Broome to Port Hedland

Rick trying his luck

From Broome we moved down the coast settling at the 80 Mile Beach.  It was a very rough 10kms in off the Highway and we were not happy with the condition of the road.  Every thing seemed to rattle in the bus including us.   This is right on the beach, just a  mini stroll over the sand dunes.  Fishing and shell collecting here, the water looks so tempting, beautiful blue but its unpatrolled and you dont quite know whats out there.  Dolphins were here, but also lots of very big jelly fish washed up continuously.   You could drive your cars on the beach for miles from 7am to 7pm each day.  Naturally we did, the boys taking advantage and going fishing each day.  First day, wrong bait, wrong sinkers etc. no fish.  Second day, the right bait, new sinkers but still the wrong ones and still no fish.  Two types of salmon, mulloway and baby sharks were being caught here, just not by us.  It was hot and thirsty work, abandoning fishing each afternoon for beer o'clock.   People spend weeks/months here, just fishing and shell collecting.  We went sir crazy after two days.!!!!!

Nothing but sand and water for as far as you can see.

Helen didnt catch the shark, just abandoned on the beach.

The Highway along this stretch of WA is as boring as you can get.  The Highway goes on for miles in the distance, nothing either side of the road to see, then all of a sudden we found a small waterhole and all these birds.  Took their pic. cant recognise them, not sure if they are brolgas etc. but it was really nice to see them to break the  monotony of the drive.

The sunsets like all we have seen have been pretty beautiful..   It is still very warm, around 30 each day, especially down the beach, the sun has shone all day, gentle breeze to keep it comfy and then by about 7pm it is cool and great weather for sleeping.  Ideal conditions for us.   Am not looking forward to the cooler climate as we head down.  We have had 30o temps for prob. the past 8 weeks without a break and its been heaven.



Just a little sculpture in the Park at Pt Hedland that I liked.



We are now in Port Hedland, staying at the Port Hedland Golf Club, the caravan parks here, there are two, are booked out and extremely expensive, so this will do for us for a day or two until we head of again.  Our next stop is the Karrinjini National Park, 250kms down from here inland on the road to Newman.  We are planning to visit the Park and then drive back up the Highway the way we came and then head again back along the Coast.



One of the ships in Port with a dredger passing by.



Last night in Broome

Giving way to the camels as we leave the beach

Sand for as far as you can see

Our camp spot

Its our last night in Broome, the church campground has been ordered to close tomorrow.  The Shire President has his own very successful caravan park here and doesnt like the "overflow" parks to remain in business too long.   Everyone is sad to leave, this place has been a huge pleasure to stay at.  Lyn & Jim the caretakers are lovely people who maintain this place beautifully.  When Rick was laid up with his sore knee, they presented him with a Get Well card and a box of chocolates.!!!!!!!!

Last night we had a bbq with some local Broome people who run a B & B here.  They are friends of our friends (Bruce & Helen from Port Macquarie).  It was a good night out and interesting to here what life is like here for the residents.   This is a very expensive place for real estate and rents are pretty high.  There is a huge amount of protest going on up here due to Woodside Petroleum wanting to build a gas plant here.  Signs everywhere, protest camps out on the road to the site etc.   It is almost a 50/50 split with residents, some wanting Broome to remain the same and others wanting progress and growth. 

The days have been sightseeing or just relaxing.  Every afternoon we go down to Cable Beach and drive up the beach to have a swim, happy hour and watch the sunset.  Its been heaven.   Yesterday, we accidentally discovered the Nude Beach.   I cant explain the sights we saw.   Today we were back in our usual spot, but the nudists seem to have moved down closer to us, they have no problems in parading up and down the beach and going in for a swim (with the tide way way out) its been mind boggling for us.   The camel rides go right past them, lots of kids on these rides.

Our last night here we were treated to a magnificent sunset, it was a great way to finish off the night, driving down the huge stretch of sand as the sun set.  Fish N Chips at Cable Beach that night finished it up for us.
Heading out tomorrow and will end up at the 80 mile Beach around 360 kms from here.  Hopefully spend a few days there, swimming and fishing.

