Our visit to the south-west corner of Australia marked the half-way point of our journey around Australia. Whilst we continued to explore the state of Western Australia as tourists, we also made efforts to catch up with family and friends from whom we had been separated by the vast expanses of inland Australia.

Susan had an aunt and cousins who lived in Dunsborough 250 km south of south of Perth, and we used this town as a base for side trips to Busselton, Yallingup, Margaret River (including some of the caves and wineries in that district), and Albany in the far south-west corner of the continent.

After we left our base in Dunsborough we descended on an old school friend of mine who is a resident of Perth. We then rented a holiday apartment near Kings Park while I made contact with some work colleagues at Curtin University. After this, we went on a side trip to Fremantle where we visited another old friend and sampled the delights of Fremantle gaol and its waterfront market.

During our stay in the south-west we encountered unusually cold and inclement weather.  Somewhere along the way, this prompted Susie to dream up the idea of driving 5,000 km back across the continent of Australia to Fraser Island off the coast of southern Queensland.

If you think that sounds crazy, read on.

Next post: Dunsborough