I didn’t do a whole heck of a lot today apart from pack up and mull around, chatting to other backpackers. At lunchtime I dumped my laptop in reception for safekeeping, hoisted my (amazingly lightweight) rucksack and plodded the 25 minutes down to the main bus depot.

There I checked in for the 13:15 to Busselton and was given a nice blue tag for my bag which I left on a shelf. All luggage handled by the staff – nice. I sat and had a very tasty chicken and veg pie then boarded the comfy coach for the roughly four-hour trip south to Busselton.

I napped for a fair bit of the trip and read for the rest while listening to my MP3 player. Time passed amazingly quickly and we arrived in Busselton slightly late. The driver was really friendly, and cut a few stops where he knew people weren’t getting off to save some time. Also, he cut our stop in Bunbury short but as a compromise announced that passengers could bring hot drinks on board as long as they made sure they were drunk before the next stop so he could dispose of them without getting in trouble!

In Busselton the staff at the South West Coach Lines office kindly directed me to Phat Sam’s Busselton Backpackers where I was bedding down for the night. Full marks to the coach company – $54 return (cash only) for a very comfy coach ride. The bus even had a loo – something I don’t think they’re legally allowed in the UK/Europe any more. You don’t get them in Asia either, but that’s more because they take up space that more paying passengers could occupy – and you can always stop and pee at the side of the road there as well.

The Backpackers’ was rather uninspiring but I’ve stayed in much worse. At least it had a kitchen (which I didn’t use, choosing to try out Chicken Treat for a rather uninspiring burger) and comfy single beds, though there seemed to only be two bathrooms (one loo and shower in each) between three or four dorms. Having said that, I never queued so I can’t complain. Most everyone else there was working with an early start so they were winding down for the day when I arrived and all asleep by the time I got in from seeing Apocalypto at the nearby cinema. This is one of Mel Gibson’s artistic “masterpieces”, and is basically Braveheart glued badly to First Blood with a Mayan soundtrack. Come back Lethal Weapon, all is forgiven…

I had a poor night’s sleep, mainly due to one muppet in the dorm I could have smacked had I not been so knackered. I’m fairly certain he was an Aussie, but looked like a “native American”. Every 2-3 hours, he’d wake up and stumble to the kitchen. There he’d make a lot of racket, then stagger back into the dorm, fire up a bong (!), take a few gurgling tokes and then crash out again. Of course, this meant the (non-smoking) dorm reeked.