Alex's Diary - Week 10

Day 63 – Wednesday 4/7/2012 – 80 Mile Beach Day 1

We woke up and me and Lachie pretended to be snakes in our sleeping bags. We couldn’t see so we kept bumping into each other! We got dressed and I did my diary, I walked down and helped Mum and Dad hang the washing on the line. We came back and saw the people next door’s shells. They had gone collecting for 5 minutes and found 50 odd shells, they were all different colours and were large as well! There was purple, white, yellow and grey plus some rocks which starfish had once lay on! We had breaky where I tried a popeye, a piece of bread with a hole in which an egg lay and tomato sauce for you to dip each piece of bread in. Mum cut it and spread the runny egg over each piece. It was delicious and toasted like a bacon roll with too much sauce!

We walked down to the beach together and stopped to read a sign on a Vietnamese War Memorial. For a reason I’d like to have known it had a sprinkler on next to the stone pillar reading “Lest we forget” across it. I didn’t’ like the sprinkler as it stopped me from reading the sign clearly. We got onto the beach and got our thongs off.

We all walked to the shell bar where shells were mostly packed. It was a bar not too far from the water were all the shells had presumably been dumped before the tide had gone out slightly. As it had only just receded not many people had gone and picked them up so there were heaps to help ourselves to. We began collecting shells and occasionally finding a fish shaped one or a multi-coloured one. We had enough shells that were plain and no special shape or colour so we began collecting as we walked. There were button shells which had a hole in the middle that gave me an idea to collect as many as possible and put them on a string for a necklace or bracelet for someone in the family. They were perfectly round and quite flat but had 10 thin small flower petals engraved so that they looked as if a small flower pushed against it for quite some time! I started picking them up. It made it quite a task to keep up to Mum, Dad and Lachie while collecting them because there were hundreds of them! We had walked 700 metres when we found a bright orange fish shaped shell. It was so orange that I began to think some particle or something was rubbing against it making it orange! We didn’t put it in the bag, we carried it with others in our hands as it looked too pretty and we didn’t want it smashed clanging around with the numerous ones in the bag. We walked back and I found a massive fish shaped shell with crimson, white, an orangey-yellow, a reddish pink and light tan on it. We also carried it rather than pop the beautiful shell in the bag. There was much more collecting done on the way back off the beach but nothing exiting or overly pretty shell though. We walked back.

We put the shells down and Mum filled a bucket for us to wash the shells in and Dad got a towel to put them on to dry. We set to work and Lachie got ‘bored’ quickly! I reckon it was just that he wasn’t playing cars! I kept going though. It was fun and hard work. It was also good to know that it was working towards a good outcome, having clean, pretty shells! I loved washing the really special shells! We had lunch.

We all got in the car and drove down onto the beach. The people next door had told us to drive up the beach 12-13 kms and we would find a massive shell stretch with all the colourful ones and the big ones. We drove along the sand next to the bright blue ocean for 9kms before we came to a stretch of oyster rocks. Mum and Dad started walking up to see if there was a safe path fro the car to follow. They had walked a long way and they were only mini figures in the distance when ma ad Lachie got bored.

We got out of the car and started running up towards Mum and Dad. We got to a big wet patch and started jogging as not to get splashed too much. We got off it and began picking up pace. There were lots of little creeks and rivers to cross with a jump. We did a long sprinting stretch with a lot of river crossings to jump. We saw Mum and Dad turn around and start walking towards us. We started walking towards them, tired out. We eventually caught up and got told that they had seen a big mud crab! We walked back to the car and drove past the oyster tocks. We stopped just after the rocks and got out.

There were heaps of shells, all different colours and shapes, designs and sizes, rigid, smooth, jiggered, mulit-coloured, fish-shaped, oval, circle, white, grey, orange, purple, pink! They were all there! We got out and me and Dad went up to the top of the beach while Mum and Lachie went to get ones around the car.  

Where me and Dad went there were endless large yellow and white shells in all different shapes. We started collecting and we picked up big rocked shaped shells and the occasional starfish imprinted rock. It was awesome and when we brought our catch back to Mum she screamed with excitement! We kept going further up the beach, each time we stopped, bringing better shells than the last time. It was amazing how so many shells could be found and the beauty of them. I have never been more fascinated with shells in my life! We drove back on when a Tiny Teddys packed flew out of my hand and I ran 2 kms to try and get it back! Mum also had a hermit crab in a shell which crawled up her leg in the car!

We got back and had a shower. We walked up to reception where there was the $6 hamburger night. It had a meat patty, onion, lettuce, tomato and cheese. We had it and went back. I did my diary and wandered up to the TV room to watch the state of origin. QLD won by a field goal in a close match. We went to bed.

Day 64 – Thursday 5/7/2012 – 80 Mile Beach Day 2

We woke up and had breaky. I had a popeye with bacon and sauce. I didn’t like it together so I had the rest of my bacon separate to my popeye. I did my diary and then Lachie and I played cars for Lachie.

A nice lady who had given Lachie his shell dog and necklace gave me a necklace and I chose a mouse from a table she said I could chose an animal from! She had made owls, fish, insects, wind chimes and more from the stones and shells she had collected.

I had lunch of rice and cheese. I curled up in a chair for a rest. Mum went round the clean the shells we had collected yesterday which I hadn’t cleaned before so I went round the side too. I enjoyed scrubbing the beautiful shells we had collected yesterday afternoon. Lachie had a rest and then we walked down to the beach. We got onto the beach and started walking North rather than South as we did yesterday. I found a grey shell with stripes of yellow, pink and red! I bagged it and walked on. I found some green shells and some yellow shells clamped together. I also got some clamshells which were very rocklike and had a small, teeth-like, gap where the clam inside stuck his/her legs out to walk around. The tide had gone out a really long way. We walked over a kilometer from where we had seen the high tide mark earlier this morning before we got to the water line.

We walked back to the caravan park which was about 1½ kilometres. We had a shower, dinner, some damper better than Willie Creek’s and went to bed.  

Day 65 – Friday 6/7/2012 – 80 Mile Beach to Cleaverville Beach

We woke up and had breaky. We packed up and I played footy with 2 boys across the road from out tent. We got in the car and did my Daly waters booklet. I did my diary and watched Toy Story 2. We got into Port Hedland and I saw the big salt pile that had come out of the ground. Port Hedland is famous for mining Iron Ore, salt and the massive port giving Port Hedland its name. We also saw some massive storage containers which I think would store iron ore, they were huge! We drove through the town looking for the tourist information centre or a parking spot. We found a parking bay and parked. It was really clever because it had a perfect chalk drawn basketball court which you would bring moveable hoops to shoot at! The people watching would bring chairs and sit on the sideline. We walked to the information centre and a lady told us what to do around Roebourne, Karratha and Cossak. There were a lot of things to do but they would not take too long to complete. We went and drove to Woolies and also saw a model of 3 kangaroos.

