WEDNESDAY 12th

we reluctantly packed up and left the luxury of the Bussellton villa we had been staying in as we had accommodation booked at the API's Point Peron cabins. We had originally booked Point Peron for two nights (thats the minimum booking you can make) But we have decided its too far to drive to Kalbarri in one day, so we are only going to stay at Point Peron for one night.

On the way up the coast we had a bit of a look in Bunbury, then it was on up to Rockingham. We soon found Point Peron which is on the road to the HMAS Stirling Navy Base.

Bunbury Lighthouse

We knew that the cabins at Point Peron were basic and that there was no television and the furnishings were older style, but, we were not prepared for how ancient the 'huts' are. How they can actually charge people to stay there is beyond us. Ok, it was only $45 a night (Well $90 really as I had to pay for a minimum of two nights, and its our fault we had already decided later on that we would only stay here for one night)

But: I think that we really should have been told that the toilet is outside, there are no floor coverings, just bare unsealed wood, the shower is in a cupboard and the sink is in a bedroom. There is a kitchen, but no lounge room or lounge furnishings. We were told the property was beachfront - well ok, there is nothing between the huts and the beach except a couple of hundred metres of scrub and sand dunes.

Brown door is the outside toilet

A big storm came thru during the night but fortunately the louvre windows didn't let too much rain in.

The next morning we found a previous tenants sleep attire hanging behind the bathroom door. Ugh.

Anyway, once we got over our initial shock at the condition of the place and decided that it was only for one night and we will try to fill in as much time out sight seeing anyway. We took off up the road and had a wander around Fremantle. When we got back we got changed and went out to find somewhere to eat. We settled on an Italian Restaurant at Rockingham Beach. We had the yummiest garlic bread , fettucini carbonara and garlic seafood medley.

When we went back to the hut, we realised that we were litterally at the entrance to Garden Island, the HMAS Stirling Naval Base. Then the penny dropped, Nathan Watkins from St.Helens was based there now. We checked his facebook profile and sure enough he had his location listed as Rockingham, so we sent him a message on the off chance that he would see it. Sure enough, we got a message back from him and he came over to visit us in our luxurious villa! At around 10pm Nathan asked us if we would like to have a look around the Navy Base. SOUNDS LIKE FUN, so we all piled in the car and took off over the road. We had to stop at the Security booth before the bridge to the island and show our ID and get passes to enter the base.

Friget at the Navy Base

Nathan took us to the Docks and showed us the buildings he lives in and works in, plus many more. We were so glad we saw him, the first familiar face since we left Tassie on the 1st of May. And probably for Nathan it was good to also see a familiar face from home too.

Nathan and Peter