My Dog, the shocks still keep coming. I was sitting at my table this morning and the woman I made the booking with last week came to the door. She said she must have my mobile number wrong because she’d been trying to ring me and couldn’t get me.

She said she had made a mistake taking my booking because dogs are not allowed in cabins, and did I have somewhere else I could go, any friends in the area? I said No! I came here because I’ve had to move out of my friend’s place at Margaret River. This is why I’m here. I have nowhere else to go.

She sucked her teeth and reiterated that dogs are not allowed in cabins. I said, she’s not in the cabin and never will be, there’s no way she can get up the steps. With that, she relented.

But dammit, they’ve taken my money for the full eight nights. They knew last week I had a dog. It’s too late to back out now. I’ll stand my ground on this – I have a contract and I’d be prepared to see a solicitor if they forced the issue, with the idea of damages. I hope that’s the last I’ll hear of it, but I can’t take many more of these shocks. It left me trembling.

For once, I’m happy that Vodafone reception was so poor at Alan’s farm. That’s probably why she couldn’t contact me. Thank goodness.

4pm: This place is going to get a letter from me after I leave! A while ago a bloke (park owner?) was operating a pump switch near me and when he got up, he said “Hey mate. Are you picking up your dog poo?”  I said yes, because I had, a couple of hours earlier. “Well, there’s some here”, and he gestured in a brusque way.  I said “OK, sorry, I hadn’t realised.” I wanted to add, “There’s no need to be so curt about it!” He was ordering me about. I’m the bloody paying customer. How about a bit of respect, mate?

I am not liking this place. It’s far too crowded. I can’t get my car into my carport easily, there’s no room to turn. The noise is incessant from a cabin building site – drop sawing every ten seconds all day today. Power lawnmowing noise. And I hear every conversation from the too close caravans. The showers are 1970s vintage, clean but small, utterly basic and old. The plastic table and chairs wobble around when I use them. Four star? Must be joking.

Caravan of ships (C) PJ Croft 2012

Here I am in Busselton now, in a caravan park near the beach front. I’m in a cabin, paying $70 a night, and although it’s adequate, it’s pretty low quality. Everything is old, scratched, stained. Clean, but hardly 4-star, which is what they claim. Cheap plastic chairs, very uncomfortable. I’ll have to buy a cushion, I think.

They were going to charge me $14 a night for linen too. Kerrrumbs, only a few nights and you’ve paid for a new sheet set. I needed to buy new sheets anyway, so I bought a new set of very nice quality in QB size (to suit my bed) for $69 at Target. I also found a very nice QB quilt cover marked down to half price at $49.75, so I bought that too. It included two pillow cases, so with the sheet set, that’s four. All 800 thread count sateen. I bought two pillows too.

Minnie seems to have settled down OK. She’s lying on her cushions on a concrete car port and I’ve had to keep her on the long wire leash. She’s been quiet so far. There seems to be enough  movement and people around to keep her stimulated. I’m worried that she’ll bark, but she hasn’t in the past 6 hours or so.

I got another shock today. I chose this park because they take dogs, right? I talked about her to the woman last week when I made the booking, so they took my booking for a cabin knowing I have a dog.

But today when I arrived and went to register and pay, it was a different woman and she said, “Oh. No. No dogs are allowed in cabins.” What??!! I explained that I’d pre-arranged this and she relented, but I was very nervous for a while, because I could see the notice up on the wall, “No dogs in cabins”. I explained that there’s no way  Minnie will be in  the cabin – she can’t get up the steps. I’m told the gardener is a bit of a policeman, so I’m a bit worried, but they took my money, so they’ve made a contract. The people across the way are dog lovers anyway, so it should be OK.  But there goes another assumption again – I assumed it would be OK. I hope so.

Couldn’t ask for nicer weather, anyway. Very still, cool, but not cold. Nice.

