theme for the day. At Yanchep, the coast road had been completely washed out and therefore closed at the beach. We had to do some nifty manoeuvring with the caravan to get out of that one. Nice swim, though the water was still cold.
Heading ever southward from Yanchep, our final destination was Mandurah, to visit my cousin Tracey and her family. It was a scant 150kms, however we had not factored in the sheer weight of traffic that travels through Perth, along the Kiwana Freeway every afternoon from 3 pm. We moved 50km in an hour, demonstrating in the most emphatic way that we had finally left the lightly populated North well behind us. Finally, we rolled in to Tracey's beautiful 5 hectare property at 6pm. We set the van up alongside the pool under a wattle tree and settled in for what was to be an eventful couple of weeks....