We had a pull apart and I watched the rest of Toy Story 2. I listened to Dad’s favourite singer, Billy Joel, while we travelled through the vast green countryside. We got into Roebourne and took a visit to the Tourist Information Centre. We passed the old gaol and drove past the new one too. We drove 10kms on dirt to get in. We set up and me and Lachie ran up and down a sand dune near our tent. We got in the car and drove into the city of Roebourne. We went to the Cossak cemetery beach to see the staircase to the moon. It took 40 minutes to rise from when we got there so Dad typed some emails. We got out when a whitish glow appeared on the horizon signaling the rise of the moon. It rose as orange as ever and then the stairs came down. It was as if you had drawn 2 black lines and the orange stairs had been drawn down the middle. It was spectacular! We drove back and went to bed.

Day 66 – Saturday 7/7/2012 – Cleaverville Beach Day 1

I woke up and had breaky. I did my diary and we drove into Karratha. We hit bitumen eventually and hot tailed it the rest of the way. We went into Karratha’s information centre. I reckon we’ve been to every tourist information centre in WA! We all went in and Lachie bit me on my arm! As we finished up Mum spotted a pack that said “grab me I’m free” so we got it. We opened it in the car and it had heaps and heaps of rubbish bags, some gloves, a pen and a set of tongs. Good find Mum!

We went into the Dampier Peninsular and found a statute of Red Dog. All the story boards beside it talked about things around the Dampier Peninsula and Karratha rather than Red Dog itself. One story board talked about William Dampier, the person who had done 2 voyages to Dampier, on in 1662 and one in 1669-1671.  He also got the Dampier Peninsula, the Dampier Port, the town of Dampier, the Dampier Lookout, the Dampier Bay and the Dampier Ranges named after him. His first voyage across was done in the Cygnet and the second in the Roebuck. He landed the first time at Cygnet Bay and the second at Roebuck Bay! His ship, the Roebuck, sank so he and his crew waited 18 days till a rescue boat arrived for help! I wonder how they survived! We had our photo taken with Red Dog’s statue. We drove to Dampier Lookout. We got out and Mum checked if you had to pay for the telescope that was there or not. You didn’t so we all took turns to look at all the things the lookout was made for. It was really good seeing all the salt mines being sorted out and worked on close up! We drove to Dampier Bay. Man, we’re going to a lot of Dampier things! I went over to an outdoors gym on the side of the bay. I did a hamstring stretcher and then Mum helped me do some chin-ups. It was tough work! I moved on to the side jumps where there was a log and you had to jump side to side over it. I also did some tummy crunches. They were on a sloped wood surface with a metal handle to put your hands on. I lay with my feet flat and curled up like a ball, then released myself slowly. I went to the vault bar and started vaulting over. Mum called us so we went straight away.

 

They had chips so we had some too. We all went to Hurson’s Cove. We drove to the water and had a quick look over the murky polluted water. I was made that way by the miners letting off so much pollution. We parked and went down a track recommended by the tourist information centre. There was meant to be rock art but we gave up having not seen any and came to a dead end. We drove to the salt mine lookout.

It was over all the salt mines where they gathered the salt. We saw a massive 237 carriage train pulled / pushed by 3 engines! We drove back and I played on the sand dunes. I did my diary and played on the sand dunes again. I had dinner and went to bed.

Day 67 – Sunday 8/7/2012 – Cleaverville Beach Day 2

I woke up and had a cuddle. I got dressed and had breaky. We got in the car and drove to Roebourne’s old gaol. We went inside and got in. It was free but they asked for a gold coin donation to help keep the gaol running. I went into the 1^st original cell of the gaol that was part of the museum. I saw photos of people who lived here while the gaol was open. There was also a booklet that showed the gaoler of that time being interviewed by presumably a news reporter. It was quite interesting and included the gaoler’s view of how the gaol system should run on aborigines. Mum roped me up as well in what some aboriginal prisoners had around their necks. It was heavy so I’m glad I didn’t have to keep it around my neck! There was an old typewriter. I saw a chair in a cabinet. The chair was painted white and was made out of a whale backbone and wood. It was a replica of one that was made in 1896 out of whale bones.

I went into the 2^nd cell where there was another typewriter. I also saw pictures of prisoners. Amazingly 4 boys were hung by their neck for killing cattle. What else would you expect from aborigines because that’s the way they live? It’s part white men’s fault for introducing the new animals I think! It’s not fair. I went to the car after me and Lachie gave a $1.00 coin donation each. We drove to Cossack.

We drove up Nanny-goat Hill and had a look. It gave you a good view of the repaired buildings. It is a ghost town. The port got taken down and moved to Point Sampson, a cyclone swept through town demolishing the jetty and the school closed down. We had a walk around the buildings and me and Lachie pretended to be escaping prisoners and Dad a gaol keeper.  Mum and Dad wandered through the cemetery and then we drove to Point Sampson. I had an ice-cream and drove back.

I played on the sand dunes and then did my diary. I played with the soccer ball and on the sand dunes again. I had a shower and read. I had dinner and went to bed.

Day 68 – Monday 9/7/2012 – Cleaverville Beach to somewhere in the middle of nowhere

We woke up and had breaky. We packed up and played on the sand dunes and helped Lachie do his “My Big Blue Sticker and Activity Book” or “Booky” as he calls it! We drove out and arrived in Karratha. We drove through to Dampierand up to the ‘Northwest Shelf’ information centre / resource centre. I stayed outside for 30 minutes reading about the Northwest Shelf gas and oil. There was an interesting time line from its birth, 1974 up until 2009, celebrating 25 years of the Northwest Shelf. Eventually I went inside.

Mum took me through and I started on a thermal pad. It transferred the energy from me onto the pad making it change from green to a deep purple blue. I saw a map of the earth before all the islands had separated and the earth was nearly 1 big landmass and water surrounding it. When it all broke away it was the water rising and the tectonic plates shifting. The reason they needed to mine for oil was that when the tectonic plates shifted it made a hole. The oil and gas spilt into it. All it then took was one more shift from the tectonic plates and the hole was enclosed by the land below the sea bed. Coming to the present, the miners / divers dive down and build pipes into the water and down into the seabed. They would probably drill into the seabed as well somehow. They would also drill down through the cap rock, reservoir rock and the source rock into where the oil and gas is tapped. I got this information not only from the continents board but from a big geology wall as well. It had 3 drawers which explained about each type of rock, cap rock, reservoir rock and source rock. It also had examples in the drawer. It had lights representing the different stages of the gas being attracted up the pipe. The gas was then cooled to -138 degrees Celcius before turning into a liquid and is stored at -161 degrees celcius! I’m not touching the gas at that stage!

