Sovereign Hill

A day earlier we made a solid checklist to avoid the issues we had in Melbourne. So were feeling prepared when we walked into the Travellers Autobarn of Perth. We realized quickly that the van they offered us again had some mould starting on one curtain, so we asked them to replace it and they did. For the rest it didn't seem like there was much wrong with it. It helped that by now we had some van experience, specifically with this model as well.

We spent a few hours shopping at a shopping center to stock up for awhile. We realized we could have easily bought cheaper camping chairs than what we now paid for at the rental company, so we keep learning. We also noticed that corona has lead to a shortage of certain products like toilet paper, pasta and hand sanitizer.

It was ridiculously busy for a Wednesday afternoon and we couldn't figure out why. We also had some serious traffic driving out of Perth heading north, which is something we've not seen anywhere else in Australia or New Zealand. We realized we hadn't eaten lunch yet and drove into a fancy Perth suburb. Once we got on the Indian Ocean Road the road got empty quite quickly. After an hour or so we reached our highway rest area for the night. It was quite nice especially since even though there were plenty of other campers, we found the perfect spot a bit further from the road in the shade of some big trees.

Due to the way the timezone works in Western Australia, the sun sets and rises early. So while it was going down we were having dinner and when we cleaned up it was almost dark. It was clear that we had to stay in this rhythm for awhile to make the most out of our days here. When we went to bed it was still pretty warm but during the night it cooled down and thanks to a window with mosquito net that this particular van has, we even had some fresh air in the night.Read more