Broome...undecided about this place??

Even though we were not wanting to leave Barn Hill, there were things we didn't want to miss, such as the Staircase to the Moon in Broome, so we headed off down the dirt road, turning back on the main road. Was a short drive to Broome, only 120km up the road.  With the next few days predicted to be overcast with showers, Broome was a good enough place as any to chill out at.  We decided to check in at the Pistol Club instead of a caravan park as they were only $26 per night, no power but with water instead of paying over $60 per night at the caravan parks.  Even though it was a little out the road, it was in a bush setting and nice and quiet, except when the pistol club was having their meetings, then you felt like you were in the middle of a shoot out!! lol.

Pistol club camp site...

Anyway, we ended up staying a total of 6 nights and to be honest l don't know what all the fuss is about Broome. First few days we had a quick drive around town to get our bearings and stock up on groceries. The town centre itself has nothing much to it, mostly little shops for tourists to splurge out and get clothing or a nice set of expensive pearls.  It has a huge cricket oval at the back of town which alot of the indigenous mob sit under the trees, drinking the day away.  They don't seem to bother anyone though.  We even saw a cricket match going on one day, pity if the ball was smashed for a six and hit a persons windscreen driving threw.  Yes, that's how close the ground was to the road, and there were no fences!! 

The first few nights were spent heading to Town Beach to catch the "Staircase to the Moon".  The first night we arrived a little later than we wanted and were shocked at the amount of people lining the beach to catch the event.  We got a spot and l set up the tripod, and caught up with the "HardFirms" while we waited.  They were staying at a caravan park so we hadn't seen them for a day!!! Wow, l know such a long time! Lol.... The "Staircase to the Moon" was amazing!  As the oranggy red moon rose up in the horizon behind the ocean, with the tide being low, it truly did look like a lighted up staircase from the mudflats to the moon.  As it hit is triumph all you could here were clicks from the hundreds of cameras, and also the stupid people taking photos with a flash, which was so annoying!  After, we took a stroll thru the Mooncase Markets just behind us and got a feed, took ages to decide as l was being a cheap case.  We ran into the Woods, which was awkward, we hadn't seen them since Cape Range near Exmouth and things were sadly still tense......

First nights 'Staircase to the Moon' was the most spectacular of the two nights as you can see below....

And it begins....

Staircase with the lights on behind the clouds!

Night two down at Town Beach for Staircase to the Moon was good, but was a clear sky night, no clouds. Did have fun taking pics of the lights in the horizon and the boab tree though too....

Not as spectacular staircase to the moon...

Boab with the moon....

We found out that Big Bertha was in town we organised to catch up with them and the HardFirms at Matso's Brewery.  See if you ever go to Broome, theres what they call a Broome Book that costs $2 that has vouchers in it for local shops.  Now in it it has a free tasty pallet from Matso's, so having purchased two books, we were able to get two free pallets.  As we all met up and ordered, the waitress was very unimpressed when she was presented with 6 vouchers for free beer tasting with nothing else being ordered. Don't think she liked my response when she asked "was there anything else?", l quickly replied "no just the free beer thanks!".  In the end we ordered a few bowls of chips to keep the girls and Matso's staff happy. The tasting pallet was great, and l don't even drink beer.  It had four shot glasses for tasting, one being ginger beer (my favourite), their famous Mango beer which was also delicious, a pale ale and finally a dark stout beer which l took one small sip, nearly gagged and had to give it away.  I ended up ordering one of their citrus ciders which was delicious, Marty ordered a tasting shot of their famous chili beer which sent his insides into an inferno!! My mouth was on fire on the tinniest of sips!  The kids all were happy, Lexie, Jordyn, Boo and Meg all playing Looms and the boys, Angus and Riley, sitting around making up stories. We had a ball getting to know Saccha and Duncan, their really cool people and we had so many laughs along with Ton and Cam....Afterwards, we farewelled the Big Bertha family, planning to catch up again while in Broome, and took a stroll thru Chinatown ending up at Macca;s to treat the kids to a soft serve.

Free testing plate!

Yummo...

The beauty of indirect learning on the road...
outside classroom!

World's oldest operating cinema!

Kids impersonations!

A highlight of this week in Broome would have to be visiting the Malcolm Douglas Wildlife Park.  Marty had watched in awe when he was a kid growing up seeing this wild man with all Australian animals in some dangerous situations, coming out on top.  Now this was before the likes of blokes like Steve Irwin, so Malcolm was definitely an ingenious bloke teaching everyone about the amazing country we live in and the wildlife we are amongst.  Sadly he had passed a few years ago in a freak accident, but the people who run the park are passionate about keeping his legacy alive and are just as enthusiastic about the crocodiles and Australian animals that within the park.  We had a great day exploring with Ton, Cam and the kids, even running into Big Bertha crew at the end....Think the girls loved holding the baby crocodiles the most, followed closely by the big snakes!

