Broome WA

Friday 29^th June.  Up and out of the park before 8.30 this morning and into Broome.  It did not take us long to find the repairer.  It took them an hour to get the fridge out of the van and to do that they had to take the door off the van L  At the moment it is tricky to lock BUT seeing as they will have to take it off again to put the fridge back – we are putting up with it J.  Bob is hoping that there is a replacement condenser in Perth and that it will be here Monday J [fingers crossed] – if that isn’t the case then it will have to come from Brisbane and will be here ?when. L  We now have a big gap in the van where the fridge should be J

We went back out to the van park and set up the van properly and then headed back into town.  At this time we saw Faye and Arthur had arrived at the van park also.  We continued on our way and went for a drive to the information centre, Town Beach on Roebuck bay, got fish and chips for lunch and then to Boulevard shopping centre to get some supplies.  Back to the park and having happy Hour with Faye and Arthur.  Darryl and I decided that we would go and extend our stay by one week to ensure that we had a site whilst waiting for the condenser to arrive.  We will also do some day-trips whilst waiting.

The boys were due to ride out of Derby today but when we checked their web page it was to find that Tommy had been bitten by a dog in the office of the van park and that the derailleur on his bike was broken and the other boys were trying to fix it whilst Tommy was at the hospital.  Tommy has got three puncture wounds on his fingers of his right hand and the van park owners contacted the hospital to say that they would pay for his treatment. (Being a British resident he does not have a medicare card).

Saturday 30^th June.  Did four loads of washing today but some of the things still look quite dirty L  might have to wash them again.  Darryl was playing his game on the internet and then we got a call from Kareen and Ray to say that Tommy’s bike was not repairable (by the boys) and he was getting a lift to Broome tomorrow and could he stay with us.  The other three lads were heading out of Derby at 12.30pm.  Kareen and Ray were bringing Tommy’s bike in their van on Monday.

Not a problem.

Buster was very out-of-sorts tonight.  He only ate half his dinner and then it was as if he was going to be sick and every time he went outside it was as if he was trying to find grass to eat – but there is no green grass L

Sunday 1^st July.  Up reasonably early and waiting for Tommy to arrive.  When we checked the boys web page last night it was to find that they had travelled nearly 80kms before resting for the night.  At about 12md Tommy was dropped off by some lovely people (Shirley and Rick) who were going to stay in town at the Broome Caravan Park.   They had passed the other three lads about 30km out of Broome – what the?  We took him back to the van and chatted whilst we finished preparing lunch.  Whilst we did this the other three arrived and it was good to see them.  We organised extra food for lunch and the boys had a good time.    The boys had left their camp site at 6.30am this morning and cycled 121km by the time they arrived at 12.30pm.  We were then shouted to a few beers up in the bar – very nice thank you lads!  We will take Tommy into Broome tomorrow once his bike arrives with Kareen and Ray.

Monday 2^nd July.  The lads were up at about 6.30am and had breakfasted and were ready to ride out at 8.15am – all except Tommy L.  The three lads rode out of the park at 8.30 and we waited for Kareen and Ray to arrive with Tommy’s bike.   Whilst we were waiting we got a call from Bob at Kiss Refrigeration, telling us that the fridge was fixed and when would we like to get it put back in.  Because we have got things to do today we will take it in in the morning and have the fridge refitted – YAY – we will be able to get things cold.  The Bushman in the back of the car keeps turning itself off when the charge in the second battery gets to 12.5 volts – it is a real pain in the proverbial…….. and then to top that off – the transformer was not working very well this morning either – it was as if it couldn’t turn over properly so the fridge was sitting at 15 degrees…….. L :C 

They arrived at about 10.30 and then with greetings and getting Tommy’s gear out of their van, we headed into town at about 11.30am.  We headed straight for the Broome Cycles store and met the other three lads.  The chap here was very good and he says that he will have Tommy’s bike ready tomorrow afternoon – a new derailleur, new chain, new bike storage rack and a service will be done on his bike.  Jimmy needed to have his gears looked at as they were slipping on the ride into Broome – and that will be repaired as well.  The lads have got a busy schedule whilst they are here, an interview with the paper and the local radio station, a meeting with the lead actress from Rabbit Proof Fence movie, and then a farewell party hosted by the Shire President.  They think they will be leaving on Friday – in the meantime we will join them on Wednesday night to see the ‘Staircase to the Moon’ at moon-rise over Roebuck Bay and then we will catch them up down the road – hopefully.