Broome

The Variety Bash is in Town.   The cars ended their epic journey from NSW here in Broome on Wednesday.  They all parked up at a local primary school and we went out for a look.  Rick shed tears when he saw some of the cars that were being used.  The car above is a genuine GT falcon.       The little turtle we spotted at the wharf, swimming against the tide, for every stroke he got pushed backward.  The view is from the jetty at the wharf.   Everywhere, the color of the water against either the rocks or sand is beautiful.   Yesterday we went out to Quandong Point in our 4WD - all dirt road for a swim.  It is about 45kms out of Broome.  The water was magic, Rick went in for a body surf and ended up being hit by a wave and damaging his knee.  Snapped the medial ligament on the side of the knee.  A trip to Hospital, followed.  He is OK.  Needs to keep it bandaged, elevated and rested.  Doesnt need medication or physio.  He feels pretty good this morning but he is banned from all activity for the day.   He is half way thru an oil change on the bus and is busting to get on with it, but he will have to wait.   Shouldnt affect his ability to drive, but it will be a good excuse for him now whenever I mention the word "shops"   he will reply "I cant walk that far".

Touring Broome

Broome seems like a really lovely town.  There are some multi-million dollar houses and then there are the dregs.    The famous Cable Beach is stunning and so are the rock formations along the coastline.   It is claimed, the town doesnt like the invasion of the Grey Nomad, but without us, it would be almost dead.  Wherever you go, all you see are the tourists.  If Darwin is the Crocodile Capital then Broome is the Pearl capital.  70% of the shops are selling pearls and or souvenirs.   The strong Aussie $ has seen more people head for Indonesia/Asia instead of Broome.  Their trade is down 40% yet the caravan parks are chockers.Today we went out to see a Pearl Farm operation. It was very informative, the pearls in the showroom stunning.  The boys opted to sit in the carpark and drink coffee rather than spend the $40 entrance fee.   Good move on their part, they would have been bored.    Happy Hours have been spent down on the sand at Cable Beach.  At low tide you can drive along this beach for approx. 15kms.   There are 3 companies doing camel rides along the beach, something we will think about.

A phenomenon that happens each month for approx. 3 nights in a row is the "Staircase to the Moon"  This is when the full moon rises and shines down on the tidal flats.  It gives the impression of a staircase, depending on the cloud cover it can be sensational.     This attracts huge crowds down on the foreshore, and a Market that is held here every Sat-Sun morning, also runs on the foreshore on the nights that the "Staircase" happens.  Typical market art/craft stuff, lots of nice hot Asian style food and entertainment. 

Staircase to the moon, cant seem to turn the photo around for you to view.

Camel ride on the beach

Cable Beach

Sunset on cable beach at happy hour

One of the touristy things here is the "Sun" movie theatre.  A very old outdoor movie theatre here in Broome.  Deck chairs, very uncomfortable, watch the movie and see the aeroplanes fly over as they land at the airport just behind.  An amazing sight to see the planes coming in so close.

Too much Happy Hour

At Happy Hour one day we got to talking about how much exercise we have gotten - clambering over rocks, trekking on rough paths, walking thru canyons etc.  you get the picture.

Here are the "before" we started our journey and the "after" of our menfolk.  Obviously we have had way too much happy hour.

We have gone to Church in Broome

We are now in Broome.  The rest areas we camped up in beforehand were chockers.  The caravan parks here are full.  The info centre has a board out the front each morning with any vacancies that may occur.  Prices start at $38 to $50 per night!!!!!!!.   We are camped up in the 7th Day Adventist Church grounds. The church, the pistol club and the police youth club are all designated "overflow" facilities when you cant get into a regular park.  You can only stay in these areas for 7 days.    We are quite happy here.  Its $35 per night, a nice big site for the bus, green grass, power, water and next to the amenities.   We initially booked for 3 nights to see how we felt, and to also check out the availability of moving into a caravan park.  Rick and I are happy to stay here, we dont want to pack up and move, not sure what our two lots of friends want to do, as they did want the pool etc. that parks offer.  But what we save here, can be spent on something "nice" like going out to dinner etc.   The Council requires the Church and all of the overflow venues to close down on Tues 23rd as they beleive it is then over the "peak".   We are considering asking to stay on till this date, which would give us 10 days here.   Havent seen much of Broome yet, a quick look at the famous Cable Beach was a must and it didnt disappoint.  Did a market yesterday while we waited for our site to become available and then another market last night (same stuff over and over again).  

Geike Gorge

This is Geike Gorge, the rock formations were beautiful and the rock colors were different as we cruised down the gorge.

Still seeing crocs.  In fact we saw heaps of little freshies on this cruise, all sunbaking in the morning sun.



These are the nests of a lovely little bird.  Lots of them flying in and out whilst we sat and watched.