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.