Broome Adventure

Well, it has been a while this time mostly because it has been busy and we've had a quick visit back to Mandurah since the last update. Went to the Rod Stewart concert which would have been great but for the bloody huge speaker stack which obscured most of the big screen on stage - leaving us to view Rod's legs below the obstruction and sod all else. That is until half time when our tearful :-) complaints resulted in better seating with a great view. Dear old Rod hasn't lost it a bit!

Lots to do at the house too with a billion weeds and windows to be cleaned.

As we've said previously we are now parked at the Police and Community Youth Club overflow caravan park. This is an additional caravan park which utilises the PCYC oval usually during the dry season when the permanent caravan parks fill up. That is usaully not until around May but, due to lack of accommodation for people working in Broome, a new government/shire policy allows caravans etc to park in back yards and other locations which meet certain requirements. Since we can't go to any of the existing caravan parks (because they are anti-dogs) we applied to park here and were the first approved under the new policy - YAYYYYYYY!

We have the entire oval and ablution block to ourselves...

The wet season still fails to produce many tropical downpours but the following pictures show some of the amazing cloud formations which surround the town most afternoons:

Last week also featured a trip to Derby. Angela went up there first with a colleague for meetings and BJ and I drove up later to meet up with her and bring her home. The trip brought back memories of when I arrived in Australia with my family from Manchester in 1960...had two days in Perth then a flight to Derby where we spent about two years. Brilliant for an 11 year old pommie boy but rather more challenging for Mum and Dad! For me the memories of kangaroo and crocodile shooting and helping to load cattle onto ships was the stuff of boyhood dreams!

Lovely restaurant down by Derby jetty:

The story of the cattle exports:

The Derby Jetty where, at around 30 feet, the tide is the second highest in the world:

The trip also crossed the one lane bridge over themighty Fitzroy River and a place called ski lake - would you ski in crocodile infested waters???

All three of the following pics cover the width of the Fitzroy at a time when it isn't particularly swollen. Sometimes it covers the bridge in the previos photo:

Ski Lake:

That's about it for this update. We're joing some of my Derby cousins at Port Smith caravan park for Easter. It is situated on an ocean lagoon about 140 kms south of Broome. They each have boats so we are looking forward to lots of omega 3's over the weekend.

Oh...for all those photographers among you (you too John :-), you'll be pleased to know I am going to a photography club so the quality of my offerings might improve soon?

Regards and best wishes for a safe and peaceful Easter from both of us...

As promised here is a picture of Angela's Broom(e) Cupboard er.. office...

This week she attended the opening of the new hospital in Fitzroy Crossing. This meant leaving Broome at 5.45am with a few colleagues and driving 4 hours there and 4 hours return. Big day out!

Although we are somewhat cramped and missing our gourmet kitchen at home, we nevertheless try to maintain our gourmet standards. On the menu this night was prawn and asparagus noodle stir-fry -delicious!

Finally got to throw a line in down at the wharf. Lady nearby caught a nice size golden trevally and I caugh t - a bloody great rock, and had to cut my line. Angela didn't get a bite either.

I still can't get over the having aircraft skimming the rooftops of the town centre as they come in to land. You almost expect them to land in the deli section at Coles or drop in at the Sun Cinemas outdoor pictures.

The picture below might give some sense of how close the runway is... (just looked at the picture again and maybe it's not as clear as I thought...will continue to try for a better view - Ed)

Because BJ spends a fair amount of time in the van during the day we try to get him out for a run as often as we can. He just loves to let loose around the PCYC oval and over on Cable Beach. Sadly he's a bit sun shy (must have something to do with the breeds skin type) and after chasing the ball around the beach two or three times he takes the ball under the F250 ensuring that we can't throw it again.

Well, Valentines day has been and gone for another year. Hope you all had a lovely time. We went to a local restaurant/Tapas Bar called Zeebar and enjoyed a wonderful "Degustation" Menu (Google it if necessary). About 6 courses each with a different beverage.

Well it's Goodnight from him - will update again soon...Cheers!

Back on the blog again after a short break necessitated by BigPond's miserable usage allowance. On my account I get to use 1 GB of upload/download per month and I stupidly thought it was a calendar month so on the 31st I used up my remaining allowance, only to find that MY month ends on the 11th. Hence every MB over my limit costs 15c! Bugger!

Anyway I've now upgraded to a 3GB account and I'll cross my fingers (and everything else) that this is enough.

Whilst we were parked at the Oasis B&B, BJ took to behaving like a chook - when he wasn't chasing them...

...and fancied himself as a doggy John Williamson when he was "home among the gum trees...

Rubbish day comes around all too fast and seeing as the roadside is about 1/2 km away the bin gets a ride in the F250 once a week. Lovely Angela always helps get the bin on and off but last time the bin lashed out and hit her in the earhole - OUCH!

Angela has now been working for three weeks and is enjoying her job as the HealthWay Regional Coordinator for the Kimberley. So far we haven't travelled to other parts of the region but Derby is planned for later this week as long as the tropical low currently hanging around doesn't turn nasty and become a cyclone.

