Walpole to Perth

 I turned north, heading toward Perth where I would meet up with Dad. I stopped for a few short nice walks along the way, but mostly found sunny quiet places to work. Unfortunately, this was a bit of a disaster of a day for me. As I sat in the backseat of my car I noticed that a piece of plastic on the screen of my laptop of a bit wonky. I thought little of it... until a couple hours later when it suddenly popped. I could not close my laptop and it was now well into the afternoon and I would not make it to a computer repair shop today. I shut my computer down and left it open in the passenger seat of my car, hoping the prognosis would be good. I drove to the nearest computer repair shop (about 3 hours away) and slept in my car in the nearest spot I could find. 

First thing in the morning I waited by the door of the computer shop. In this small town of Pemberton (around 600 people) I was the first, but not only person waiting for a repair. The man working the shop was incredibly empathic and kind and took my computer, telling me he wasn't sure if he would be able to fix it, but that he would at least be able to diagnose if it was a fatal problem. A few hours later he called me back and gave me the prognosis. My laptop has a common design flaw of Lenovo computers. The hinge was poorly made and likely would cost a few hundred dollars to replace as well as a number of weeks. He told me there was nothing he could do, but the good news was that my computer still works, it just can't close and is very fragile now. He advised me to try to reach out to Lenovo, although didn't seem optimistic about it. He was incredibly kind in helping me give my computer a safe box with some styrafoam to protect it in its journey... but there was little he could do.

I continued my drive north, only a little dejected. That night I found a free campground towards Perth. Although, it was next to a lithium mine, which did not make for the most peaceful of nights. A fact I discovered only after dark.

The next morning I headed north to Perth to meet up with Dad. I had a series of small disasters between mistaking time differences with people out east and trying to get things ready for Dad, but ultimately I was able to get my car washed, unpacked, work, buy us dinner, and do laundry before he arrived that evening. I was ready to greet him with fresh out of the over sausage rolls and red wine and we chatted into the evening happy to hang out again.