Perth to Boddington

October 23 to October 30

Monday we spent in Rockingham, another cold (19⁰C) and windy day, and Monday night we stayed at CMCA Member Stop Over property at Stake Hill, between Rockingham and Mandurah.

Perth has some great sculptures throughout the city

Tuesday was back into Perth and to the caravan park fairly early to get a couple of loads of washing done. Leah had a 9am appointment on Wednesday with the Orthopaedic specialist. Unfortunately the break alignment had deteriorated over the week, mainly due to the cast loosening as the swelling lessened. The specialist was keener this time to advocate surgery, because if the bones fused at the alignment they were in, Leah would have reduced flexibility and potential discomfort long after healing. After discussions we agreed to re-align and recast the wrist one more time to see if the bone alignment could stabilise. The Doc was very pleased with his work after the realignment, so we have another appointment next Wednesday to check the progress. We are getting used to this routine, and the public transport.

The public transport in Perth is great. When in Perth we have been staying at a caravan park near the airport in Ascot, the bus stop is only 100 metres from the park. The buses are clean, modern, frequent, quite cheap and on time. Another observation, most of the commuters call out “thanks” or “cheers” to the bus driver as they disembark, including nearly all adolescent travelers! Does that happen in other cities? We don’t catch buses “over east” as a rule, so we have been very impressed by the system here and the patrons.

Wednesday night we treated ourselves to a trip to the Burswood Casino for dinner (another bus commute). It is a fully integrated Crown facility including a concert hall, with two additional new hotel towers to open in December.

Course layout for "Frisbee Golf"

We departed Perth Thursday to visit Mandurah, around 90km south of Perth on the coast. Another great coastal town, easy to get around and an interesting setting with a large inlet of water dominating the southern side. There is also numerous housing and development canals around the city area, and dolphins frequent the canals. Some areas have a gone for a “Venetian” look and feel with their canals, and it’s worked.

In the afternoon we drove 15km east to Pinjarra, an RV friendly town with a free camp at the (now historic) old train station. Freight trains still service the southern WA industries on these lines so they were regularly trundling past.

Another sculpture, Boddington style

Friday morning I had a local mechanic replace the thermostat in the motorhome as the existing one had been sticking and not fully opening or shutting. We then drove back to Mandurah to further explore the town, stopping on the way for the ritual morning coffee for Leah (when I start the generator so we can make a decent “coffee pod” cappuccino). Pod machine won’t turn on! Two days ago the electric jug (which we only use at caravan parks when I make tea) died! Let’s hope things only happen in two’s. Mandurah did well out of us replacing these two items.

We found a Frisbee Golf park in Mandurah, and I hadn’t packed a Frisbee! We watched a few groups playing, then I promptly went out and bought one. You can hire them, but you can play anytime for no charge if you have your own.

Boddington Free Camp, right on the Hotham River

We drove 80km east to Boddington for Friday night. Boddington is an active mining area with bauxite and gold mined around the town. They have a free camp in town along the Hotham River.

Saturday we explored Boddington, even though it was (again) cold and windy. They have numerous bush walks in the area which we did to keep warm. We stayed Saturday night as well, and after a lazy Sunday morning headed to Jarrahdale, where we had stayed a few nights last week. It is a great little town, and only an hour from “our” caravan park in Perth.