Tomorrow afternoon we hope to be able to see the ‘Dinosaur footprints’ in the rocks as the tide will be low enough and we will go to Cable Beach for the sunset – of course!!!!!  No camel rides for us though J

A cool night last night – it got down to 9 degrees.  Buster ate half his dinner last night and he has been drinking lots of water – Yay.  Tonight he ate ALL his dinner and went back for some fresh cooked roast J

Tuesday 3^rd July. We were up early and into town to get the fridge back into the van.  We arrived at 8am and there were two vans in front of us so by the time we were done it was 11.30am.  The really good thing was that the repairs were all covered by the Dometic Warranty. :D  From here we took the van back to the park and left it and Buster there.  We then headed in and got Darryl’s INR done at the hospital and then when we returned to the van we were visited by Fiona and Neville Owen.  WOW – it was so good to see them as it had been four years since we last met.  They are currently in Broome waiting to hear if they have got positions at the hospital.  We had a great evening with them leaving at about 9.30pm.

Wednesday 4^th July.  American Independence Day.  We stayed around the van today and did the washing and then at about 3.30pm we headed into town to grab a spot for the ‘Stairs to the Moon’ which is due to occur for the next three nights.  We found what we hoped was a good position and then waited for the other 8 to arrive.  Faye and Arthur, Ray and Kareen and the four lads were going to join us to witness this monthly happening with the very low tides.

There was also a market on, so we partook of dinner and then sat and waited.  It seemed to take forever for the moon to rise above the horizon and then for the 10 minutes or so when you could see the ‘stairs’ across the mudflats to the moon - it was truly lovely.  When we turned around the hundreds of people that had been behind us had vanished….  Yep – just like that J.  The lads said goodnight and that they would be leaving Broome in the morning; and we will catch up with Faye and Arthur, Kareen and Ray before we pull out on Monday. Our other friends – Christine and Gordon – are currently in Derby along with Greg and Carol.

Thursday 5^th July.  We were up and waited for Arthur and Faye to join us.  They were wanting to transfer some videos to disc so that they can view them on a tv later and were having problems.  So Darryl and I are going to help them.  They arrived at about 10am and then we finally managed to work out how to do the DVD and then proceeded to burn two CD’s.

We then got a text message to say that the lads had finally left Broome at 12.50pm so we wandered up to the Roadhouse to wave to them as they went past, but they pulled into the roadhouse to see us and were offered a free camp site for the night – so they will stay here and then head out early in the morning.  It was really good catching up with them again and it seems that we will be following their travel itinerary, so we are sure to meet up again down the road.

Friday 6^th July.  Today we were up early as the crows and corellas seemed to be having a party outside our van J.  We got lunch ready and packed some goodies as today we were heading out to Willie Creek, Quondong Point and Beagle Bay.  We went up the front and the lads were still here at 8.15am – so we said another farewell and then we all went our separate ways.

We headed out along the Cape Leveque road, the first 14 kms are asphalted and then after that it was sand and red clay.  We turned off the road onto Manari road and went to Willie Creek and what lovely Azure water there was there.  There seems to be lots of areas along the creek for people to camp.  Lots of vans, trailers and campervans were along here.  The tide was coming in and the water was rushing into the creek from the Indian Ocean.  We went for a walk along the creek edge down toward the sand and then turned back and headed out and toward Quondong Point.  We are still on very sandy roads and Quondong point is lovely, right on the red cliffs facing the Indian Ocean.  Whilst we were here we saw several whales playing out in the water.  There seemed to be lots of places where you can just pull up and set up camp.  We saw caravans, campervans, camper-trailers, motor homes all parked along the edge.

We headed back out of Manari Road and back onto the Cape Leveque Road.  This is when the corrugations really began L  86km of them.  We reached the asphalt and turned off to go toward Beagle Bay and came to the Sacred Heart Church.  This church is famous for its altar made out of many different shells.  There are broken oyster shells in the floor and around the windows and all the 14 ‘stations of the Cross’ that adorn the walls.

The church was completed in 1917 and local women made the shell decorations for the church. Mother-of-pearl, cowries, volutes and olive shells were gathered from the beaches and used in the mosaics.  The fourteen Stations of the Cross were commissioned in 1949 and painted in Munich Germany and were painted on aluminium sheets to withstand the humid Climate of Beagle Bay.

We then got Buster out of the car, gave him a run and then had lunch.  We then decided that we would head back to Broome as it was already 1.30pm and Cape Leveque was a further hour up the road.  That would mean that if we went to the Cape and by the time we had a look around and headed back we would be travelling into the night.  We got back to the van park at 3.30pm – it took 1 ½ hours to travel the 86km of dirt road on the return journey.

Darryl has washed the car and we are going into town tomorrow to meet up with Greg and Carol who have managed to get a site at Cable Beach Caravan Park.