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Published: December 14th 2009
Day 227 - North Perth, Karrinyup
We’d decided to move campsites today, Woodman Point is lovely but we fancied a change of scenery and a look at another area within the boundaries of Perth. Yet more blogging catch up was on the agenda this morning and even though we didn’t fly out of bed much before 7am the laptop still got a hammering!
When it was time to go our thoughts turned to the Reeves who are the kings and queens of late departure in caravan park land but this morning we gave them a good run for their money! 11.30am - wahoo, go us! What rebels we are!
You can forget free camping anywhere remotely near Perth so we just had to pick a caravan park and hope that it wasn’t already full with the build up of travellers stopping for Christmas. With so many people living on the road you can imagine that finding the right caravan park for their festive fun might be a bit challenging especially near the cities.
Burns Beach had been mentioned a few times as a nice place to stay and as it’s quite close to where the Elliotts are
‘housed up’ we thought we’d give it a go. It took us just over an hour to drive up there using a variety of freeways but on arrival it just wasn’t what we expected, the wind was howling and the caravan park is more residential than tourist. The office was closed up when we visited so we couldn’t find out prices, there was a note on the door which said ‘Back in 15 minutes’ so we had a quick tour through and then parked up on the hill outside. Hmmmm, it always throws us a bit when we arrive somewhere and it’s not quite what we expect although you could argue quite strongly in this case that we were being a bit odd! Turning our noses up at a beautiful beach front outlook was a slightly strange decision to be fair.
Shopping usually clears the head and luckily enough we needed to stock up with supplies. Off towards the local Woolworths we went and were soon entertaining ourselves whizzing around the aisles, the trolley was only half full by the time we’d finished but the bill was enormous. Don’t you just hate running out of the expensive stuff all
at the same time! Everywhere is in the grips of the build up to Christmas but we were both amused at the stall holder in the mall who are pedalling all the English football teams baseball caps, fridge magnets and window shirts! Perth is the playground for ex-pats so I guess the soccer side of things is big business too!
With the caravan in the car park at Woolies it seemed sensible to pack all the shopping away before moving off, so we did that and then ate lunch and then didn’t move … for about 2 hours! We didn’t know where to go from here! We’ve travelled ¾ of the way around Australia and now all of a sudden we can’t decide which caravan park to stay at within our favourite city. The only element playing on our minds as we sat there all indecisive and unsure, was how long we were going to stay around Perth and what we were going to do while we were here. There was already talk of a big get together with all 19 of us that hooked up on and off since we entered WA, we wanted to be a part
of that but were also concerned that it would mean eating into precious travelling time. If we stay too long here then we would have to start knocking things off the hit list.
We laid out all the scenarios we could think of and tried to come up with solutions but still couldn’t decide on where to camp for tonight. Burns Beach obviously hadn’t tickled our fancy or we wouldn’t still be sitting in a supermarket car park! Nevertheless it was conveniently placed to our current position and with time going on we thought we might aswell go back down there and stay the night, it couldn’t hurt and it would give us more time to come up with our next plan.
It was a bit of a kick in the nuts that when we arrived and spoke to the lovely young lad that sorts our the touring section of the park to find that a) it’s $44.50 per night and b) they were pretty much full! Luckily we had a back up, Karrinyup Waters Resort was a mere 20 minutes back down the highway. We’re a bit disoriented by the time we arrive, we’re not sure how
close we are to the ocean or the city but the local area looks nice and there seems to be some sort of reserve close by plus it was over $10 a night cheaper which was a big brucie bonus.
As we checked in for two nights, I got chatting to a lady who had come in hoping to sell some books that she has recently had published. Unfortunately she didn’t have any luck getting hold of the decision maker on the caravan park so the travelling fraternity have missed out on a good Christmas present opportunity but my ears were tuned in so before she disappears I ask for a look at the book. Travelling Friends is the title and it’s a way of keeping all those names and addresses of people you meet on the road together in one beautifully organised place. You can add photos so you don’t forget what they look like and throughout the book are cartoons and funny quotations just to keep it all humorous. It’s really rather good and interestingly a portion of the profit from each sale goes to the Children’s Leukaemia & Cancer Research Foundation. June and her husband came up with the idea as they were returning from a trip up to Barn Hill Station where they’d met plenty of new friends and were travelling home with the customary fistful of little paper notes with peoples addresses, emails and telephone numbers. Thanks to June for taking the time to chat, we wish you luck with the sales. If you fancy getting more details then give June a shout over email via alljun@bigpond.net.au
Karrinyup Waters Resort is full of surprises, it’s got a beautiful lake, a fabulous camp kitchen, a huge swimming pool and a massive spa! Oh dear, what a terrible shame that Burns Beach was full!
There wasn’t much to keep us from testing out the spa and we laughed out loud when a familiar face looked up to us from the 36 degree rather warm water, it was Greg whom we met on the Loop Walk in Kalbarri as detailed in our
Everyday Heroblog. That good old rubber band had struck again! We rushed back to the caravan to get changed and then joined Greg and wife Wendy for a good old natter in the Spa. Since we last saw them they’ve purchased a rather whizzo sounding kayak so are spending alternate days between cycling and kayaking. We’re interested to hear about the cycle paths fairly close by and are intrigued about the ride out to Cottesloe although it’s quite a bit one and Wendy thinks it’s about 40km all told. Well we could do with some exercise so we consider the possibility!
We’ve got a few more wrinkles by the time we drag ourselves out of the beautifully warm water but we think we’ll take our chances at doing some fishing tonight down on the Scarborough beach. We reckon that the Reeves will be down there too so it’s a good excuse to catch up with them at their apartment.
Finding it was easy, the camp trailer is a dead give away and although they’re not at home when we arrive it’s not long before Mark & Kenny come rushing up the hill all ready for a fun fishing trip!
What a fishing trip! It’s so windy down on Scarborough Beach that we get a free exfoliation from sand blasting and casting out into the crashing waves was hilarious! We were using all our effort to try and get our lines reasonable distances out but they would often land just to the right of us because of the force of the wind! After a while the shout goes up from Kenny and he’s caught a crab which sets off a strange sequence of events as Ken comes running up with his prize catch but then the wind takes the bucket away down the beach so Mark goes running after it. He rugby tackles it but misses landing sideways down in the sand and so Ken takes up the charge but it’s too late, the bucket is lost to the ocean waves. Ken’s still got the crab though and it’s big enough to eat, what a result.
Back at the apartment Kenny creates a masterpiece for his Nan and Aunty (Simone’s Mum and Sister) who are delighted to share his catch of the day.
We stayed a while longer and played Rummikub and discussed the options for a get together on Friday or Sunday. We’ll let you know how that goes!
Dinner was late and in the form of a schnitzel sandwich when we eventually got back to the van. We need a good nights sleep though, it looks likely we’ll be on a big ride tomorrow!
Dar and Sar
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Bill White
non-member comment
Perth
Hi to both of you, I will be in Perth from Tuesday night to Friday this week on business, staying at Rendezvous Observation City Hotel, The Esplanade, Scarborough. tel 9245 1000 or my mobile 0419 519 449. Maybe we can meet for a beer. I will get your mobile from Anna.