Moving on

After nearly a week of bus journeys, kangaroos (alive and dead) bunk beds, boxed "wine", toilet stops by the side of the road, emus, dolphins, pelicans, stingrays, sharks and sunsets, I have arrived in Coral Bay, 1132km north of Perth.

The best thing about the bus trip I chose was that it had a jump on, jump off option. And yeah, alright smart arse, I know most buses generally offer the option of getting on and off, but most tour buses don't. Usually there's a bit of apprehension as you reach the pick up point; desperately hoping the OAPs, odd balls and Germans standing nearby aren't headed for the same 8-day, no escape bus trip as you. Luckily, the small group waiting outside Perth station last Tuesday morning were predominantly 20-something, friendly and speaking in my native tongue: crude English sarcasm.

Aside from the possibility of Germans (fact: did you know that more Germans have been killed by saltwater crocodiles in Australia than any other nationality?), there's only one other thing that could set a bus trip on tenterhooks: couples. At first I was slightly miffed to find that four of the six initial passengers were travelling with their other halves. This is because generally, couples aren't that much fun. They think they are, but they're not. Apart from me and my boyfriend that is. Couples are all in-jokes, stolen kisses, 'ooh, I don't mind, what do you want to do?' and sneaking off to bed early. So when one couple jumped off at the first stop and was replaced by two blokes, eighteen and nineteen years old, I was pretty relieved. The fact that they were both badly sun burnt having spent the hottest hours of the day before on a windy beach with no suncream, and had both lost their new mobile phones and Aussie SIM cards less than half an hour after buying them screamed blatant irresponsibility. "Woohoo", thought I. Within minutes, the 'Your mum' jokes were flying across the bus. I had found Bill and Ted from Devon (only one of those names is made up); my first travel buddies of the trip.

Since arriving in Coral Bay on Saturday, my daily schedule has been rather hectic. In order: Get up. Eat. Snorkel. Eat. Snorkel. Chill. Drink. Repeat. And I absolutely love it. I'd have told you sooner but as you can imagine, internet is limited and expensive in the pretty end of nowhere, and something's got to give.

Finally, it's good to know that no matter where I go in the world, some things will never change. As I boarded each bus and entered each hostel, I was met with the same familiar greeting which, as ever, seems to have materialised out of thin air.

"Ahh, hello. You must be Joanne?"

Bah. Can't have it all.