Mum went up to the lady who worked there and got me and Lachie both a supersluth activity to complete. It had good questions that you could definitely learn while you found the answers. There were questions like “What colour is the tugboat on the North Rankin A display?” and “How many birds are hanging from the roof?” but also hard ones like “What are the main products the Northwest Shelf drills for?” They drill for natural gas, oil, condensate, LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) and LNG (Liquified Natural Gas). I went in and watched a movie explaining the benefits of gas mining and also ishowing it coming up the tube. Me and Lachie finished our supersleuthactivity so we took it to the lady who worked there so she could mark it.  We both got 10/10 so she gave us both a Frisbee.  I was surprised that it was sponsored by 6 places, 2 of them being BP petrol station and Shell.  We drove to Coles.  That makes me think “how funny, we go somewhere a shell owned by coles sponsors and then to Coles”. I did a big shop with Mum and then we had lunch in the car to somewhere in the middle of nowhere!  We arrived and set up at a rest stop on the side of the road.  We had dinner and went to bed.  It was hard to get to sleep as road trains were travelling past all night sounding like someone was outside our tent beating drums all night.

Day 69 – Tuesday 10/7/12 – Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere to Coral Bay

I woke up and we packed up.  We hit the road early and I had breaky.  I did my diary and we came to the turnoff to Exmouth and Coral Bay, the 2 most popular spots in the Ningaloo Reef region.  We had no accommodation booked and WA school hols were on so we were a bit “do we do this or that”.  We were taking our chance at either the 6 spots at Coral Bay that are booked on the day or the Exmouth overflow.  We needed to phone and had no phone coverage at somewhere in the middle of nowhere so had to find some.  100kms later was the turnoff to either Exmouth or Coral Bay.  We began driving up the Exmouth road when Dad did a U-turn as he had coverage.  He went too far and did another U-turn.  He stopped at the right spot now.  He then did 3 ore U-turns before starting the greatly extended drive to Coral Bay.  We got there and we all played Frisbee in the extremely windy town square.  It was so windy that when I dropped a Frisbee I had to run 50 metres to retrieve it.

We set up and had lunch.  I did my Daly Waters booklet.  Dad kicked the footy with me and then I rode my bike.  We decided to  go to the fish feeding of sparkling emperor fish.  I got some food and put it in the water.  The fish came up and brushed against my leg to get to the food!   It felt strange!  I went right into the cold water with Dad.  We saw some more fish and dived over a coule of waves.  I went back and had a shower.  I did my diary and played cars.  I had dinner and went to bed.

Alex's Diary - Week 9

Day 57 – Wednesday 27/6/2012 – Broome Day 4

I woke up and did my diary. I had breaky and then did maths mentals while  Dad and Mum choose what to do. We got shoes on and drove to Chinatown, a place on the edge of Broome with all the shops on it’s two streets and alley between them. We had brought our scooters so we rode around town. I actually can’t call it ‘town’ so I’ll call it ‘street’ or ‘alley’! It was so miniature! We went past the 1^st shop, a jewellery one, but stopped at Ripcurl, the second shop. I went in and tried on some hats while Lachie minded our scooters outside. They were all too big, too heavy, didn’t look good or were girl ones! I couldn’t find the right fit! We went to the 3^rd shop and 4^th, 5^th, 6^th. We rode our scooters outside. We came to the Sandalwood Factory and I minded the scooters while Lachie, Mum and Dad went in. We had been to a larger factory for sandalwood back in Kunanurra (see my diary Day 34) so it wasn’t much to try on. The factory was smaller and there was only a hand cream that I tried on. We went up the street and crossed over onto the other side where we found a bracelet for boys. We got it for Lachie and payed for it in a nearby bits and pieces shop. I rode some more and then I came to a stop at a shoe store called ‘Fongs’! Lachie went in and bought some water shoes. We rode up to Johnney Chi Lane. Mum bought some dresses and a cranky old woman came and said “no scooter riding”.

We drove back and had lunch. I did my diary and then we went to Roebuck Bay and walked along the jetty. Daddy the clumsy clutz knocked over a fisherman’s beer bottle into the water! He’s such a doofus! We went to the end of the jetty and looked over the greenie blue water. We walked back to the people who’s beer bottle got knocked over. They had just caught a fish that was drunk by the beer! I drove back to the playground that we had seen on the way there. We went to the gate and had a play on the equipment. Mum set us some obstacle courses which Mum, Lachie and I did. Then we had 2 games of noughts and crosses, both jacks. We all did running races which Dad won. We drove back and did a brief stop in Woolworths for dinner. We had dinner and went to bed.

Day 58 – Thursday 28/6/2012 – Broome Day 5

We woke up and got dressed. I did my diary and then had breaky. I finished off my diary and then went down to the pool. I jumped in and swam over to Dad. He gave me Mum’s old snorkel goggles to try out. They worked perfectly well but when I tried the snorkel it just clogged up straight away! Mum’s were thrown away and then Dad tried his. The snorkel filled up with water as well and the goggle strap broke as soon as he put them on. The went in the bin too!

We walked back to the setup and got in the car to go to the shops. We drove to Kimberly Camping and got a collapsible washing up bucket. We then went to Clean Heat and Gas to get a trivet and pizza stone. There was a toy tiger in there so me and Lachie played with him while Mum and Dad got the trivet for roasts and the pizza stone. We then drove to Chinatown and walked down Johnny Chi Lane to a souvenier shop to see if there was a suitable bucket hat or wide brim one for me. We found the hat section and tried on 2: 1 with “Cable Beach, Broome, WA” and a picture of camels on it and one dark green plain one. I choose the cream hat with “Cable Beach, Broome, WA” written across it as it shaded more of my face, ears and neck.

We went to a sports shop to get some snorkels. We drove to Coles and walked inside. I got a trolley and then walked around with Mum while Lachie and Dad ran off to get things further away. I always got harassed with people running back and putting stuff in the trolley plus all the people in the crowded shop. We finished and drove back to unpack the things from the shops. We had lunch.

We drove to the shops and dropped Mum off. She was going to do more shopping while us 3 boys got an ice cream. We got to the ice-creamery and me and Lachie had a waffle cone with 1 scoop of crunchie ice-cream which has bits of crunchy honeycomb and Dad had a 2 scoop waffle cone, the bottom one crunchie, the top chocolate. They were delicious and the honeycomb been spread out, rated 10. We went back and Dad did the rest of the shopping with Mum. We put things away back at the tent and got our shoes on.

