Thurs 7 July - Happy 12th birthday Freya!
All we had to do this morning was have breakfast, pack our bags and drive to the airport. And so we did,  but no sign told us where to park our rental car. So we drove in ever-increasgly frenetic circles until we eventually found the Hertz drop-off point.  Brilliant! We locked the car and started to walk off somewhere when a man asked us which airline we were flying with. Oh! Virgin? Not from here you're not. You need to be the other side of the airport. So we lept back in and drove for 10mins. Then of course that man wanted all the paperwork we had left at our first point. However we looked sufficiently traumatized that he said "just go" and yes, we did stagger on to the right plane at the right time.
It took us the whole 2 1/2 hour flight to recover but we disembarked into a tropical paradise. The resort van was there to pick us up and bring us to this Cable Bay Resort which is so far beyond my expectations. This is peak tourist season here, so the place is a-buzz with people escaping winter blues. We have watched the weather report this evening a nd seen a huge storm moving into Perth - on the same day that we've moved out. Taiwan is being hit as is NZ but we have superb 30 C temperatures.  How lucky is that.
We were greeted with a glass of champagne and shown to our upstairs suite overlooking the adults only pool. We were told that sunset was at 5.30 so decided to wander across the vast compound to the beach. SURPRISE! Hundreds of people had gathered on Cable Bay to witness the glorious sunset and the return of the camel train. Outrageously exciting.. Great groups were gathered on the sands for barbecues and hundreds of large safari vehicles were returning from doing whatever safari vehicles do. The camels were led past us having earned their keep for the day.
We were warned to make a booking for one of the 7 restaurants as the Resort is full. We also needed to book in for breakfast. It was just wonderful to go to an Italian Restaurant for a fabulous meal with accompanying wine. So different from our little packet meal each night at the Airbnb.  Mind you, the price tag was a shock.
So here we are on the tropical expensive section of our trip. Yes, we shall enjoy.