A stupidly early rise to catch the bus for the trip and thanks again to Mel and Matt for driving me into Perth. I would have caught the train but as it was a public holiday, the first one would have got me into the city over 30 minutes too late!

On the bus, I ws introduced to Bob the driver and the two Swiss girls I’d met on Kangaroo Island! Small world, indeed. The mix on the bus this trip was: 2 x English, 1 x American, 2 x Aussie (one tourist, one driver), 2 x Swiss, 1 x Japanese and 1 x Malaysian.

Because of the public holiday, traffic and so on Bob announced that we’d be doing the tour “backwards”. So instead of having a busy first day and the last day being a long haul drive back to Perth, we’d be getting the driving out of the way first. This suited everyone as we were all knackered from lack of sleep. What I saw of the scenery between naps was pleasant enough and Bob was great to talk to at the rest stops. Sadly, the weather sucked, so the places we stopped at looked stormy rather than lush or idilic. This actually appealed to Bob as he always sees places bathed in sunshine, so it made a change to see them grey and rough.

We really only had a couple of stops for the loo and lunch on the way to Albany so there’s not a lot to report. The hostel was great, though. Empty other than ourselves and a small handful of other people, but it just struck me as somewhere that would be huge fun with a larger group.

After dinner we headed for the London bar along the road as they dished out “Buy One Get One Free” beer vouchers at the hostel. Several pints later I was curled up and not snoring despite what the others in the dorm may say.