I am embarrassed to admit that the previous story was the last one written, as  I was overcome by a bout of procrastinaea and compounded by my natural laziness. It took a coronavirus pandemic to awaken me to this unfinished task.

We arrived at the Central Caravan park in suburban Ascot, some 7 kilometres from the centre of Perth. It was a tight fit for our rigs, as with school holiday time, there was not a spare inch anywhere. The park was very neat, clean and well-laid out. The major issue was the children keen on self-destruction who whizzed around the park at great speed in total indifference to traffic – human or vehicular. It was astonishing there were no accidents.

While John went off to Melbourne for the weekend, to see the Tigers contend with a plucky but over-awed Sydney Giants, Jenny and I took ourselves into the city for some sightseeing. It is an easy trip into town on the Metro, and there was plenty of parking at the station. The highlight was the visit to Kings Park which was a very lively place with entertainers, food, coffee and some splendid walks among the magnificent gardens.

Jen and Anne felt obligated to go shopping while I felt similarly obligated to visit the Apple Store for some fixes to my iPad. There was enormous pressure on me to trade up to the then new iPhone 12.

We visited our friends Stephen and Glynne Larkin at Nedlands. Steve is the minister of a Uniting Church congregation at Nedlands, though they are looking to move Over East in 2020. We also visited the beautiful seaside suburb of Cottlesloe where we caught up with Kayelene and Lance from church. They have temporarily relocated to the West to support their son David, who is seriously ill. Cottlesloe is a seriously wealthy part of Perth, as attested to by the beachside mansions.

Jen and I took a very pleasant cruise down the Swan River to Fremantle. The boat cruises gently downstream past seemingly endless marinas with thousands of boats and yachts. It is all very pleasant and indicates the massive wealth in this city.

A very smug John Mann arrived home on the Monday after the Richmond Tigers’ win in the AFL Grand Final. It was quite unbearable, especially since the Tigers had edged out the brave Geelong Cats a couple of weeks earlier.

With our team now replenished, we set off again for the long trip home. First stop was to see Wave Rock, East of Perth near Hyden in the middle of the vast WA Wheatbelt. Wave Rock is an impressive rock, sculptured by millions of years of weathering to shape its surf wave form. A major distraction was the flies that were present and very annoying, even though we all had fly nets over our heads.

We stayed a few days at Kalgoorlie, doing a tour of the Pit. The mine is huge, and the tour is well worth doing. We were lucky enough to be there when they did a blast, though when observed from the top of the pit, looked like just a puff of dust at the bottom. We took some photos of the massive mine equipment for our friend Satoshi in Japan who collects images of heavy machinery and has written a couple of books on the history of machines.

The trip East, tracks the route we arrived on. Norseman, then the roadhouse oases of Balladonia, Madura, Eucla and Nullarbor before getting to the coastal township of Ceduna. Just like our first crossing of the Nullarbor, the road is relentless and straight, and ruined by constant littering of bottles, cans and paper. It is enormously disappointing to witness this. I think the main cause is the overflow from the bins at the frequent roadside rest areas. 

We had hoped to see our friends the Elluls in the new home in Mannum, but their move had been delayed. We parted company with the Menn at Port Augusta. They had plans to do some touring in South Australia, whereas, by this time, we had the scent of home in our nostrils. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the journey from there, staying at the lovely township of Burra, then Mildura on the Murray and across the Hay Plains with a short stopover at Cootamundra where Jen’s pal Janene has a lovely rural property. We arrived home on 24 October, having spent 10 weeks away from home and travelling 10,400 kilometres.

In summary, this was a really enjoyable journey. It was wonderful to travel with friends, see friends along the way, and visit some of the remarkable places of this great country. In a long list of highlights, the high points were the Eyre Peninsula and the South West of Western Australia with its beaches, forests, wineries and landscape. For jenny, she would add the wildflowers of Pindar, East of Geraldton.

We thank our loyal friends who have joined us vicariously along the way.