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For the first time on the “trip”, I’ve got my Panasonic HD Video Recorder out and set up feeding my 19″ LCD screen. But I can’t find the remote! I know I brought it, I’ve seen it – it must be in the car somewhere, but at this moment, I can’t find it. The button controls are useless on the machine itself – it needs the remote. I thought, OK, I’ll buy a cheap multi-brand remote at Jaycar in the main street. Nope, they don’t sell any. At least there’s a Teac 19″ LCD TV in the cabin and it’s digital reception, so I have a good choice of programs. Good.

PS: I only listed driving in Malaysia once yesterday, but I did it twice. The first time was in 1986 with  a friend who was a biologist and excellent photographer, so we went right into the jungle in search of insects and plants. That was such a great trip that I did it again in about 1991, on my own that time, but driving myself in a hire car.

Malaysia is a much underrated country. I love it. It’s mostly English speaking from colonial days, very British in some areas (Cameron Highlands, Penang) and full of interesting places to go. KL is like Singapore used to be in the 70s, but maybe a bit better. Great shopping, great food, and with the A$ equal to about M$3.30, you can afford to stay in great hotels too. Just like Singapore used to be. I could easily live in Penang. Much like Bali …

Trigg beach (C) PJ Croft 2012

OK, 8.0 litres per 100Km = 35.31 mpg. Pretty good for a 3.5 litre V6 at nearly 100Km/h. For some reason on the way back it stuck at 8.6 l/100Km = 32.8 mpg – still very good.

And the cost for the trip? Going up was 276Km at 154.9c/l, so 2.76 x 8 = 22.08 litres = $34.20.

Coming back, 276Km at 134.9 c/l (Perth price) = 23.76 litres = $32.01.

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Thoughts on the drive:

* What a difference dual lane dual carriageway makes. So much safer, so much easier to drive. You never have to worry about overtaking or being overtaken.

* I thought the standard of other drivers was quite good. Good lane discipline, good use of indicators and few serious speeders.

* Although the road is great, there are very few places to pull over and stop closer to Perth. Down nearer Bunbury and Busselton it’s not bad, but there are almost no stopping places north of Mandurah, unless you pull right off one of the Kwinana Freeway exits. I think a couple of service stops are planned. They’re needed.

* There are some small parking places, but by the time I’ve noticed the blue P sign, I’d have to brake hard to pull in. There should be more warning, 300 – 500m back.

* It’s a rude shock when you get back to single lane single carriageway after Busselton. Maybe my car is a bit old (2001 model), but I’m being thrown around by the bumpiness of the Bussell Highway, and Caves Road is terrible.

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Also, thinking about driving experience yesterday. In my time (48 years licenced) so far:

* I’ve driven across Australia and back twice. The first time was as far as Brisbane, via Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney cities. The second time was as far as Rockhampton, on my own, and return.

* I’ve driven a hire car all around Cairns and Port Douglas, the Atherton Tablelands and down as far as Mission Beach. Then I drove a camper van from Cairns to Brisbane, again solo.

* I’ve driven the west coast of USA from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon through Death Valley to San Francisco, driven in SF itself, down to Silicon Valley and back, then from SF up to Seattle and around the Olympic peninsula. All solo (meaning I did all the driving) and on the wrong side of the road.

* I’ve driven in Bali twice on motorbikes, including solo up to Kintamani and back to Kuta.

* I’ve driven in Malaysia, from KL to Cameron Highlands, across the country to the east coast and back to KL. That was defensive driving, with a capital D. Only one rule: expect the other guy to do the wrong thing! Passing on a blind corner? No problem for them.

* I’ve acted as navigator to Geoff W. driving from London across the Channel, up through Denmark, Sweden and Norway to Bergen and back to London. Wrong side of the road again.

* I’ve driven myself solo from London across to Calais, then across France, Switzerland to Austria, also on the wrong side of the road, and back to London again, .

* I’ve driven solo from Cambridge to Edinburgh, then to Dornie in Scotland, then back to Edinburgh, all solo. I reckon the drive from York to Edinburgh was tougher than yesterday, being all day in rain and fog and on motorways, then having to negotiate inner city streets to find my hotel and a parking spot. That was tiring and fraught, but satisfying and trouble free.