We drove down to Cable Beach and walked up the beach to the place where the camels grazed. We had payed for a camel ride and were having it now. We listened to a bit of Alison, the camel tour guide’s history. She had worked with camels for 29 years. They told us how to board so we got on using that. We leant hard back as the camels got up, back legs, then front. As they walked, led by Alison, on the soft sand, we got jolted a bit. They stepped on wheel ruts, camel hoove marks and small dunes in the sand! When you got on the firm ground you could tell they would move fast at full speed. They were pretty sure footed on sand but would presumably fall on rocks. They seemed to dance rather than trot and we got moved side to side. A helper came up to us and answered all our questions. We were riding 1 of the only 3 girls, Kushan. The oldest, Mustufa, was 35 years old too! We went back and prepared for the camel to get down. We lent back again as the camel went down front legs, then back ones. We said thanks and drove back.

I did my diary and then we scooter rode back down to Cable Beach, me practicing jumps. Ryan, Ella and Milton were there too. I played dodgeball with Ryan and then rode my scooter while the sun went down. I once again showed purple, red, yellow, orange and green. We had dinner at Zander’s, rode home and went to bed.

Day 59 – Friday 29/6/2012 – Broome to a creek north of Price’s Point

We woke up and had breaky. We packed up and then hit the road. We got on the Cape Leveque road and it was so bumpy I couldn’t do anything! We arrived at Willie Creek and Dad got us all a form to fill out. We got half-way through the personal details and then went into the tour. It started with a very informative speech about what they do on the pearl farms. We got to look at an oyster called ‘Ollie’. Tom, our tour guide, showed us all the parts of them. The brain, the nacar and other bits too. We also saw some pearls that the oysters have produced. I found out that hardly anything is done on land! Most is done in the water on a massive boat! A girl called Rebecca also went up to the front and prized a $20 pearl out of the oyster’s gonad! We went up and had some delicious fruit, biscuits and beer-made damper which Dad took a photo of it’s recipe so we could make some.

Tom called us over to an oyster cleaning machine. It cleans all the grime off the oyster with the water pressure. However it can’t be turned up to get the barnacles off so that’s done by hand! Backpackers do it for 2 weeks, than have a 1 week break in Broome and then do it for another 2 weeks! We got on a boat that a man called Dave drove. We went over and saw a crocodile sitting on the opposite bank. We headed out to a small oyster farm on the edge of the inlet. Dave went up the front and showed us how to clean off all the parts that the oyster cleaning machine doesn’t get off while Tom explained why he wasn’t a pearler. It takes years of study before you become a pearler. 4 of those is at University to be a Marine Biologist and another 4 learning on the job. We got off and then walked into the showroom where Tom showed us some pearls and how much value they are. He also told us how to tell pearls from marbles! We went out and found Milton waiting. He showed us where to go to camp on the beach and then we set up. Me and Lachie made sand monuments of planes and sea creatures. We had dinner and went to bed. Ryan and Ella arrived just after but we didn’t see them.

Day 60 – Saturday 30/6/2012 – A creek north of Price’s Point Day 1

I woke up and did my diary. I had breaky and finished off my diary. We drove along the sandy beach to a little creek flowing in from the ocean. It had a lot of sidings on it to play and muck around in. I went to find Ryan as he had run off while I got sunscreened and my cossie on. I crossed the river and located him, he was standing on an island in the middle of an archway of water off the main river in a siding. I ran down the sandy slope and through the water and onto the island of sand. Me and Ryan began running down one side through the greeny –blue water and onto the other side. We repeated this 50 more times, most of them having one of us fall over into the crystal clear water. It was refreshing. We then went back to the car.

We got a drink and ran across to the spot we were playing in before. I went across swimming and when I reached the water I tumbled in. I swam across and told Ryan my idea of a game. We swam back to the cars and then I jumped from the top of a sand dune onto the side, on the sand again and then into the water. That happened a bunch more times and then I managed to jump once on the sand and then into the water. We swam across to the archway and continued the game we were playing before.

Mum said for us to come over to her so we swam over to the island they stood on. Milton had caught a massive mud crab that he was holding by its back legs. It was a hand length of Milton’s around its shell! They were going to take it home for dinner one night. We drove to the camp. We had lunch and went down beside the river to dig a trench. We got a waterway in the trench and then began to dig out a long wide one. It was hard sand and extremely difficult and hot work. We decided to go down to the sea to cool off. We began the walk down and then waded out. I went 50 metres and it was still only up to my waist! I caught some waves with Ryan and then walked back to say bye to Rowena, Renee, Russell and Tina. They were going back home.

We walked down to the sea again and everyone got in. Me and Ryan wrestled Dad and caught a few waves. We went back to the camp and Ryan started a fire with my help. Me, Ryan, Lachie and Ella decided all to dig holes. Ella’s was the roundest, mine the longest and Ryan’s the deepest. We decided to join them up and had only just started when Dad called us for dinner. We finished and I helped Ryan complete the task of joining the holes together. We went to the fire and roasted marshmallows. They were gooey and yum. We went to bed.

Day 61 – Sunday 1/7/2012 – A creek north of Price’s Point to Cape Leveque

We woke up and got dressed. We immediately sat down in a corner to keep the tent down in the gale the wind was blowing up while Mum and Dad managed to do the pack up. It was really annoying as we were on an unprotected beach so the gale was blowing ferociously. What worsened matters more was that it blew everything off, not on! The minute we stepped outside to do the annex we almost got knocked off our feet, the wind was so strong! Milton came to our help and held the annex roof in place for us so we could all work together to get the tent folded up. We succeeded and hurriedly put the cover on to make sure nothing blew away.

We started driving along the sandy beach. We helped get Milton unbogged and then he showed us the way. Getting off the sand was relieving as we wouldn’t get bogged for a bit. However the dirt track wasn’t the best 4 wheel driving I’ve done. There were rocks like mad, corrugations everywhere and a crusty surface. Plus 180kms took us 3 ½ hours and the last 90 drove at 100 to 110kms per hour as it was on bitumen! I loved arriving!

Setting up was a lot easier than packing up because we were working with the wind! It only took us ½ an hour.

We walked down to the beach and walked along it, me bouncing a soccer ball up and down. It was sandy and rocky all at once and the cliffs were bright red in the afternoon sunlight. We came to a rocky part and began picking our way quickly and carefully. I took a hard path, jumping a few times. We also needed to go fairly fast as if the tide came up too high we couldn’t complete the walk. We got on to another sandy stretch and covered it quite fast. Again there was a rocky bit but this time I chose an easy path. However it was one of the easier paths but there was actually no easy path through it. Once more, a sandy bit appeared and we stopped to take a detour off to a very tall rock. Dad went first and in that time we found a hermit crab which Mum set on a rock. I called it “Hermy” and then we went and clambered up on a rock. It had a beautiful view of the sea, a little island and of One Arm Point. We went down back to the sand and Hermy had disappeared! We walked along the oyster inhabited rocks and finally onto the exit beach.

