I decided to get up early at about 7 and go to Meelup beach, then come back and have breakfast and a bit more rest before leaving at 10. Meelup faces NE so the morning sun would shine full into it and it would be sheltered from the persistent southerly wind.

The morning was indeed sunny, though cold, as I left Dunsborough at 7:13, 802. I reached the Meelup beach road turn-off at 806 and the beach itself at 809. It was a delightful scene. I took a series of pictures.

There was no-one else there except for one woman and her car. She greeted me and said there were whales out at sea. Once again I couldn't see them. I suppose if you go to the trouble and expense of going somewhere expecting to see Whales then you will see them. I had a wonderful swim, as always. The water was clear and calm. This beach was the climax of the 1977 Ride, the first Ride, and a turning point for me, that I could come to such a beautiful place on my old bike. I felt like a young bird that learns to fly and is free.

On the way back I had to walk up a bit of the steep climb, as usual, and found another orchid, a white one, and took a picture.

I got back to the motel at odometer reading 815, so it had been a 13km round trip to the beach. I had my cakes and stuff I had bought for breakfast, then had a short snooze. Then I got up and prepared to leave.

I reached the roundabout at 816. The morning was cool and sunny as usual and there was a fresh south-easterly headwind, which slowed me down but there was not far to go. I rested at 827 and took a picture of a track winding away to the south.

I reached Busselton at 840. I got the key to my unit (8 again) but because it was a Monday the room preparation was taking a long time and I had arrived before noon. I asked the staff if I could dump my stuff in the unit anyway and they said yeah, no problem. Then I locked up the bike outside the unit and went shopping and made 'phone calls. I tried to book the Ocean Beach motel in Bunbury for the next day but the lady said that the manager was out and she would have to get him to ring me back at the Busselton hotel and confirm. She thought it would be all right anyway.

As I shopped I heard the last of the Supertest, heard the speeches and who was Man of the Match. The commentator thought it might have been Stuart MacGill but it was one of the batsmen.

I went back to the Esplanade and found that my room still wasn't ready. I asked if there had been any messages, but there hadn't. The day was quite cold now with the wind fresh from the south so I went to the beach and found a sheltered spot in the sun with a wall at my back, enjoying the view and taking a few pictures.

I went back to the hotel and read in the sun until my room was ready. The lady kindly came and told me this. I said that I knew that Monday was a busy day for them after the weekend. She said, you're not wrong. It was the same room with the same dodgy TV so I fixed that. I had pinched some extra sugar bags from the bar for tea and coffee.

I had my sleep - I was a bit sleepy by this time. Then I got up and took the traditional walk to the beach and had a lovely swim again. After that, a hot shower and washing my clothes. There was a rotary hoist to hang them on. By this time it was late afternoon and time to take the traditional walk on the jetty.

In the past I have usually taken this walk at night but it seemed a better idea to start in the late afternoon and come back at twilight. I enjoyed it very much, took a lot of pictures, spoke to the fisher-people, apologised for occasionally tripping over their lines. A lot of people anchor a reel of line on one side of the jetty and the line trails across and down into the water while the person fishes also with a rod. There was one huge fish, as long as the width of the rail line, about a metre, lying dead on the jetty.

It is not possible to go right to the end of the jetty where a beacon still flashes on top of a tower. It used to be fun to grope my way forward along the unsound jetty, avoiding holes and listening to the clunk, clunk of loose timbers, and climb the ladder to the beacon. Now the whole width of the jetty is blocked by the underwater observatory and there is a sign prohibiting access to the part of the jetty beyond that, until it is repaired and safe. I'm glad they are going to fix it all up. It was all going to be allowed to fall down at one time.

As I came back after sunset the moon rose over the sea to the east, and I took a few pictures of that. It looked a bit funny because it was in partial eclipse that night.

When I arrived back on shore it was nearly dark but the Esplanade Hotel was well lit and emitting cheerful noises.

I watched the rest of the news on Channel 2 to catch the weather and wind forecast, then went down Queen St. and bought Duck with plum sauce and fried rice. I settled down to a relaxing evening.

Reading at Busselton, end of day: 840. Km for day: 38. Aggregate: 439. km/day: 55.