On the road to Broome

21 - 26 July

The trip to Port Headland went well without too much excitement. Stopped for  some supplies and breakfast at about 11am.

 

 

Then headed another 200 kms to 80 Mile Beach. It was a hard day of driving with lots of road trains. 80 Mile caravan park was a lovely spot right on the beach. The kids weren't even out of the car and 2 kids were waiting for them to come and play. We didn't get in early enough for a powered site but were happy with our position and were glad to be back near the beach where the temperatures were a bit milder and where we could have our first shower since Wednesday.

 

 

The sunset was beautiful and the beach was crowded as lots of people gathered around to watch.

Today we celebrate 100 days on the road. Amazing. We had planned on an easy day before heading off to Broome so TJ gathered lots of information from various people at the laundry as she did four early morning loads of washing. As it was so windy we thought that we would head out rather than be blown around as we had to pack up and move the van to a powered site anyway. So we went down the beach and spent half an hour collecting some brilliant looking shells before packing up and heading up to Broome.

Great effort by TJ to have four loads washed hung out and dried by the time we left at 11 am. That washing fairy of ours is pretty special.

Kids didn't travel very well today and in hindsight we should have  put up with the wind and stayed the extra day.

Long drive to Broome and as we had been warned about accommodation being hard to get we had booked ahead at the only van park that said they could fit us in. $71 a night was our new record and as we were backing onto the main road out of town to the port we were lucky to be exhausted and not spend the whole night being blasted out of our beds as the trucks went by.

So we did some investigating and managed to score a few nights at the overflow park which is attached to the Seventh Day Adventist church. Not a real caravan park so no pool or playground but at $40 a night, clean and very quiet we were more than happy.

 

 

The boys with Jim who was coordinating the overflow campground and really enjoyed having the boys around. They couldn't wait to get out there to help him.

 

Having never been to Broome but hearing so many stories before we left and while on the road it was hard to know what to expect. There are some really good things about Broome like Cable Beach and the camel ride the others all went on. It was down the nudist beach end which prompted more questions and quite a few giggles. The camels get on a real slope as they get up and down which was too much for Patch so he was lifted off before the camel got down on its rear then front legs to rest.

 

 

The magnificence of the "Staircase to the Moon" which we had timed our trip to see. We got to two nights as a family and I went to the third night by myself as it was later.

I took so many photos but very few were any good as I don't have a stand but being there was an amazing experience and something we will treasure.

 

The markets at Town Beach were great fun while the Staircase was on and the three boys all got hats for the rodeo from a Kiwi guy. Can't believe there are so many Kiwi's on this side of the country.

However there are certainly a few not so nice parts to Broome. The kids got their first real experience of the effects of alcohol on people and the way it is destroying an entire culture with constant encounters with the local Aboriginals and the way they hang out on the edges of the town and in the parks. It was hard to answer all the questions the kids had without giving them a slanted view on the entire Aboriginal population so we are taking them to an Indigenous experience in Katherine when we get there to give them a look at how the Aboriginal culture can be.

So while in Broome we also went to some op shops to top up on books. I had a massage that was sensational as the Thai woman did the whole walk down my back. We went to Cable beach for a swim every day.

 

We walked around town and had a good look around Chinatown which is the original part of Broome. We went into the Sun Cinema which was fantastic. Part indoor part outdoor and it had some amazing memorabilia of old movies and some pictures of the theatre from 60 years ago when the seating was very much colour segregated.

Coffee and a milkshake in a café or two.

 

We went to the lighthouse which was one of the most basic ones we have ever seen.

 

The kids did some amazing Lego play and we tried to catch up on the Blog but I am so far behind it didn't seem to make much difference.

I haven't mentioned it for a while but while all this has been going on so has the "School work". Most nights TJ will sort out what they need to do the next day and between us we will mark what has been done that morning. Then in the morning we will get the kids into their work first thing most of the time and I will do what I can to help. We are not sure how we are going with it but figure that as long as we get them to read, much easier with Milly, do some maths, I also ask them maths questions on the road, and then they write their journals and emails when we can that they shouldn't be falling behind too far.

Anyway up the next morning, packed up and on the road by soon after 7.30 but saw the markets on our way out and couldn't resist. We made the deal that we would be no more than 45 minutes and then back on the road. So two hours later and with a Maccas breakfast under our belts we finally said goodbye to the west coast of Australia, with a real sadness I have to admit.