We plopped our stuff on a rock and got the rugby ball. We had a game ending 8 all on the sandy beach. We walked back up and then down the slope. I had a shower, had dinner with a poppa and went to bed.

Day 62 – Monday 2/7/2012 – Cape Leveque Day 1

We woke up and I did my diary. I had pancakes for breaky and drove 5km on dirt, corrugated track, out of Kooljamin, our camp. We drove to One Arm Point and got some fuel. We got a bit ripped off as it cost $2.50 to use your credit card yet it was the only way of payment! The reason One Arm Point got its name is because it looks like an arm pointing out to the ocean. We went into the small community shop to have a look. It was a nice little shop and had posters on the wall advertising different products in cartoon ways! It was a really happy community. We drove out and I saw the field with freshly trimmed grass on it. It was the best field I had seen on the trip!

We drove to Cygnet Bay and had a look in reception about the pearls. We were able to go up to a lookout over the bay. We climbed up onto the rail and had a photo taken with Mum and Lachie with the sparkling blue water behind us. It was quite choppy and green on the banks. We walked down the steps to the viewing platform but not onto the beach. It was a working beach and all the big machines were operating so it would be dangerous to step in the middle of work. We walked back to reception and went in the pearl gallery. The first part had some interesting stories and photos of Brown brothers helping the pearling industry. There were more stories in the second part and also a diver costume on a dummy! We went into the showroom part which displayed jewelry and also displayed a big round pearl! We drove back and had lunch.

I did my diary while Dad read, Lachie ran cars up and down my back while Dad finished his chapter. Lachie then wanted a rest. We saw a plane fly overhead only 30-50 metres above. They were only small planes but it was awesome seeing one so close up. There were more flying over and Lachie had to keep dashing out to see them!

We walked down to Eastern Beach, the one you could swim at, and had a game of rugby. It ended 4 all and was a good game involving a lot of kicking and fumbles. By the time the game ended the sad had all been kicked up so it was soft, not hard like the rest of the beach. Mum and Lachie went looking for shells while Dad and I played French cricket and hit each other catches. It was fun and the catches were hard.

We got the snorkles out and put them on. We were trying out the new ones we had bought at Broome. We went into the water. Dad put his on and the strap  broke immediately! I tried mine on and they worked. It was good fun doing the snorkeling even though I only saw sand. We walked back and had nibblies while the sun went down. We had dinner and went to bed.

Day 62 – Tuesday 3/7/2012 –  Cape Leveque to 80 Mile Beach

We woke up and had breaky. We packed up the tent quickly which included me holding a rope to the annex to prevent it falling off if there was a gust of wind the force of the ones at the river camp 2 days ago. We were lucky it didn’t blow up too much. We hit the road and I did my diary. We hit the bumpy road which we would be on for the next 90kms so I stopped my diary. We were all relieved when we got onto the bitumen so we cheered with great gusto. I finished my diary and then we arrived in Broome.

We parked the car and then me and Mum went into Coles while Lachie and Dad went to exchange the snorkels that broke yesterday. We ran around getting groceries, things to make the damper from the recipe from Willie Creek and our lunch. Dad arrived having exchanged the snorkel successfully. He then went to a shop next door to get the beer we needed. We walked back to the car and drove out of Broome.

I touched up my diary and then had lunch. Dad and Mum swapped drivers and Dad put our DVD players on. I watched Toy Story 1 & 2 for the remainder of the drive. We did a good quick set up with our usual jobs and I played cars with Lachie. We had a shower, had dinner and went to sleep. 

Week 14 – Margaret River to Albany…and back to Perth…or was that Sydney??

With the threat of rain lingering in the week ahead and the possibility that I might need to fly back to Sydney for a job interview (a random phonecall the Friday before was sounding promising) we decided to head to the Margaret River and just brace ourselves for a wet week.

We headed down firstly to Donnybrook, and the southern hemisphere’s biggest playground.  Needless to say the boys ad a ball, and I think even Bronnie had fun going down all the slides as well.  After my efforts on the slides in Kings Park in Perth I have now decided I am too big and getting unstuck in small slides is ok but getting myself unstuck from halfway down a 20metre spiraling slide another story altogether.  We then went to Busselton to walk out the jetty, just because that is what you do.  The jetty goes forever, the observatory was closed but the walk out to the end proved to be amazing as we watched another whale rolling around and playing about 20metres from the jetty. 

We set up camp at a place called Taunton Park, just outside of Cowaramup (a town with about 80 cow statues up and down the main street and around the town) which is about 15kms north of the Margaret River township.  We managed to get on the really grassy area beside the playground, just outside the paddock containing the boar, cows, horses and sheep so there was a real country smell.  We cooked in the big BBQ shed,  with the pot belly stove for warmth and listened as the rain came…and stayed for what would turn out the next 3 days straight.  Not all bad though, the rain was at least courteous to stop everytime we needed to go to the amenities block or when we got in and out of the car to see stuff during the day….and the tent held up beautifully in the rain, and the grass drained away so all in all our first real rain was no problem.

Around the Margaret River we went underground in the Jewel Cave which was quite incredible and every bit as good if not better than Jenolan Caves.  We climbed up mainland Australia’s highest lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin at 39m high where we saw where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet.  We spent an hour trying to find our way through a big wooden maze.  We walked along the coast walk at Cape Naturaliste.

But best of all we did what you should really go to the Margaret River for…not a single winery visited (will save this for a trip without kids) but cheese tasting (and bought), yoghurt tasting (and bought), fudge tasting (and bought), Margaret River Chocolate Company (free tastings, and free tastings, and free tastings, and free tastings…and bought) and finally, because we ran out of time the day before, breakfast at the Millers Ice Creamery where we shared an 8 scoop tasting plate and I had a thickshake made with chocolate and cheeky monkey (banana and chocolate) ice cream…was just like a Bumbaks smoothie, only chocolate!

