KM at start: 146,021

KM now: 146,690

Days since departure: Four

Wins: 

• After the first night, Zeus decided to stop guarding the tent
• Car remains functional, despite being literally held together by gaffer tape (see previous post)
• Zeus has made friends with police officers, Germans, Brits, countless gray nomads, two Llamas and a goat
• Have managed to procure coffee every day, recommend the Eneabba roadhouse and Tom at Sandy Cape campground

Losses:

• My favourite chair had to be abandoned due to sand irreparably jamming the joints
• Have killed the jockey wheel. This will require effort to fix
• Lost the car keys. Found them again, but it was a scary evening

Zeus and I hit the road on Friday at midday – departure had been delayed by large amounts of faffing and me not wanting to leave Aaria with anything she needed to repair or sort while I was away. (As it turned out, she took care of this by locking herself out of the house and discovering she can fit through the dog door once I was gone. Dog burglar, anyone?)

We headed for Sandy Cape north of Jurien Bay. My initial intention of heading south was waylaid by an overwhelming desire to be not cold anymore. Talk to anyone in Perth, the 2016 winter sucked, more so in my house because the heater broke (Sorry Aari.)

The Sandy Cape beaches were just beautiful – one side protected like Dunsborough but without any Western Suburbites or macchiatos, the other surf-worthy. Zeus forgave the day of travel once his paws hit the sand and Tom the caretaker found us a spot sufficiently far from a site where 50 20-somethings in their parents borrowed SUVs had planned some sort of end-of-winter keg party. Campfires are apparently banned at Sandy Cape but those camping away from the main ground to the north seemed to be getting away with it and everyone was super tolerant of a small black dog pugging around.

I briefly contemplated seeking said party out and then thought no, I’m actually getting old. 

Tom the caretaker is living the dream. Has a great set-up right by a staggeringly beautiful beach, serves coffee to the travellers and has a chat to those who come through. Spends his days wandering the turquoise coast wilderness and contemplating how awesome life is over trademark Wa sunsets. He wanted to make the point his missus knitted the beanie – it was pretty awesome and I want one.

Day two we ventured through Leseur Nature reserve looking for wild flowers because yes apparently I am getting old and that’s now a thing I want to do. Zeus paid me back by deciding he’d had enough some time around midday and took off down a dirt track. Luckily some good Samaritans in a Nissan Juke pulled over when they saw a waddling black furball and brought him back to me.

Am now concerned the dog be gettin’ ‘tude.

He was equally unimpressed with my attempts to give him a daisy chain crown and instead set about exploring never-ending fields of flowers in search of smelly dead things. Dogs are gross.

Day three we packed up camp and hit the road towards Kalbarri – a place I’ve always loved but was roundly derided by Scott who told me I should skip it and head straight to Exmouth.

Well my friend, you were wrong. I’m camped at Murchison Station on the banks of the river and it is just stunning. The campsite is a bit functional but cross the river on walking tracks and it’s just incredible. One of the great things about travelling with a hound is you have to find places to walk every day and this is just a never-ending playground of awesome for a dog.

You can camp on the north side of the river, but it incurs a $50 access fee and is kms from the shower block which, after Sandy Bay, I was much in need of. However Jarvo if you’re reading this, the north campsite is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen  and right now, it’s completely deserted while all the wusses huddle on the south side for the sake of a shower. This was taken about 7am so I’ll go back later once the flowers have opened.

There’s no phone reception out a the station so I’m writing this at the Gorges Cafe in Kalbarri where Zeus is again making friends and influencing people. 

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