We finally left 1201 after 4 months of making ourselves at home. Tom and Steve were very kind to us and we are indebted to them for making us feel like one of the family. I am, however, very glad to be on our way again, travelling the roads and having new experiences every day, which is, after all, what travelling is about.

The first port of call was Margaret River where we met up with some friends and attended a surf competition. Being a bloody pom I have never been to one and even though the day was grey and windy, I was quite excited at the prospect. Armed with coats, we joined the throng of cool dudes down to the beach and paid our entry fee in exchange for a brightly coloured wrist band. The venue was somewhat smaller than I had imagined but we managed to get a spot with a view of the black dots out at sea. One of our group was actually familiar with some of the rules and although it was explained to me about the taking turns and having a limited time to catch their wave etc. I was still hopelessly confused.They all seemed to float around aimlessly and then 2 of them will zoom off up a wave and ride it expertly for a while until it runs out. How the hell can you tell who is who and how well they are doing? The man on the speaker phone is telling me but I can’t quite hear any of the words which are being blown about in the wind.

All too soon the contest appears to be over and the winner is surfing in to the shore. I ran up with my camera and managed to fight with the paparazzi to get my own shot of the winner. Now if only I could remember who the hell he is…

Lindsay and Debs our WOOFing hosts