And so begins our 6 month jaunt/drive/meander across Australia, some 9000 miles away from home. Our journey begins in Perth, at a lovely little Air BnB called Meeka’s Place, named so because a super friendly husky named Meeka (and his equally lovely and mischievous friend Molly the greyhound) roam freely about the house. And no, I definitely didn’t book this Air BnB because it had dogs. Ok, I most certainly did and they have not disappointed. However, I also booked to stay here as we are a mere 10 mins from the airport and exactly 11 minutes from the centre of Perth via the train station that sits directly across the road. Perfect!

Before any fun could occur, we had A LOT of admin to get through – most importantly a Van/car to enable our spectacular road trip across country. So, over a lush lamb and caramelised onion pizza, we got to work (when I say we, I obviously mean Dave. I sat on instagram and got comfortable on the bed next to him) researching options, prices, locations… This literally took hours and a lot of debating over pros/cons of vans/4 wheel drive cars. Despite vans providing us with a lot of extra space and the possibility of moving the bed to provide ample seating, SO MANY people had said you MUST get a 4 wheel drive. So much of Australia is off road and undocumented roads, it would be a crying shame to fly half way around the world and only see half the country – plus, who doesn’t love the idea of driving down onto the beach and waking up to the sound of the waves??? 4 wheel drive it was – cue more researching, looking, debating and our to see list for the following day was compiled.

We set off the following morning full of hope. Our first choice was an “ok, maybe, she looks in good shape mechanically…” until we got in the car for a test drive – the windows wouldn’t open and any gear change produced an almighty clunk so that was a bit fat NO. We contacted the next option on our list – a bright red Pajero named Pam. I liked the sound of her already! So, at 4.30pm, we met with the lovely Courtlynn and Josh from Canada who had lovingly looked after and lived in Pam for the last year. It didn’t take long to know we had found our home and after a quick test drive, we were SOLD. The following morning, we met with Courtlynn and Josh over a coffee and officially signed all paperwork – known as a REGO in Australia – and we were good to go. It was a joy to have met them both and we are super excited to continue the adventure in Pam the Pajero whilst also wishing them happy and safe travels around South East Asia.

The adventure begins … starting with a good clean, fresh linen (tie dye, obviously!) and a major sort out of the boxes on the roof – including the huge Huntsman spider that had taken up residence in the locked box. Great. Not 2 days into our trip and we (again, I say we, I mean Dave..) are tackling Australias finest creepy crawlies. With his bare hands. But mostly with a spade.

The days that followed were rather un-blog worthy, filled with a lot of sorting, faffing, buying and organising interspersed with a trip to Cottesloe Beach where we walked along the white sandy beach at sunset whilst eating Shark and the biggest calamari Ive ever seen before in my life. Bliss.

One vital task of the organisation of Pam was to ensure a little privacy whilst we slept so mission for the week was to fashion a pair of curtains, somehow? The most obvious choice? A bedsheet to match the tie dye linen and some elastic, of course! So whilst Dave organised the boxes on the roof for the hundredth time this week (amongst other things..) I got to work cutting and stitching in order to make our little Pam a little more homely and Im dead chuffed with the outcome – Pam is now all set and cosy for the long road ahead.

After what felt like weeks, but was actually just a few days of us being in Perth, we decided to treat ourselves to a jaunt into Perth on the train. What ensued was a day filled with over priced bus tours (40 dollars each!?), incredible street art and setting up a bank account whilst 2 people high on meth had a fist fight outside – before 3 police wagons appeared and carted them away. Everything seemed to shut at half 4 so we found Wagyu burgers before taking a merry train ride home, via Coles for some snacks and instead spent the evening researching how to eat healthy and delicious meals on a camping stove with just 4 ingredients. Productive day all round.

And finally, on our last official day in the city and after so many recommendations, we took the 25 minute trip to Swan Valley, the historic wine and food region. A beautiful region full of vineyards, chocolate makers, ice cream shops and scenic views. What the day actually consisted of was tee – total Robyn driving Dave around only stopping when we came across “Free wine tasting here” signs with a pitstop for pizza and a less than exciting tractor museum thrown in for good measure. Free chocolate tasting was also a winner and led me to finding this:

 

Mmmm, what a wonderful way to the end the day and our FINAL evening here in Perth.

Tomorrow we drive down to Fremantle to sample their Sunday Markets and buy our fresh produce ready for the open road ahead. We have no idea where we shall be sleeping tomorrow evening, we shall just see where the wind takes us… and that is the beauty of FREEDOM. Heaven!

I shall leave you with one final photo of Meeka (who we nicknamed Little Fat) being cute and trying it on for some M&M’s. Enjoy.