Before leaving Albany, we treated ourselves to breakfast at a café I remember well from the time we had an adventure race down this way in 2009. Sam – you’ll remember the one I mean. The man who owns the café used to live in Jan Juc, and I knew his lovely mum in her final years. He knew John from competing against him way back. More small world stuff.

The wind got nasty so the boys abandoned the proposed paddle to Nanarup, and instead we looked at the Princess Royal Fortress built in 1893 on Mt.Adelaide.

It was from here that troops left for Gallipoli and many other campaigns. There is a memorable photo there of hundreds of Australian troops sitting on one of the pyramids in Egypt. They cover at least a dozen of the huge steps. When you see the marginal country further east in the soldier settlements they were given on their return home, it seems a poor reward for their time fighting for King and country.

We left the last major centre we will see in Western Australia with a full pantry and tanks of fuel. Note: it wasn’t raining. We’re hoping we don’t see “100% chance of rain” on the forecast again.

It’s 477km to Esperance from here, but we’re going to see if we can get in to Fitzgerald National Park on the way. A lot of the roads are closed after all the rain.

We arrived in Bremer Bay, population 250, and marvelled at the clear blue water and white beaches. Too bad the sand was being blown away by the wind. We crossed the Bremer River mouth through the sand and attempted to get to Doubtful Island Bay, but it wasn’t to be. The road was either a sea of water or otherwise corrugated. It was after 5pm, and not a good time to get bogged. We retreated back to Bremer Bay and enjoyed their carpet of green grass. And their showers.