I had originally thought I'd take the Indian Pacific, but then I saw a doco about that journey, which changed my mind completely. One of the passengers talked about the advanced age of most of the passengers, and I decided that maybe I could find some livelier company.
Couldn't sleep last night--too wound up--so when the alarm went off at 4:30 this morning, I was already up and packing a couple of last-minute items. The taxi arrived at 5:00.
Caught a budget flight to Perth--Virgin was the cheapest. Well, the cheapest airline I was willing to risk. (I will never travel Jetstar again.) I saw on Virgin's advertising that they had a meal service, so I didn't bother with breakfast. But, the meal service is not what I was expecting. It's not free and what they offer is overpriced: beef noodles ($7.50), ham and cheese toasted sandwich ($10), Pringles ($5). I smelt hot food and I was ravenous, having not eaten since dinner the night before, so I was hopeful the food would reach us eventually, but, no. . . it was for business class. They gave us coffee/tea/water.
For free!
Arrived in Perth and made my way to the bus stop where No Birds would pick me up to take me to collect the car. (A tip: the car is cheaper if you don't pick it up from the airport. But, it's more inconvenient, of course.)
Wasn't able to buy something to eat at the airport because all the food stands were on the wrong side of the luggage claim. I figured I'd get to a little cafe in a country town and get a snack, but I drove 150 km before I encountered a cafe. Every time I saw the name of a town and the distance in kilometres, I thought, surely if the town's name is on a road sign, there'll be a wee place where you can get something to eat.
Not so. Rural WA is very different from rural NSW. It was 2:30 before I had my brunch.
However, I did see my first spring wildflowers, and they are lovely. The rain that had been falling on and off while I was driving, let up for just enough time to allow me to do a short walk in Lancelin, which is about an hour's drive away from Cervantes, where I am staying tonight and tomorrow. I thought I would photograph the sunset and the Milky Way at The Pinnacles, just out of town tonight, but you can't see the Milky Way if there are clouds, and the rain washed out the sunset.
So, they're on tomorrow's program.
