We had our burger over at the roadhouse and then just had a lazy afternoon and evening reading.

The weather was much improved the next day and we packed up and headed to Cervantes.  We had hoped to catch up with Grant, Craig's brother but the timing didn't work out.  We found ourselves a free camp at Banksia Reserve a few kms out of Cervantes and then headed back into town for a look around and lunch at the Lobster Shack.  We each had a half lobster with chips and salad and it was amazing.  In the afternoon we took a drive to Jurien Bay for a look around before heading back to the van.  It was another wet night so spent the evening indoors.

We'd been going to stay two nights here and do a drive to visit the Pinnacles the next day but instead decided to hitch up and just park the van at the Pinnacles while we visited and then carry on to Lancelin for a night.  The Pinnacles are amazing to see - you feel like you've arrived on some moonscape.  The structures are made of limestone and are reckoned to be between 25 and 30,000 years old.  We walked round the walking track and then continued on to Lancelin where we booked into a little old caravan park with somewhat dated facilities but it was only one night and it was next door to the pub so we went there for lunch before coming back and just having a quiet night.

Big excitement the next morning as we were heading to Perth to see Clive, Jo and the kids. When we arrived only Jo was home as the kids were at school and Clive had golf.  However we got the van parked up and unhitched and prepared to actually sleep in a house for the first time in over 6 months.  We had a fabulous night once everyone was home and it was so brilliant to be able to see them all again.

The next day was Carol's 60th and they'd arranged that we go to their van at Karrinyup Waters at 2pm and enjoy a grazing table with seafood and bubbles and margaritas.  We celebrated her birthday in style along with Carol's niece and partner who live in Perth and got an Uber home.

On Sunday Clive had golf again but was finished by lunchtime and we all went to the Camfield pub at the Optus Stadium for lunch. The weather since then has been varied and we had a few cool and rainy days.  But that worked for us as I wanted to give the van a good clean and try to remove all the red dust from the Pilbara and Kimberley.  Craig had a few maintenance jobs to do too though he had to wait a few days till the weather picked up as they were outside jobs.  Nudge and Carol decided to do a day trip to Rottnest last Thursday and asked if we were up for it too.  We certainly were, so we met them at Hillary's Boat Harbour and hopped on the fast ferry over to the island.  It was a spectacular day and we'd a smooth crossing both ways and once on the island we all hired e-bikes and managed to cycle right around the island before stopping at Geordie Bay for lunch.  The sea was so beautiful and the colours sensational as you can see from the photos.  Neither of us had been on an e-bike before but I reckon we're both converts now! Those hills would have defeated us on ordinary bikes! Once we'd checked the bikes back in we'd a drink at the Rottnest Hotel before catching the ferry back at 4.30pm.  This was our last day with Nudge and Carol as they were heading off down south the next day so we came home and changed then met them at a local Irish pub for a last supper.  We're going to miss them dreadfully but it was only auf wiedersehen not goodbye as we already have plans to meet up for future trips together.  The rest of our time here has been spent finishing off the cleaning of the van and then cleaning and sorting out the car, playing with the kids, checking out the shops and generally just revelling in being here.  I've been contacting all my Perth buddies and have started locking in a few catch ups over the coming weeks and we called in to see Scott and Charmaine on Friday afternoon.  Sunday was Halloween so Mia and Jo dressed up and set off with their neighbours over the road to trick or treat.  Jo had ordered pizzas for tea and once they all came back www all headed over to Jo and Nicks place and enjoyed pizza and blood red daiquiris.  Great fun.  So thats me up to date.  There will probably one be one other short post while we're here in Perth as we won't be doing a lot in the way of sightseeing - it will be more catching up with friends and rellies.  We're here till probably around the 21st of this month - Mia's birthday is on 17th so that was a must and then her party is on the 20th and she was desperate for us to be here for that - so of course we will be!