Then on to Albany we went stopping to climb the Gloucester tree at Pemberton and do the treetop walk at the Valley of the Giants just east of Walpole.  The Gloucester Tree amazes me they let it happen.  61m high and 176 metal spikes spiralling around the trunk with nothing but chicken wire for safety, you eventually come out on a platform.  A few more spike to another platform and then a ladder to the top platform and you are up above the canopy with amazing views of the countryside and surrounding forest.  Halfway up Bron, after 17 years together tells me she is scared of heights….I guess you learn something new about your partner everyday, but this fact is one I would have preferred to learn on the ground.  Doesn’t matter, the streak of determination she possesses got her to the top, tightly hanging on, forgot to look at the view and then down she went again.  Alex and I went back up, thinking Alex would get 20m up and want to come down but no, he went all the way up and took it all in as well.  All up, the Gloucester Tree was one of those unexpected little treats you find when travelling.

The Tree Top Walk and the Valley of the Giants was a more sedate suspended walkway that rose to about 40 metres as you walked around the 600m trail.  Gave Lachie a great chance to see t he trees and the forest and the canopy, and again the rain held off while we were out of the car.

We drove through to Albany, arriving and setting up after dark but at least in the dry.  Two nights of rain interrupted by a brilliant blue sky day gave us a chance to have a good look around Albany, more brilliant coastal landscapes, the King George Sound dotted with islands at the mouth, a farmers market on the Saturday morning and a town that had a real feel of homeliness about it.

Come Saturday and we headed back to Perth so that I could fly back to Sydney on the Sunday for a job interview.  Discussions through the week had gone well, and so back to Freo to set up before jumping on the plane Sunday lunchtime for a whirlwind 30 hours before returning to Perth on Monday night.

Bronnie and the boys while I was gone had fun on the free CATs, the bus service around Freo, the train to Subiaco in search of Subiaco Oval only to be thwarted by more rain and a stroll along the beach before returning to the airport to pick me up on Monday night.

Week 13 – Jurien Bay and Perth…the first time!

Leaving Kalbarri behind it looked like our luck with the weather had run out as we headed into heavy rain on our drive south towards Gerldton.  We planned on pushing further down along the coast but needed to stop for food and groceries.  AS luck would have it the rain stopped and we managed to get in and out of Geraldton dry before driving again in the poring rain.  The decision was now whether to stop at Dongara or push through to Jurien Bay.  Poring rain at Dongara meant we kept going, down the Indian Ocean Drive along the coastline and heading for what we hoped was a blue patch of sky ahead.  We arrved in Jurien Bay in bright sunlight and set up no probs…the weather gods clearly still on our side.  That night however it pored and as it turned out we were in a slight hollow and so the water rose in the annexe to an inch or so deep and we thought we were in for a wet few days.  But the stars came out about 11am, the water soaked into the sand and blue sky we had for the next few days. 

Jurien Bay, whilst not anything like Kalbarri was another nice little getaway 200kms north of Perth.  We rode our bikes along the cycleway along the waterfront, walked out the jetty, had a picnic at  the park and had a thoroughly lovely and relaxing time.  We also spent a day driving down and  walking around the Pinnacles.  Now we have seen some amazing things this trip, and this was right up there.  Towering pinnacles of rock everywhere you could see, the sun shining from over the ocean casting shadows on one side and bringing out the colour on the other just made for a magical place.

After Jurien Bay we headed to Perth, Fremantle to be exact where we once again had 4 nights and days of magic weather.  Perth was about catching up with friends and family.  Lewie and Abbi had pizza with us in the tent one night…they froze and needed to be wrapped in blankets and sleeping bags not being accustomed to living outdoors.  Dinner with Daniel, Lisa, Michaela and Josh, who we hadn’t seen for 10 years when their kids were our kids age, and finally afternoon tea with Jack and Goldie, Bron’s great Aunty and Uncle, where the kids had a dose of craft making bling boxes.

We had a picnic in Kings Park, which overlooked the city in a great panaoram, but we chose to hang out in the Dinosaur Park where the kids had a ball on the slides and firman pole, climbing the dinosaur statue in the middle and kicking the footy and soccer ball around the big grass areas.  And to finish our stay in Perth, a day in Freo, exploring the makets, buying more fresh fruit and veg, fish and chip down on the jetty made for a really great day.

Oh, and we got Alex’s tooth sorted…all good, just ligament damage so a great outcome.

Week 12 – Carnarvon to Kalbarri…feeding the dolphins along he way

Leaving Exmouth behind we find ourselves heading south once again to what will turn out to be one of the best food experiences of the trip, Carnarvon.

Carnarvon is where 70% of WAs winter fruit and veg is grown so after spending the afternoon we arrived walking out on the one mile jetty and getting the Coffee Pot Train back, we spent the night planning our attack for the next day, food day!

And food we got…juicy, sweet, succulent mandarins, apples, oranges, eggplant, cucumber, zucchini, tomatoes (we had to go back or another box as Bron  and the boys had eaten the first box before we finished doing the rounds) and perhaps the highlight…the best banana smoothie know to mankind.

The next day we left, tummies happy, cupboards stocked and on our way out we did what anyone would do…went back and got another smoothie for breakfast, followed by 2 dozen fresh eggs and we were off to Monkey Mia….or Denham more accurately.

Shark Bay turned out to be a little gem, stopping at a beach made up of bout 6 feet of tiny miniature shells, seeing a bay full of stromatalites, the oldest living thing in the world and seeing the wind swept shear beauty of the cliffs and coastline with dolphins, sharks, turtles and sting rays in the waters below. 

We stayed at Denham, a cool little seaside town with lots of charm and character but got up early to go and see the dolphins at Monkey Mia the next morning, about a half hours drive..  Now standing in this water was cold…the best strategy was to wait till your feet went numb so you couldn’t feel the cold and then just not move….something that Lachie found very difficult!

The dolphins came though eventually and played and frolicked which was cool to see and the 3 dolphins that got fed got given only 4 fish each which meant about 12 people of the 200 with freezing cold feet got to feed a dolphin.  They do this to keep the dolphins still wild.  As luck would have it Alex got called out so he and Lachie walked out and both held on to the fish and fed it to the dolphin leaving us with two very happy campers.

And now to perhaps the gem of the west coast, Kalbarri.  We drove inoff themain road to be greeted with a coastline vista of waves crashing along the sndbank and rocks at the mouth of a river that swept back along and ran parallel to the beach.  We stayed opposite this in the centre of town, deciding to set up camp so our annexe faced out to the playground beside us….did mean having to manouvre the trailer so the draw bar was stuck in a thicket of bamboo…not the easiest thing to do in sand, but we got there.

The next day saw the sun shining and me blowing up our inflatable boat for the fist time in the trip…one wonders why we chose a day with tempertures in the high teens and not further north in the high twenties….but in an effort to use everything we brought we decided to use the boat.  And what a great morning it was.  Lachie, Alex and I rowed across the river and there off the beach on the otherside was a whale and her calf in the first line of breakers.  Probably no more than 30metres away the whales played and rolled and slapped their fins giving us an incredible view of one of natures wonders.

