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the past month the temperature in an area 800kms south of Perth has dipped to a mere 30 degrees.
Yet as we stand outside the Centurion Hotel at 6.40am, it is tipping down with rain.
And it is the first day of a tour which will take us away for five days to places like Esperance - for beaches - and Stirling National Park - for long walks in the mountains. Ideal rainy day activities.

By the time our tour guide Glen has pulled into our first toilet and food break at York, it is clear that the rain is set for the day.
We even buy an umbrella...
Our next stop, and the first major site on our trip, is the gigantic Wave Rock.
Starting out at the chasm that is Hippo's Yawn, a cavernous hole in the rock face that looks exactly as it sounds, we walk for about a kilometre alongide a curved rock face that has been eroded over centuries to form a mini-wave effect and stained like a multi-coloured rainbow by water running down the rockface.
But this is just a prelude to the wow factor of Wave Rock itself. Turning the corner to face the rock you are struck by its size and just how closely it resembles a surfer's paradise style wave.
Erosion is a painter of van Gough like skill and the rock's 'canvas' is a series of reds, purples and blues stained on to the granite surface.
Day one is a long one for travelling - we manage 800kms in all - and most of the afternoon (save for a rain soaked lunch) is spent in the tour bus.
Our eventual night time stop is at Esperance, where a lasagne later and its off to bed to get rid of the last of the jetlag.

Tuesday:
And its still wet.
Despite the rain we conduct a tour of the white sand beaches of Esperance. These include the beautiful Thistle Cove and Lucky Bay.
Lucky Bay was the inlet that saved one English explorer whose ship was caught in a storm. Turning the corner he found the bay and quickly pulled in to save his ship, crew and himself.
It was also the start of our 2km trek to Thistle Cove. The first kilometre went well, but as we reached the peak the wind picked up and our good friend the rain returned with renewed vigour.
A stormy walk later and we returned to the coach soaked to the skin.
Another beach found us face to face with a number of inquisitive kangaroos, which Michelle managed to get up close enough to to take a video spectacular.
Lunch was luckily rain free, as we had a good old Aussie BBQ down by the beach, before enjoying a stroll along the white sand and a wander along the cliffs.
But the highlight of the day came when a crazy emu darted

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