Thursday 22nd November 2001, Spearwood Oz.
Needless to say the first job was to take the scuba equipment back to the shop. At the store, we rinsed the equipment again, and took the opportunity to buy various useful accessories (Brigid being the most extravagant – of course!). John chose another new snorkel (and a rubber fastener for it!), while Brigid picked up some gloves, a wrist compass, and a mass of brightly-coloured clips for her BCD.
Then we popped next door to Oriel, where we ordered breakfast. In Perth, John located a camping shop who were able to confirm that the problem he was having with his new GPS, was a software problem. We logged in to collect our e-mail, and Brigid spent a considerable amount of time choosing postcards.
Having had such an enormous breakfast, we skipped lunch, and headed down to Coogee Beach, south of Fremantle, to make contact with Tony and Mary Jenkins, with whom we were meant to be staying.
Tony and Mary emigrated from Wales some 30 years ago, and had not seen John since the 60’s. In fact, initially there was a certain amount of doubt, on Tony’s part, as to exactly how they were related, though Tony’s brother, Terry (through whom Tony’s invitation was received), is frequently in contact with John’s Mum.
After an hour of getting the engaged tone, we set off to find their house. When we rang the bell, a surprised Mary explained that she had just logged on to the Internet for a moment …
Tony, a distant cousin of John’s, was disappointed to find that we were not Welsh – but once he had got used to our “English-ness”, we had an excellent meal and a very comfortable night in their ‘Granny Annex’.