^the red beast at Canal Rocks, Yallingup.

Happy Sunday everyone! I’m breaking with tradition and publishing a post on a Sunday because I wanted to share our weekend adventure with you! As I mentioned the other day I’m taking part in Ford’s Choose Your Own Adventure Challenge as a part of Kidspot’s Voices of 2013. To make the most of our time with our candy red Ford Focus Titanium we decided to leave the city behind and head to W.A.’s beautiful south-west wine region.

^Beautiful Canal Rocks, Yallingup on a stormy day.

Bunker Bay is just over 3 hours drive from Perth. It’s a beautiful drive, through picturesque green pastures, small towns and larger cities. But it’s still three hours in a car. There are very few things that make a three hour trip interesting. Eye spy is good for about fifteen minutes. Punch buggy is not advisable if there are only two people in the car and one of those people is driving. So the entertainment falls to music. Glorious music.

^Bunker Bay was stunning.

Some people pick a new car based on performance, fuel economy or size. Some people even base their decision on colour. Not me. I’m a music person. I have two essential requirements – Bluetooth connectivity and quality speakers. I know that sounds weird but music – as you can tell by this week’s posts – is super important to me.

I must admit, the first thing I did when I picked up the car was set up Bluetooth streaming. The process was easy and it took less than a minute to pair my iPhone. I’m able to play from iTunes or steaming services like Spotify (which is good because I use Spotify a lot). I can skip tracks and adjust volume straight from the steering wheel which is also a bonus.

^iPhone connected via Bluetooth streaming.

And then there are the speakers. I’ve been doing a bit of research and have found the Ford Focus Titanium has 9 Sony speakers installed and you can definitely hear the quality. Every single song that we played on our adventure sounded great. There was no tinniness or muffled bass. From the low-fi confessionals of Elliott Smith to the rockingest (I know, not a word) riffs of The Who every note sounded perfect.

You’d be surprised how quickly a 250km journey can go when you have excellent tunes. Thankfully every trip I take in the red beast will be that much better with my playlists.

^The red beast overlooking Smith’s Beach.

Listen to the playlist now

Thanks to everyone who has commented, Facebooked or Tweeted their submission for my Choose Your Own Adventure playlist! I’ve put together an awesome collection of 111 songs that you can listen to right now.

Remember you have until 11:59 PM (Perth time) Tuesday 13th August to tell me your favourite road trip songs.

I haven’t forgotten about you, paper lovers!

If you want to get in on the playlist action, paper-style, here are two super sweet playlist themed goodies.

1. I made you a mixtape print by Pink Paper Circus
2. Playlist Zine by Debilitating