We rowed back, a little harder against the wind and the current and despite being asked by a couple of fishermen in a tinnie whether we needed a tow, we got back to the main shore no probs.  Bron and I then went across.  Now time for the maths…the maximum weight of the boat is 160kg…I was 100kgs when we left home and so we figured we would be ok.  WE got in, did a few circles while we sorted ourselves out and as the photos afterwards that Alex took showed, I sat about an inch above the water so either our maths is spot on or we were lucky.  Either way we got across, watched the whales some more and rowed back with no problems.

The rest of Kalbarri was about riding bikes, seeing incredible rugged and harsh coastal cliffs and a trip up into the National Park where the highlight was Natures Window…a series of rocks high above the valley with a big hole through the middle making a window to the expansive view below.  Oh, and I musn’t forget the pelican feeding, except that the pelicans did!  One did turn up on the last day but other than that the kids all got to feed the seagulls instead.

Week 11 – Ningaloo Reef to Carnarvon

So the plan is to get up early and ring Coral Bay at 7.30am to snare one of the 6 spots that don’t get prebooked.  Up we get, pack up, ready to roll….no reception!  We drive for an hour and a half to the turnoff…left to Coral Bay, right to Exmouth and still we are unable to make a phone call.

We decided to head to Exmouth, given it was bigger and the council had opened up an overflow around the showground so worst case scenario we could camp there.   About 15 kms up the road we snare a single bar f coverage and after 3 U-turns trying to find the spot again we ring Coral Bay and as luck would have it snae a spot for the next 4 nights.

So in Coral Bay we find ourselves, mid morning and the most gorgeous turquoise coloured water in front of us….home for a few days and as it would turn out definitely a highlight.

The beauty of this place is you literally put on the snorkel and mask and walk off the beach and are swimming in amongst hundreds of fish and coral.  It is a protected marine park and so no fishing is allowed.  The reef finishes about a km offshore where the breakers are and we got to experience the thrill of the underwater world on a glass bottom boat where we snorkeled in two spots, including hanging out with a turtle for a bit, a drift snorkel from around the point where the current brings you back in to the bay and just off the beach itself.  He water was cold after you had been in a while but the experience was awesome.

Alex and Lachie both had a go, and while Lachie’s snorkeling effort resulted in more of a comedy act as he enjoyed tripping over his flippers  and walking around the sand with his mask and snorkel, Alex got the hang of it and stayed out with us for ages, experiencing another world.

From Coral Bay we snared a site for 2 nights in Exmouth.  It turns out there is not much to do in Exmouth other than drive around the tip of the Cape and down through the Cape National Park, which while beautiful we didn’t find a spot as nice as Coral Bay.  We did spend the day at Turquoise Bay with more snorkeling and a walk along the beach that was nice but me thinks we were totally spoiled by Coral Bay.

Exmouth in hindsight was a bit of a calamity.  We arrived to be told we were on a double slab site…making it quite difficult to peg down the tent in the concrete.  I got totally confused at which way our tent went and we proceeded to turn the trailer around in circles, doing donuts if you like on the concrete pad, all the time pushing the trailer as I had un hitched it…turns out the right position was where I had backed it in the first time.  And then finally a bigger kid pushed Alex into the fence in the playground.  He bounced and he and Lachie collided heads leaving Alex with a black eye and what we feared was a cracked tooth as he was feeling the cold every time he breathed and drunk.

Now for a real Exmouth highlight.  We did have fresh prawns from the best seafood shop in the world.  Spend $30, get $10 off and he split our spend over two days letting us walk out with $25 of fresh king prawns for dinner night one and $15 of green prawns for a curry on night two…how good is that, good old fashioned service, cheap, great quality and we ate prawns two nights running…gotta love that!

Week 10 – 80 Mile Beach and The Pilbara

From Cape Leveque we drove to 80 Mile Beach with a stop back in Broome to exchange a faulty snorkel and buy some beer (we are going to try our first home made damper). 

Now this place is well and truly on the top shelf.  We are greeted with more wind and a massive campground that had over 200 sites in it, but yet didn’t feel packed despite being majority full.  But the magic lay just over the sand dunes…a beach as it turned out over our couple fo days there would recede over a kilometer at low tide, from just off the base of the dunes out across an incredibly flat stretch of sand which was home to the most amazing array of shells I have ever seen.

We spent a day driving up the beach in search of shells and boy did we find some.  There were big ones, little ones, spirals, snails, cones, (not sure of the technical names) but every sort you could imagine in a range of colours.  After a few hours in the afternoon we returned with a big blue tub full of big ones, a big container of medium ones and two full smaller containers of smaller ones…with every shell having a WOW factor.  Needless to say Bron and the boys…or maybe Grandma Barb will have lots of craft  ahead of them.  And for me, I now have the joy of packing them and unpacking them everywhere we go. For the next couple of months.

Each tide deposits more and more shells on the beach and so even with so many people collecting  there are still heaps.  One lady at the campground who was there for 4 months escaping the cold down south had made little animals, wind chimes and mobiles out of the shells…all very cool.  But the funniest part of the experience was driving back along the beautiful beach as the sun set when Bronnie started squirming with one of the shells crawling across her foot.  It turned out that one of the shells she picked up was in fact home to a hermit crab which was now crawling around the car trying to find its way out!

Leaving 80 mile (and Hamburger Wednesday) behind we headed towards Karratha to see the Staircase to the Moon.   Only problem is WA has gone on school holidays and we cant get accommodation….why do kids and tourists need to get in our way.  So we head to a beach camp, run by the council and set up for 3 nights at Cleaverville Beach, tucked in behind the sand dunes with only our portaloo (not the collapsible varety) and our solar shower to provide any level of amenity.  Turned out to be a great few days.  The kids ran up and down the sad dune a thousand times, we had a good look around Dampier and the Red Dog statue, a quick squiz at Karratha (not much here) and a little ghost town called Cossack. 

Best of all though, we saw the staircase.   This was very cool.  As the moon rises over a low tide it reflects off the mudflats producing a set of lines that look like stairs all the way to the moon.  It is apparently only visible for 3 nights a month in a handful of spots between Broome and Karratha.

And so onwards we went, heading for another beach camp the other side of Karratha when we decided to just keep driving so we might get closer to Coral Bay (another place where we had no accomomodation booked).  Somewhere after dark we pulled up stumps in the middle of nowhere at some side of the road rest area, set up in the dark and listened to the sound of road trains passing on the road outside through the night, one of which decided it was a good game to blow his horn and wake everyone up.

Tomorrow we head to Coral Bay or Exmouth in the hope we can snare one of the 6 sites that don’t get pre booked.

