Back in Broome (via the Dampier Penisular!)

Hi Everyone!

So much to report! We had a great first week in Broome settling into our new life. Stuart has modified the camper’s wiring already and made a number of other small improvements. We watched the International Beach Polo game on Cable Beach. I’m sure the English Nobles would be appalled at the heavy metal music they played every time a goal was scored, and the half time running races which ended with face plants in the sand winning yourself a carton of beer! (The women scored Champagne.. of course!). We also made a rather expensive trip to the Crocodile Park to remind ourselves just why we need to be crocodile aware. They are pretty impressive creatures (but very cranky!).

We have just returned to Broome after 4 nights on the Dampier peninsula. The two nights in the palm frond shelter at Kooljamon was sooo relaxing. We were the last shelter, so closest to the beach and no passing traffic. We kayaked around the point, but encountered strong currents and tides, so didn’t venture far. Stuart then went fishing in the kayak and caught a squid for dinner, which went into a squid and chorizo paella! The shelter had a fresh water shower, and with nice warm nights we really started to relax.

On the way to Middle Lagoon we stopped at the One Arm Point Aboriginal Community and saw the aquaculture hatchery. Stuart hand fed the turtles and barramundi, which was very funny as they really chomp the food and give you a fright! We purchased an amazing polished trocus shell, which is a specialty of the Bardi people of this community.

Two nights at Middle Lagoon saw Stuart doing lots of fishing, and catching a GT (trevally) for dinner - which we ate 2 hours after it was swimming! (NO - I have not fished yet!). I spent the day sewing, reading, riding my bike to the beaches and exploring the rock pools. We were also given some huge chunks of Spanish Mackerel that one of the other campers had caught from their boat a couple of miles offshore! That was dinner last night and was beautiful – pan fried in a little butter!

On the way back to Broome we stopped at the Beagle Bay Community to view the church built by Trappist Monks with an alter made with mother of pearl shell.

We are now back in Broome for two nights, the car is being serviced and we will start stocking up for our trip down the Gibb River Road. Due to a late end to the rain season, a number of the side roads leading off the Gibb River Rd have been closed until now. We will check details today, but after a couple of nights in Broome, then Derby, all roads should hopefully be open for us to explore!

The Staircase to the moon was on last night but partially blocked by cloud cover. Oh well. They have a night market at the beach to coincide with the event, so we wandered through them and Stuart took some long exposure photos anyway.

Hope all's well with everyone!

Mish & Stu

We're in Broome!

We arrived in Broome yesterday afternoon and have snagged a campsite looking out over the turquoise waters of Roebuck Bay. The camper went up easily and just in time for a bit of a monsoonal downpour of rain!
We didn’t have any problems with the rest of the drive up, with an overnight stop at a roadside campground on the southern branch of the Gascoyne River. We had a visitor in our camp - a little long necked tortoise! The next day saw us having lunch at the Wunna Munna rock carvings just to the north of Newman, with the night spent in Port Hedland. The following morning we had a quick look at the house in South Hedland that Stuart lived in when he was a little fella!
This morning was spent with a relaxing ride out to Cable Beach for a swim, which was very refreshing, considering the humidity is pretty high up here at the moment! By the time we rode home we were pretty sweaty again, but hey...

Finally - We have hit the road!

Yes, we have actually finish setting up the camper, loaded it with all of our gear and hit the road!

We've set up camp for the night in the Darwallinu Caravan Park. Once the bikes had been taken off the top of the camper, Michelle set the camper up all by herself!

So dinner is now on the stove heating up, and it'll be early to bed for a good night's sleep, and then back on the road tomorrow. We're thinking of bushcamping tomorrow night, somewhere to the north of Meekatharra.

Stu & Mish

Well - moving out of the house ended up taking a little bit longer than planned (we seem to have acumulated a lot of stuff!) but we are finally out and officially 'homeless'. We have delayed out departure by a couple of days so that we don't hit the road tired and worn out!

Our test of the camper went really well last weekend, with a trip down to Busselton via the gravel roads and then back up to the city via the bitumen! Thanks to Sue and Geoff for the use of their backyard as our campground for the night!