Perth - Yallingup - Fremantle - Kalbarri

10 days after my successful right hip replacement, we went to the Surgeons for my 1st post-operation follow-up. He was very pleased with the progress and gave me clearance to fly. So the next day we flew back to Perth. Lucky he gave me clearance as the flight was booked and paid for!

We arrived back in Perth Tuesday night, feeling the time difference yet again, and stayed at our friend Roy's block, where we had stored our van and car while we were in Sydney. Roy had cleared a spot for our van, and he told us he had marked it out especially for us. We had no trouble fitting into this spot.

I think there was enough space for us!

We then headed south down to Yallingup.

We spent a peaceful 5 nights at Yallingup Caravan Park, with Jayne doing bush walks on her own due to my limited mobility.

Yallingup Caravan Park overlooks the beach, great for sunsets

When we got there, there were reports of a guy drowning who was Cliff Diving. They hadn't recovered his body while we were there. I don't know what Cliff Diving constitutes, but this is where he was doing these activities.

These cliffs are pretty rugged

We enjoyed Margaret River which is just down the road from Yallingup.

Lunch at the Margaret River Hotel

On our third day, we managed to cycle 20kms return to Busselton for lunch. It was an easy flat ride along the beachfront. Very pleasant and the fish and chips at the end were worth it. I wasn't so sure about the 10kms back to the car as it was into the wind. But I managed this ok.

The next day we headed to the Bootleg Brewery for a few drinks and some lunch, a rest day after our long ride the day before.

Well it was supposed to be a rest day until we got a flat tyre on the way home. I had to change the tyre with excellent assistance from Jayne. I can tell you it was a an event that I wasn't banking on. We could have called the NRMA to change it but it was quicker to do it ourselves.

My hip lived up to the task, but poor Jayne's been suffering since!

We broke a Valve Stem, so it wasn't a puncture. I've never heard of a valve stem breaking before, especially on a tar road. Jayne was driving, and we weren't anywhere near any dirt. Since then I established valve stems are only designed to last as long as the tyre, we had 5 brand new tyres waiting to be fitted in Perth in 2 days time. "Missed it by that much!"

We're done with flat tyres now. These wheels are very heavy & difficult to handle, besides being expensive.

So with 5 new tyres for the car plus a spare that's never been used which will fit on either the car or van, plus 5 relatively new tyres on the van, I hope that our tyre woes are finally over. Mind you, I have a big question over the Bridgestone tyres BushTracker have put on our van. We've already destroyed one of these crossing the Nullarbor and I can't see that we did anything to cause this event. They just don't seem to be any good. The sidewall is too exposed and I fear much weaker than the BF Goodrich A/T KO2 that we now have on the car. I'm really concerned when we hit rocky roads that these sidewalls just won't be up to the task. If we destroy another one, I may be forced to replace the other 4! An expensive exercise. In all our travels we've never had a sidewall failure before. Even with tyre pressures on the Kedron down to 20psi over sharp rocky roads, we've not done a sidewall in.

Tyres, I'm over them!

Jayne cooked some Chicken and Avocado Smash a recipe from Facebook. They were yummy

From Yallingup, it was up to Fremantle to get the new tyres fitted and do much needed shopping. Not for food, but Bunnings got a real workout (again). We went to the Perth Caravan and Camping Show as well. This was quite good, but tiny compared to Sydney's Supershow, but they had most things were we looking for.

We caught up with Roy and Marg for sunset drinks and dinner at The Bib & Tucker overlooking the Indian Ocean. They served Bombe Alaska there, my favourite all time dessert. I'm not a big dessert eater, but this one always brings out my weakness.

We rode our bikes to dinner, so on the way back to the van we stopped off at Little Creatures Brewery for a beer.  We're not sure if it's just us, but we've tried many varieties of their beer, and haven't found one we like.  Still - the location is great right on the waterfront in Freo.

After Fremantle it was off to Sandy Cape Reserve. We'd been here 4 years ago, and still a great place for an overnight stop.  From the camping area it's up and over a tiny sand dune to the beach.

Look! Walking in the soft sand without a cane!

During the night we had a big thunder and lightening storm with lots of rain, and in the morning we awoke to a very sunny day. So we headed off for a walk up the beach, then climbed up very soft sand dunes to the lookout. Gave my hip a real workout, without a walking stick even!

From Sandy Cape we were off to Kalbarri. We stopped at Geraldton for lunch by the waterfront.

We were pleasantly surprised by Geraldton, and must stop here next time we're up this way. The waterfront is especially nice.

We made it to Kalbarri in the afternoon and will be staying here for 5 nights.