Oh and if you are wondering, the first effort at beer damper was pretty good, even if we did burn the bottom black!

Week 9 – North of Broome …. Beach Camping and Cape Leveque

We have two nights to fill in before our booking at Kooljamin so decide on a spot of beach camping somewhere up the coast.  Milton, Rowena, Ryan and Ella decided to come as well, which is great because it means we can go where the tourists are not…there are a lot of tourists clogging up the good spots!

But first, a trip to Wyllie Creek Pearl Farm where we hear and see how the pearl is formed, how they are farmed and get to go out on a boat to see the naughty oysters in the creek…these are the ones that haven’t produced good pearls.  The creek is the most astonishing blue, a light blue not like typical sea blue but more like a pretty turquoisy blue...if that makes sense.  And on the bank on the other side of the creek is a saltwater croc…just a gently reminder that they are still about.  The tour itself was great, and perhaps the highlight was damper at morning tea, which not only was yummy but we got the recipe to make some ourselves….the excitement was too much.

Now to a beach camp, some 40kms odd up the cape we find a nice little spot out of the southerly and set up camp, just over the back of the beach beside a creek that has a bit of water in it but due to the low tides has stopped flowing through to the ocean for now.  Ahh the serenity, a fire at night, the wind died down and just us and the sound of the ocean.

Morning arrives and the wind unfortunately has turned in to an Easterly and is blowing straight through the area we are camped.   The toilet tent is sacrificed and pulled down, the tent is tied down to full jerry cans half buried in the sand and the spare tyre out of the car but we are secure and nothing is going to blow us away.

Now what you are about to read will potentially scare you away from beach or bush camping for life.  We have with us two toilets…a proper chemical toilet which we have used in places where the pit toilets are disgusting and there is a disposal point for the waste…and a collapsible toilet seat that we borrowed from Annie and Ron (they had never found a use for it in motels and hotels so it was not a pre loved seat) that you put a bag underneath and then bury your business.  At the beach camp we are using the latter, or at least the rest of the family is.

You see, mid morning rolls around and I can’t wait another two days to get to a proper toilet, so I grab my collapsible seat and shovel and off I head up over the sand dunes and find myself a nice little spot where I can see the ocean, tucked in out of the wind.  All in all turning out to be quite a successful journey when suddenly….splash.  I found out that the collapsible toilet seat is not called that because it folds up but more so because it doesn’t hold nearly 100kgs sitting on it.  Given I was nearly done, I now found myself in a right royal mess…and yes sand does stick!  So after cleaning myself up as best I could and burying everything, I went for my first swim in the Indian Ocean to remove any last souvenirs of my one, and only use of my dear sister in laws and brother in laws collapsible toilet.

Moving on, the wind did die down in the afternoon and we had a little drive up the beach and a swim and a play on the sand.  Milton caught a mudcrab which was pretty cool to see…big too with nippers that I wouldn’t want to play with.   A swim, this time because we wanted to go from a swim, and a roast dinner on the weber followed by another lovely fire in to the wee hours of the morning was a great end to the two nights on the beach, although we did pack up in a howling gale in the morning before driving down the beach and back onto the tracks that would ultimately take us up to Cape Leveque.

Kooljamin was amazing.  We lucked in on a cancellation and turned up to a site that overlooked the beach from the top of the cliffs with the sun setting before us.  It was low tide so we walked down the western beach, up around the point and back down the eastern beach.  At the point you looked back and could see down both beaches, the sun gleaming off the bright red cliff face making for a postcard moment.  Scenically spectacular, with a proper shower and toilet this place was well worth the effort getting up to it. 

Now for the Kooljamin toilet story….a family of three green tree frogs lived in these ones and at night when you went they would appear in the bottom or under the rim of either toilet…was a bit of a lucky dip really.  It made Bron a bit nervous going and Alex was definitely not going to use them if he could avoid them…but they were very cool even if their choice of dwelling was odd (although maybe not for a frog).

Week 8 – Broome

Red, full of dust and not a single thing clean (including us) we came out of the Kimberleys looking forward to a hot shower, a day at the laundry and a morning at the car wash to hopefully get rid of as much red dirt as possible before opening up the tent again.  Only problem was we arrived two days before our accommodation was booked and sadly for us the caravan park couldn’t get us in any earlier.

So a mercy phone call to my cousin Milton and we find ourselves lobbing up and camping for two nights in his new carport…which coincidentally is big enough to fit our camper trailer all folded out, plus a boat and then some room just for fun.  This becomes home for a couple of nights but other than the big tent in the drive, we hardly added to the mayhem given that Milton and his wife Rowena’s extended family seems to have a cast of thousands and all the neighbourhood kids wander in and out.  Alex and Lachie needless to say had a ball meeting two cousins they didn’t know they had, Ryan and Ella, and playing with all the kids.

Mum and Dad were also in Broome, having flown over from Kununurra on their own big trip.  Was great to see them and we had a belated Birthday Dinner at a swanky restaurant overlooking the ocean….except it was cold and windy so we had to close all the windows.  Food was great though and it was good to see them for a couple for days before they flew back to complete their journey.

Milton works at the local aquaculture facility with the tafe so we got to see his latest project, breeding Barramundi.  From little ones barely a centimetre long to big ones half a metre long we saw them all.  We even fed the big ones little fish which as they broke the water taking them out of your hand made quite a splash.  Was pretty cool to see and certainly not what we expected in Broome.

Finally we checked in to our caravan park on Cable Beach for 4 nights.  Sunsets over Cable Beach and another at Gantheaum Point were just amazing.  To see the sun set over the Indian Ocean was quite spellbinding and the orange glow lingered on the horizon long after the sun had gone. 

A camel ride just before sunset (was half price compared to the sunset ride) was a must. The boys loved the camels with Lachie amazed at how high he was when it stood up.  There are actually three companies who do camel rides…a blue one, a red one and a yellow one.  We did the blue one which means we have photos of the other colours…don’t know why, just did!  No matter what colour the camel wears though, half an hour was plenty to have to straddle a camel and with another iconic tourist attraction ticked off I was happy to get back down on the sand

A stroll around Chinatown pretty well completed our time in Broome.  The boys put on their best “pretend to be happy even though I’m bored” faces as we strolled around and looked at the shops and took in the main part of the town.   This part of town was quite quaint, and easy to see a day slip away just wandering around…maybe that’s what they call Broome time.

But time to move on, and lucky for us we have scored a cancellation at Kooljamin up on Cape Leveque in a few days time, so trips to Woolies and Coles and we are all stocked up ready to go another week or two until we hit another town big enough to be written in bold type in the road atlas.