All accident free! So yesterday was an absolute breeze by comparison. Don’t you worry about me. I’m experienced. In fact, I’m finding that the more driving I’ve been doing in this past couple of weeks, the easier it’s getting, like old times.

I’ve been driving for 48 years now, and I’ve never had an accident. I’ve had only two minor traffiic pings (one for backing into a parked car, one for doing 50Km/h in a school zone at 3.50pm). I’ve never had a speeding fine and only two parking tickets in all that time.

Trigg beach 2 (C) PJ Croft 2012

Nearly time to move up to Busso, as they call it here. I’ll be in a cabin in a caravan park right on the beachfront for eight days until Good Friday. Right next to the cemetery! Is it an omen? The pub is next door to that. Uh oh.

Along the beach front is a dog beach with a wooden ramp that I reckon Minnie will be able to handle, and the sea is very gentle too. I wonder if I’ll be able to coax her in? She finds walking quite painful now but she’ll do it if she wants to.

I forgot to mention – last Friday I walked to Alan’s gate at the road, about 200m. I was resting there and looked around and she’d followed me, parking herself under a peppermint tree about 25m back. She’s a good dog. I reckon she’s really enjoying it here.

Monday 18 March – a good day. First, Oh Ye of Little Faith, O Ye Doubters. Thanks for your concern, but don’t you worry about me. Margaret River to Perth and back in one day? Easy. Piece of cake. Great drive. No trouble at all. (More on this tomorrow.)

I left Alan’s farm at 0630 in fog and mist – very nice. The drive was non stop and by 0930 I was driving across the Narrows, sooner than I expected. I don’t drive at the speed limit – I drive about 10Km/h lower, so it’s safe and sound. And I announce a new world record: 8.0 litres/100Km. That’s xxx mpg, I’ll work it out later. The best I’ve ever had previously was 8.6.

By 0940 I was driving past Lake Monger and realising I was two hours early! I had breakfast at Floreat Forum and read the paper, then arrived for my specialist’s appointment at 1130am.

Then I waited an hour past my appointment time. Grrrr. Finally, at 1230 I was in, and less than five minutes later, I was out.

So. get this: I’ve waited two and a half months for this appointment, thinking and worrying that I’ve got a leg vein problem that needs surgical fixing. I was told I may have congestive heart failure, so I made an urgent appointment with the cardiologist, and was told, no, no problem; so, today I’ve driven three hours, had to wait an hour past my appointment time, only to be told, no, your leg looks OK, there would be no benefit in doing surgery, just keep on with the pressure stockings, see how you go and if you have a problem, come back and see me. No further appointment made.

Kerrumbs! I’ve been worried about this. I thought I was going to need surgery. I thought I had congestive heart failure. But no, “take two aspirin and see how you feel in the morning.”

Well, it’s good news, but … I’ve had two months of worry for nothing. Even my GP said, “Why don’t you go to Bali?” I thought I was in danger of DVT or similar, but he says, no, no need to worry when you’re on Plavix and aspirin.

OK, relax. Deep breaths. Caaaaalm.

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After the doctor I had coffee with Barry and it looks as if settlement on my new place will be as scheduled, i.e. Wednesday 4 April. Therefore, barring the unforeseen, I can take possession on Thursday 5 April. Whoopee! I can’t wait.

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My first action will be to order a bed as near identical as I can get to the one I’m sleeping on at Alan’s. It’s very comfortable and I awake with no back problems and feeling refreshed. Bed Shed, Alan tells me. I only need a single bed for one of the bedrooms in my new house in order to move in. Then I can get my stuff delivered at leisure. What a relief it will be to be back in my own house on my own bed. I am overwhelmingly grateful to my friends who’ve helped me out in these past few weeks, but boy, I want to be in my own place!

More tomorrow.

Gracetown, a stitched panorama (click to get the full effect)

Crumbs, I keep assuming things that turn out to be wrong.

I need to move from here (Alan’s Margaret River farm) next week and I was going to work my way back towards Perth, staying in caravan parks. I assumed I’d be OK with Minnie.

Oh no. Most caravan parks say “No pets”. Each one I looked at on the web seemed to be the same. I was getting a bit nervous for a while. Then realising it’s Easter coming up, the choices were really narrowing down.

