diff --git a/3-create-virtual-machine.sh b/3-create-virtual-machine.sh
index 925a080..d3430e3 100755
--- a/3-create-virtual-machine.sh
+++ b/3-create-virtual-machine.sh
@@ -7,8 +7,11 @@
 # Tangle the shell block below to a shell script by pressing *, b t* in emacs command mode:
 
 
+# Ensure compute engine apis are enabled in the project
+gcloud services enable compute.googleapis.com
+
 # Create name for virtual machine based on date
 export gcp_machine_name="gitlab-gcp-"$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")
 
 # Create the new machine
-gcloud compute instances create $gcp_machine_name
+gcloud compute instances create $gcp_machine_name --zone australia-southeast1-a
diff --git a/README.org b/README.org
index 6384dec..2b4b75f 100644
--- a/README.org
+++ b/README.org
@@ -70,14 +70,17 @@ gcloud config set project $gcp_project_id
 #+end_src
 
 
-Once we have a project we can create a new virtual machine.
+Once we have a project we can create a new virtual machine. To create a virtual machine we need to ensure compute engine apis are enabled.
 
 Tangle the shell block below to a shell script by pressing *, b t* in emacs command mode:
 
 #+begin_src bash :shebang #!/bin/bash :tangle 3-create-virtual-machine.sh
+# Ensure compute engine apis are enabled in the project
+gcloud services enable compute.googleapis.com
+
 # Create name for virtual machine based on date
 export gcp_machine_name="gitlab-gcp-"$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")
 
 # Create the new machine
-gcloud compute instances create $gcp_machine_name
+gcloud compute instances create $gcp_machine_name --zone australia-southeast1-a
 #+end_src