Angela's office building is a good example of Broome architecture and her actual office is a good example of a broom cupboard...a picture of her cupboard will follow later!

As you have probably guessed we are quite taken with the cloud formations which abound here. Almost every afternoon see some really majestic and sometimes fearsome formations surrounding us...

About 30kms out of Broome is the delightful Willie Creek Pearl Farm. We were lucky enough to be provided with a free trip courtesy of the equally delightful owner Ms Valda Banfield, a new friend of Angela's.

As you can see from the pictures below the trip to the farm involves about 12kms of well maintained pindan road and, on the day we visited, recent rains caused us to detour a few kilometres down a dirt track to avoid a boggy salt pan.

Willie Creek produces the famous South Sea pearls, produced by the silver or gold lip pearl oyster. The tour is very informative and fun, and includes morning or afternoon tea with beer damper as the main (and very tasty) attraction. There is also a boat tour of the creek and a first hand look at the work that goes into looking after the oysters.

Visit the website for a better look - http://www.williecreekpearls.com.au

There is even a great looking fishing spot which can be reached along Cable Beach...

Back at the Farm shop there were pearls and souvenirs galore - the cost of some of the pearls and necklaces will melt the Visa card at 50 paces!For those of you in Perth there is even a store at Hilarys Marina - so no excuses...

Falling coconuts are not the only danger at Willie Creek

CRIKEY!!!! Take a look at this...

Anyway, this week Angela left BJ and I to fend for ourselves while she flew down to Perth.

That's her in the seventh window along :-)

There she goes...

For the first time visitor to Broome it is amazing to find that the airport is smack bang in the centre of town. At one of the two major shopping centres you can stand in the carpark and be less than 100metres at the side of the runway and at the other you are less than 300 metres from the business end of the runway. In fact the flightpath is directly over the main street and as the aircraft come in to land you can almost see the colour of the pilots eyes. Has to be seen to be believed...

Here is a link to the Google Map so you'll get the idea:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=broome,+Australia&ie=UTF8&ll=-17.950239,122.237406&spn=0.031273,0.079823&t=h&z=14&om=0

We are now parked on the oval behind the Broome Police and Citizens Youth Club I'll update the blog in the next few days with some more pics - maybe of a cyclone too !!!

Anyway for now I'm off to the airport to pick up Angela after her Perth trip. It's probably not before time because BJ and I have started having meaningful conversations...CYA

We took BJ down to Cable Beach during the week. Unbelievably, you can drive straight down onto the beach and drive a kilometre or so to where dogs are allowed. In the dry season this is also a nudist beach. BJ will probably want to come here often!

BJ loved running around free and chasing his tennis ball and on the way back we came across the camels coming down for sunset. Well BJ didn't know what to make of these animals...

It looks pretty stormy most afternoons here and only every so often does it actually rain. It seems it is that unfulfilled promise of relief from the heat that can drive people mad. The storms in these photos however did provide welcome relief. If you look closely you can just make out a rainbow.

Met Angela for lunch today as usual and went to Town Beach for Mango Smoothies - just because we can :-)

We're off out to the Willie Creek Pearl farm for a tour on Sunday so I'll be sure to take some pics and give you a run down. Any orders for pearls must be accompanied by some folding stuff!

Nicely settled in at the Oasis with an old disused motorhome, "Barry the Bus" next door giving us some protection from the elements and an outdoor bush shower nearby too. The shower is great! Broome temperature water and a lovely cooling breeze.

Immediately after setting up camp on the Saturday we headed off with BJ to Gantheume Point with a bottle of Moet (thanks Maddie & Laurie) to celebrate our arrival and get into Broome Time. Lovely sunset and the first people we spoke to on the beach knew Angela's daughter, Phillipa when she was here. Small world!

Despite it being the "wet" season it has been surprisingly dry and some locals fear it will be a dry wet (if that makes sense?). Hasn't been much rain except for a little over Christmas and the locals really hang out for the rains to come and cool things down a bit. This is the "build-up" where you can see huge cumulonimbus clouds all around and the rains doesn't come. Drives some people mad - known locally as "mango madness".

Friday saved the day by bringing a huge thunderstorm that heaped bucket loads of the wet stuff on the town. The storm lasted for about an hour and I've never heard thunder so close and so loud before. Got soaked pulling down the awning so it wouldn't get ripped off by the vicious sqalls. We had planned to go out for dinner to celebrate our first week here but decided to wait out the storm rather than leave BJ in the van on his own. When it abated we headed off through a very wet and bedraggled town to Matsos Brewery and Restaurant for a lovely meal and some fine wine.

The storm was the talk of the town as we wondered around on Saturday and when we attended the Australia Day festivities (breakfast at Town Beach) some locals were heard to say that they hadn't seen such a fierce storm before.

Today, Sunday 27 we took a run up to Coconut Well, peppered with bush block homes, lots of Mango trees and beach access; and received a stern reminder of the dangers inherent in paradise...what is it they say? "Never smile at a crocodile" :-)