So I decided to visit the Busselton tourist bureau and bless ’em, they had a list of dog friendly places to stay in Busselton. The first one I tried had a cabin vacancy for most of the time I need, so I’ll be in Busselton from next Thursday to Good Friday morning, when I have to vacate. Then Alan says I can come back here over Easter. Phew. That’s a relief. This being homeless is a bit stressful. If I were on my own, it would be OK, but travelling with a dog is complicated.

Not long to go, I hope. Barry hinted that there may be a delay in my moving in date due to finance complications for the sellers, but not too long, I hope. I’ll be finding out more on Monday when I have to come up to Perth to see the vascular surgeon.

More pics:

It was quite wet here yesterday, but Alan, being a true farmer, is not satisfied. He wants much heavier rain. Don’t we all? I was driving in the rain yesterday and got totally disoriented leaving Busselton. I took one roundabout exit too many and was on the Perth road for nearly ten kilometers before I realised I was going in the wrong direction. With no sun, I lost my sense of direction. Duh!

Time flies. Five days have gone by and I’ve hardly noticed. I was on my own here Friday, Saturday and Sunday while Alan went to Bunbury and Perth, with the whole weight of the farm on my shoulders. Oooh, it was hard work. Not. Watering the plants and picking the ripe tomatoes kept me busy enough. Alan grows all his own veges, and very nice they are. It inspires me to try it myself. He’s an excellent cook, too. He goes to far more trouble than I do. This is real country cooking.

What is it? I believe it’s a New Holland Silvereye.

This is a blue wren.

The loudest noise here is the bird song. It’s beautiful.

Lotsa birds. These are noisy.

Cowaramup Bay.

As you can see, it was actually rainy and blowing hard, but very nice. The weather is all over the place – hot over the weekend, wet and cool yesterday. We all want it to rain properly.

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I found a service station in town with a workshop, so I’ve booked my car in for a routine service tomorrow morning. Alan knows the mechanic and says he’s a really nice guy. I could tell even in the brief time I spoke to him. My car is running beautifully. Cruise control in the country is fantastic.

I can’t help noticing how friendly everyone is in the shops. That’s country life for you.

Aaaaah, Margaret River. This is fantastic. I haven’t been here for so long that I’d forgotten what it’s like. I’m sitting on the back verandah writing this, internet as fast as if I were in Perth, cooooool breeze, birds singing, light fading, looking forward to a good night’s sleep.

Best of all, Minnie took the trip easily and has settled in happily. I was worried she might not take the car trip well, as it’s the longest she’s ever been in a car, but she was sniffing around and exploring as soon as I got here and is very happy on the lawn. I’ll keep her on the lead tonight, but she’ll be fine.

Plenty to do here and places to see. Augusta is on the agenda with Alan.

A quiet moment last year.

I wrote about long term space travel in the post below. This was from a comment I made on Radio National’s web site, i.e. I posted it. For some reason, they never published my comments. That’s a pity, because I was hoping to get some feedback from other readers. It took me about 20 – 30 mins to write that. Oh well.

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I said I switched back to TomTom from Garmin. Well, the difference in the software is not just a little difference, it’s huge. I think TomTom is far better. I’m glad I made the move.

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I saw the doc yesterday about my fatigue. He gave me a good check over and found nothing wrong. It’s just stress. I can see that. I’m feeling a little better now. Boy, this has been an ordeal, though. If I’d known two years ago what I was unleashing, the Pandora’s Box I was opening, I would never have started. With the benefit of hindsight … if only I could have foreseen the future. I should have been content with my lot. Take note, folks.

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One good thing about staying with my friends in Scarborough is that the three kids next door have adopted Minnie. They range from 18 months to 4 and 6, and they love coming over to play with her. She responds – she loves the attention. When the eldest boy realised I’m going away next week and taking Minnie with me, he said, “I wish you lived here.” That was nice. I assured him I’m coming back, but there’s going to be a permanent parting soon, I’m afraid. I’d better make it quiet.