Winding Down

I drove north back to Fremantle on Saturday morning, arriving in late afternoon. 

I hurried my tent up and rushed out—I had to pick up some things at the store and parts of Australia have a habit of closing at five or six on Saturdays and sometimes not opening at all on Sundays. 

But I needn't have worried. After shopping, I headed to the center of Fremantle.

Map's End

"Can you fix it?" I had handed over my broken tent pole to the cashier at Ray's Outdoors where I'd bought my tent a week ago.

"Sure, but the question is do we have it in stock."

We checked. They didn't. I was hoping they'd just take it back and give me a new one, but apparently torrential rain and wind isn't covered in my purchase agreement.

"We have these." She showed me some spare rods, the same diameter as mine but longer. "But they're too long."

I didn't really want to try to sort out how to take apart the poles and re-string them anyway.

She made some phone calls.

"They have them across the road. Here, I'll show you where to drive."

Humpback Highway

I had chosen to go whale-watching with Mills Charters because I could drive from my campground to their departure point at Hillarys Port in about 20 minutes (including stop to put air in my flat tire), and there was plenty of parking. Plus, their Wednesday trips include free admission to the Western Australia aquarium, which is also located at the port.

I used to get direly seasick back in the nineties. The worst time was off San Diego, when I was bobbing alone in the ocean while my dive buddies were wandering around chasing fins or throwing up. The bobbing got to me as I waited and by the time Jon Babcock hauled me back up onto the boat, I was too weak to even take care of myself. He had to haul me over to the side and put my head over the water so I could vomit into the Pacific, then he had to remove my dive gear and drag me to a bench, where I remained until we got back to port. Somehow, none of this stopped me from going on the Marvel dinner that night, but I probably didn't eat that much.

Whale of a Day

So the flat tire and busted tent pole didn't exactly spoil my morning.

A Few Misfortunes

I wandered back to the Perth train station after my day at "the office." I bought a two-zone ticket from a vending machine, showed it to a guard, walked to the platform and got on a train just as it pulled in, and twelve minutes later disembarked, showed my ticket again at the exit, and found the #424 bus stop back to Karrinyup Waters Resort.

The bus pulled up shortly, and my ticket included a free transfer.

"Do you know Karrinyup Campground?" I asked the driver.

He nodded, and ten minutes later, he dropped me off right in front of the campground.

I was pretty satisfied with myself as I walked through the gate and towards my tent site behind the camper's kitchen.

And then I remembered—the wind! The wind had been hellacious today. I hadn't felt it high in my office tower, but the weather reports had been scary enough that both whale-watching outfitters I'd contacted had cancelled today's trips—that was why I'd booked for tomorrow and worked today.

From the 29th Floor in a Perth Office Building

"So my tent does leak," I thought, staring at the roof late last night. I thought briefly about rushing into the car with my sleeping bag, mat, and pillow, but the outside between me and the car was a lot wetter than the inside.

Fortunately, the rain stopped a minute later. But the wind howled all night. 

I'd made it all the way back to suburban Perth over the course of the day, starting in Jurien Bay and visiting Pinnacles, the Benedictine monastery town of New Norcia, then stopping at Yanchep National Park to see a cave and go on a koala information walk before I drove back to Perth where I ended up sitting in the parking lot of a shopping center, watching the rain come down.

Pinnacles in Nambung National Park

Here are some photos from my first stop on Monday morning, the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park. This is near Cervantes, which is about 20 minutes south of Jurien Bay where I stayed the night.

Turning Around to Head Back South

After watching the dolphins at Monkey Mia, I jumped in the car and headed down a scenic route past the small town of Denham, then back out to the main highway—two lanes with three-section "road trains," massive trucks that nearly blow little Hyundais clear off the road when they pass at the overtaking section.

Yes, that was a bit scary.

I drove for hours—Highway 1 in the middle of Australia's west coast is straight and desolate, slicing through a beautiful but brutal hot, dry, and sunny environment. I was glad to have a brand-new zippy rental car instead of one of those dilapidated rental camper vans. Plus, gas prices were nuts—at $5.69 a gallon, I'll take a Hyundai over a van any day.