Kids loved the entrance!

Moss covered crocs!

The winking owl!

Lucky a hair tie is in place

Smart birds hanging around for the croc feed!

This guy was amazing!

Watch the fingers girls!

Wing span is amazing!

No way l was holding this bugger...

...girls did well!

Jordyn, Lex, Boo, Riley and Meg with their crocs!

Watch out Lex!!! Boo's in a playful mood..

Malcolm Douglas...

One night we headed down to Cable Beach to enjoy the sunset with wine, beers and nibbles.  Now Cable Beach is rated in the top 5 beaches of the world, and l don't know whats wrong with me, but l don't see it. Don't get me wrong, its nice, but l have just as picturesque beaches along our travels, if not better, one being "squeaky beach" at Lucky Bay near Esperance.  Anyway, we drove down and found a park.  We didn't even drive up to see the nudists this time....We pulled out the awnings on the cars and cracked a coldie while the kids sprinted to the water to have a splash.  Big Bertha ended up coming down and joining us.  We had passed the Woods car parked at the start of the beach, they were having their camel ride.  So awkward and sad... Anyway, we sat and watched the sunset while the camels strolled down and back up the beach, enjoying laughs, drinks and good times.

Parking on Cable Beach...

Camels ride begin...

Baby Bertha, the Beeson Patrol and the HardFirms Cruiser parked!

Having some fun with the kids and the camera!

Marty and l decided to head into town one day with the girls and check out a few of the local sights.  We went and checked out the old jetty in town, walking down the jetty amongst the mangroves, trying to spot a croc.  No luck. We strolled down Chinatown and passed the copious amount of Pearl shops.  I feel pressure to buy one because we are in Broome but l'm just not a pearl fan.  Its totally pearl crazy here.  But given the fact that the town was founded as a pearl lugging destination, its really not surprising.  The pearl industry has taken a dive though and isn't as lucrative as it once was.  We called into the Pearl Lugger Ship tourist attraction to check it out and the girls had a blast climbing over all the croc props lying about and sticking their heads into the old Pearl Diving Dive helmets.  Still after walking around town, l couldn't see what all the fuss was about Broome.  People rave about this holiday destination and l don't know if its because l expected Broome town itself to be overlooking a beach instead of  mangroves, or because l had a picture of a Port Douglas type town in my head and it wasn't, l was just left being a little disappointed.  

Chinese cemetery...

No crocs seen!

Gorgeous lanterns!

One morning we made our way out to Gantheaume Point to check out the famous dinosaur fossil footprints, which you can only see on certain low tides.  I had a shocking hip injury going on from running, stupidly not stopping to let it heal, so l couldn't go down the slippery rock walk.  Instead, l stayed up on the top and watched as many tourists made their way down and fell on their asses.  Marty, Boo and Meg went down and checked it out, took a bit to find them.  They found two footprints that were huge, three toes on each footprint.  

The famous dinosaur prints....

I only got to see the plaster mold version of the prints!

Seeing we were heading to Cape LeVeque for a few nights, l had to find a place to store the van for a while and everywhere in town was a rip off.  Thru a few phone call l ended up finding this bloke called Kris who owned some industrial land that did caravan storage and you can even stay there too.  I bargained with him to have us stay for $20 per night and to leave the van for $10 per night when we headed to Cape Leveque. So much cheaper than our other prospects around town.  Now it wasn't lush with tropical palms or had a pool, but we did have no dust with everything being on asphalt, we weren't crammed in like sardines like the caravan parks and we had power, water and even an awesome amenity block.  It was so nice and quiet and Kris was such a fantastic bloke, so welcoming.  There were other people parked and they had found out about it purely thru word of mouth.  Kris just does it as an side thing to fund his wine habit he reckons!! The girls had a blast playing with their cars in the shed, we didn't see them for hours, they totally love the shed and no dirt!!  Anyway, we spent the day getting the car sorted for Cape Leveque and decided to call in to see Ton and Cam who were now camped at PCYC.  While were visiting them l had made a text to Amanda earlier, who were staying there too, to catch up and try sort things out.  Long story short, l drank a bit of wine to get some courage up, headed over to the Woods and after an hour or so we had made amens, sorted our shit for now and were at least better off than previously.  I don't know if anything will ever be the same between us again, but at least if we ran into each other, we could catch up and let our kids play together.  Boo was so stoked, she had missed her BFF Charlotte, who actually was celebrating her birthday that day.  So happy to see them two catching up again, they had been joined at the hip for so long, Boo had missed her terribly and had felt the impact from our incident with the Woods.  Anyway, that night l drank too much celebrating the weight off my shoulders, polishing off a few bottles of wine, which l hadn't done in a long time.  When we eventually got back to the van, Marty and the girls banned me from my bed so l laid on Boo's bed making drunk calls to all my mates......payback for some of them making drunk calls to me over the years!!

Bell Xxx