AM and B's Travels: Perth to Yallingup

Today we woke up around 4:15AM and flipped on the local news to discover Perth was the hottest major city...in the world @ 40ºC (104ºF). After lazing in bed until the restaurant opened at 7:00 we went downstairs to eat at the breakfast buffet. And what a buffet it was! It had everything: cook-to-order eggs, an extensive assortment of exotic fruits, pastries, make-your-own juices, meats, granola, asian breakfast items, etc. We tried it all.

Choices, choices, choices

After rolling ourselves out of the buffet we picked up the rental car (a Nissan XTrail) and started our journey south. Sure enough around 1pm, the car thermometer hit 40.

But, it's a dry heat

The Australians are also very safety conscious (and not afraid of profiling).

I guess I'll let AM drive...

They probably have a point though, because I think I've hit the curb three times now driving on the opposite side of the car. And for some reason, every time I go to use my turn signal the windshield wipers come on.

Once we reached Yallingup, we planned to set up camp at the Yallingup Beach campground. That didn't quite work out, as the campground was full. In fact, the majority of the campgrounds AND hotels were full. Luckily, we were able to find a full-service campground in Dunsborough (about 10 mins away)...The Four Seasons Holiday Park. These Australians are serious campers. This place had tiled bathrooms with private showers, laundry facilities, drinking water and a camper's kitchen. The group at the campsite across from us even had a satellite dish! To be honest, I wasn't sure how I felt about "roughing it" for a couple days, but quickly changed my mind :-)

After setting up camp, we decided to walk around the City Centre and get a bite to eat. We stumbled upon (actually it was the only place open due to the holiday week) a place called The Dunsborough. At first we weren't sure what kind of place it was because when we walked through we saw a bar with several large screen TVs and a children's playground (?!). We then saw the attached restaurant and the menu looked good so we decided to try it. Turns out the food was excellent, as was the wine. We later came across some other pub/playgrounds... guess these Australians take their drinking seriously too..lol.