We’re two days into our roadtrip and I’m beginning to fear that this blog is about to become uninteresting and quite sparse — already, there’s really very little here to write about. We’re starting slowly, to put the car through its paces and confirm that it’s up to the job and so we’ve only covered about 600km. One thing’s for sure, I now know why the locals call it “the bush”: contrary to my expectations of a barren wasteland devoid of greenery, the country land here is covered in flora, mostly in the form of bushes.

Before we set-out north, the people of Perth and Fremantle warned us about the heat and the flies. Most of them said we were mad. Whilst I’ve not yet been bothered too much by the flies, I can confirm that the heat is extreme. I’ve felt nothing like it in my existence. Sure, we’re been to some hot, not to mention, humid places on our travels, but the Western Australian sun is like nothing I’ve ever felt. I burnt my neck over a week ago and, regardless of wearing the highest factor sunscreen by day and purest aloe-vera gel by night, the heat rash with which I’m left just won’t shift. Being fair-skinned and [more-or-less] care-free in my younger days, I’m no stranger to the sensations of sunburn. Just not like this. It’s brutal.

As for camping, we’re doing OK but I must admit that we’re both finding it hard. A couple of days ago, we had a beautiful air-conditioned studio apartment in Fremantle, and now we’re either being driven to argument over pitching a tent in the oppressive heat, or sleeping in the back of an estate car (which, in fairness, is fairly comfortable as car-sleeping goes). After enjoying the pleasure of a quality kitchen, it seems a little hard to cope with a two-ring outdoor gas burner in the wind and a weather-warmed cool box, in which the ice-blocks melt before the morning’s out. (Oh DaveB, it’s not all bad. We are on an exciting road trip chuck – Squiffy) (Yeah Squiffy, I’ll remind you of that next time you’re screaming at the gas burner again when it blows out in the wind – DaveB).

Here’s hoping that we acclimatise to both the heat and our new tentlife quickly.

***STOP PRESS: It’s confirmed: the flies are hideous too. They’re persistent little blighters and think nothing about their repeated attempts to enter our bodies through our ears, mouths and nostrils. Urgh!