Day 8 Aug 26 plus our days in Perth

Today we headed off from York bright and early to head off to Perth was only about 85k. We were headed for Mike and Fee Ashton's place at Coogee Beach which is just south of Fremantle. Again the sat nav was a bit dot we id finally manage to get there in a roundabout way. Its been 20 years since we have visited this area and things have certainly changed. Even though there is a downturn in the resources industry, there is still an amazing amount of new suburbs and housing going up. Apartment living by the sea seems to be very popular with lots of apartment blocks going up close to the beach.
Mike and Fee are in Australia while Mike works on the new football stadium in South Perth. They have rented an apartment in Coogee Beach right next to the maria. Spectacular!!!
We spent a couple of relaxing days just catching up with the and a lot of time was spent sitting and chatting. Managed to head up to Sorrento/Hilarys where we had a wander around the marina and enjoyed a nice lunch.
Yesterday it was finally on to the bikes with mike and Fee to head down to Dallingup and onto the steam train for a 2 hour journey . Well 2 hours tunred into 3 and a half hours as the tracks were a little wet fro some light showers so we ended up getting stuck at the bottom of the hill and the diesel had to come and rescue us.
Back o the bikes and through the forest . Stopped in to meet John and Kate who are friends of Mike and Fee's. Have the most adorable chocolate labradors - tried to get a picture but ti was a bit of a challenge.
Monday morning we packed up and headed south for a 4 day trip on the bike. We are making our way through the south western corner of WA staying in Margaret River for 2 nights and Albany for  nights.
Our first day we managed to stretch a 250 km journey in a straight line from Perth to Margaret River into a 500k journey through Dallingup, Williams , Collie and Busselton. Some great roads with little traffic.
Finally found our way to Margaret River where we are staying in some beautiful chalets. Now we are sitting in front of the fire, enjoying a red and looking forward to tomorrow as we check out the district.