Day 97: Perth to Williams (after the caravan service)

Today the weather forecast is miserable. Rain is forecast from early afternoon, will be widespread down the coast and heavy at times. We had already decided to take an inland route as we have been to Margaret River many times, and heading out of the city in that direction in the afternoon is very busy.

Our van was delivered to the service centre, on time, at 7 am, and they were there to greet us and seemed to know their stuff. What we required was just a normal annual service, most likely replace the bearings and get a wheel alignment, which they have the laser equipment for in house. They assured me we would have the van by 3pm, and we headed off to fill in quite a few hours. We had breakfast at a nearby shopping centre, drove to Ocean Reef to have a look at a massive new marina complex that is being built there and then continued down the coast to Hilary's boat harbour to have a look around.

Our van was ready by 12.30pm, and we were on our way by 1 pm. We did replace the wheel bearings and the wheel alignment was out, explaining the uneven tyre wear. I got them to replace the worn tyre with the spare. Overall they did a good job and the price was reasonable.

The rain has already started as we drive South hooking up with the Albany Highway. We thought we would get lunch along the way, but opportunities were scarce until we got to Bannister Riverside Roadhouse, about 50km North of Williams. 


Bannister Roadhouse

It was around 2.30 pm, so we were hungry, nevertheless I had the best meat pie (chunky beef)  I have had on the trip so far, and coffee was also very good

Onwards to our destination, there is nothing special about Williams, other than it is a reasonable size, about the right distance from Perth for us, and in  the general direction we wanted to go. There is a motel/caravan park there which we had no trouble getting a drive through site in. It would appear there are only 5 of us here tonight, in total, only 2 in the drive throughs.

There is also the Williams Woolshed, a must see attraction, both for their wool products and good food. It will probably on tomorrows agenda, even though we will need to backtrack a little. 


The rain persists, we stay hitched up as we will leave after breakfast tomorrow.

Whilst our plan was to go to the local pub, it is a 500m walk in the rain, so we decided to eat in the van. The weather is expected to be better tomorrow as we head to Pemberton.

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