We are all feeling a little weary of the daily packing up, getting on the road, then setting up camp again, so are very pleased that we will be stopping in Esperance for a few days to relax and recover.

 We loved the Munglinup Beach Caravan Park – a beautiful spot with great facilities, and a really friendly atmosphere. The beach and rocky headland were lovely also: a great find for a future holiday.

 As I have been suffering a fair bit of neck and shoulder pain (which disappears when I am drawing or painting – remarkable what getting into the zone can do), I had made an appointment to see a physio in Esperance which meant we needed to set off quite early. We were all up, showered, breakfasted and packed up ready to leave by 8 am. Given the state of the dirt road to Munglinup Beach we had determined that we would drive to where the bitumen started and the boys would cycle the rest of the way from there to Esperance (about 125km).

 Most of the journey was on Highway 1 along with the road trains – scary enough when you are driving, I try not to think about what it is like for the boys on the bikes. Unfortunately most of the day was into a head wind, which makes the going so tough.

 I got to Esperance in good time, checked in, found out a good place to get the car serviced and booked it in, and went off for my appointment. After a good working over by the physio I decided to grab some custard tarts and ginger beer and head out to where the boys were. I thought they would need some quick energy and had a sneaking suspicion that Vin would want a break – he has done so well especially as he hasn’t been training, but they have been pretty long and hard days. I was correct, and found them about 40 km out of town with Vin ready to hop in the car.

Back at Bathers Caravan Park on the eastern side of Esperance Vin went straight to work putting up the tent so that we were all set up by the time Steve got here. A good move as Steve arrived pretty done in after battling an ever-stronger head wind on the way into town. We were all happy to think that we could just kick back for the next few days. Later that afternoon Steve and I went around to all the local radio stations and arranged to do some media stuff on Monday – which meant we could just spend the weekend enjoying the beauty of Esperance beaches and nearby National Parks, yay!

We broke open some champagne and bought pizza for dinner to celebrate completing the first leg of our journey. Vin is with us for a couple more days before he flies back to Perth and then on to Frankfurt to reunite with his German girl, LaFi and her family for six weeks before returning to Brisbane for his last year of school. He has been such a pleasure to have along for the ride, and a great help with the camp setup, cooking and washing up – and he does it without prompting! What a great guy!