Friday saw us spend most of the day around the caravan park. The guys went down to the port early (5:30) to have a fish. Terry caught onto something big but lost it when it wrapped itself around one of the piers. Girls went for a long walk while we were gone. We were expecting a Service Technician to repair our fridge which is not working properly on gas. Unfortunately, the man never showed up until 12:30 for the 9AM appointment. On the positive side he repaired both the fridge and the water heater which had quit in the morning. The Fridge problem turned out to be the gas regulator for the caravan which wasn't supplying enough pressure. This would explain our ongoing problems with our water heater and fridge operating on gas. Our stove and gas BBQ are also working much better now. Glad to have it fixed but even more annoyed at 7th Street Caravans for not having picked this up, and repaired months and several service calls ago. Because the problem was not actually with the fridge the service company couldn't repair it under the Dometic Warranty and now we have to fight it out with 7th Street Caravans and Retreat to get compensated for the bill. Regardless it will be great to have everything working properly. Sandra and I went and did some retail therapy in the afternoon.
Saturday morning saw us all up early and off to the Broome Markets. Not bad although not quite as good as Darwin. I bought a nice cool sun shirt for the hot weather. Saw some beautiful landscape photographs by a local photographer that were quite reasonably priced. I would have bought a few if we weren't travelling for so much longer and space being such a premium. From there we made a return visit to the Visitor Centre before going for a long drive on Cable Beach. We drove down about 10KM before stopping. The sand is really hard and 4WD or deflating tyres is not required. Apparently Cable Beach is Australia's longest nudist beach. Unfortunately all types choose to remove their clothes so is not as exciting as it may sound. The area we stopped at was very secluded and no nudists in sight. We strung up a tarp between our vehicles for a bit of shade. We had a nice picnic lunch, had a swim, and took some photos. Terry took a long walk. It was a beautiful location but very hot so we packed up shortly after lunch and returned to the caravan park where we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon.
Sunday the six of us travelled out to Willie Creek Pearl Farm early for a tour. We learned all we needed to know (and more) about modern pearl farming and the oysters they come from. We had a nice morning tea with beautiful damper (for the non coeliacs) before heading out for a short cruise on the lagoon. Beautiful location with a nice quiet lagoon connected to the Indian Ocean. We then had a short session in the showroom teaching us how pearls are valued. Sandra was chosen to wear a pearl strand that was worth $70,000. It was nice but don't know how you could spend that much on a necklace. You could buy a hell of a caravan or motor vehicle for that amount.
From there we proceeded north along the coast on a dirt road. We stopped at Quondong Point before arriving at James Price Point. What a beautiful location. The cliffs are so red, white sand, and deep blue water! This is an area where they are planning on building a large gas plant and there are all sorts of protests in the area. I understand the need for economic development but it would certainly be a shame if the environment of this area was damaged. We had a nice lunch along the cliff faces before returning back to Broome.
All of us except Terry went out to the deckchair cinema that evening to watch "Red Dog" in the open air. It was a very unique setting and perfect for this movie about the Pilbara region of Australia. We had bats and planes flying overhead with lizards crawling up the screen. Di and I even think we got peed on by bats during the show. Great show and a very entertaining night with lots of laughs.
Monday morning Sandra & I were up at 5:45am so went for a nice 45 minute walk. We still can't get used to the time change as sunrise is about 5:30am. We returned from our walk, had coffee, and breakfast and it was still only 7:00am. I did some maintenance on the caravan by changing the anode in the hot water heater. Gave the hot water tank a good flush out in the process. Had numerous trips into the water as high tide was in the morning. Sandra joined me for a few as was a very hot day. The salt content is so high that Sandra was able to float with no problem. She usually struggle to float for some reason. We spent some time exploring Chinatown in Broome in the afternoon. Kind of a disappointment as not much variety. Numerous Pearl Showrooms but very few Chinese eateries or groceries.
Tuesday we spent some time around the beach. Terry, Stephen, and John went for a fish down at the wharf for a couple of hours. No luck but managed to feed the small fish with our bait. Stephen and John went on a kayak fishing tour late that afternoon. We spent 2 hours paddling our asses off around the bay and wharf area. Can't say we are expert kayakers but we survived the afternoon with no capsizing. Stephen did find it necessary to hit me in the back of the head with his paddle once. No serious damage to me or the paddle. There were bait fish all around us at times but we didn't catch anything worth keeping. I caught a barracuda just before we gave up. How exciting! Right? Not! About 18 inches long and very thin. Our guide Greg was trying to get a picture, but I said don't you dare. That picture would definitely kill any fishing tale about the day I caught a vicious Barracuda. While another unsuccessful fishing experience we had a great time just the same. I really enjoyed the kayak although both of us will be aching for the next few days. Carol and Sandra took us down and had a walk on the rocks while they got some pictures
Wednesday morning Carol and Stephen were off for a full day tour of the Horizontal Falls, Talbot Bay, Cape Leveque, etc. Terry, Di, Sandra, and I enjoyed a very relaxing day around the caravan park doing very little but enjoying the water, shade, and light breeze. We took a drive to the Wharf in the late afternoon to get a picture of the P&O Pacific Sun cruise ship. We then stopped at Redell Beach for a quick photo before heading back to Gantheaume Point for some more pictures. From there we went to the Eastern Cable Beach for late afternoon snacks and drinks to watch the sunset into the Indian Ocean. Carol and Stephen showed up just before sunset. They had a wonderful day on their tour. We all enjoyed the sunset before returning to our caravans.
Thursday morning Sandra and I were up early to take our caravan in for a routine maintenance service. Needed to get one done before November so thought this would be our best chance. Dropped the caravan off and came back for breakfast. The three girls went to the Pearl Lugger tour which they found very interesting. History of the pearling industry from the 1800s to the late 1900s. While very interesting Sandra said it was terrible how they treated the Aboriginals in the early days of the industry. Terry and I did some errands and shopping.
Thursday night was the first night of this months Stairway to the Moon and we packed up our chairs and went out to the point to watch. We took drinks and snacks and had a great visit with fellow travellers while we waited for the moon to come up. They also had markets on so we were able to grab some food. The actual event was quite interesting but very hard to film because of the low light conditions. We got a couple of decent pictures but Di and Carol found they only had small dots of light.
Friday morning most of us ventured down to the wharf to try fishing again. No luck! Lots of nibbles but no success. We came home and enjoyed a swim and a relaxing afternoon. The six of us were booked on a sunset camel ride at Cable Beach. Quite the experience but not one that Sandra or I will likely repeat. Not a comfortable ride and Sandra got quite a jolt when we dismounted at the end of the ride. We got some nice pictures and can scratch that one off the bucket list. We did enjoy lots of laughs and then we went for a beautiful Thai dinner. We all enjoyed our meals at Sum Thai in Broome.
Saturday we did a final grocery shop in Broome in preparation for the next leg of our adventure. Did lots of cleaning, laundry, and organizing. Had a number of swims during the day as was very, very hot. Sandra dyed Carol's hair this afternoon and Stephen went out for a few drinks with a mate of his brother's that lives in Broome. We just got back from watching the Stairway to the Moon again. This is the last night until next month. Nice red colour in the moon tonight but not sure how the pictures will turn out.
We have really enjoyed our time in Broome and have found it very relaxing. The water is an unbelievable colour. This is a very special place and we will be happy to return someday! A couple more pictures to remind us all what a special place this is.
Well I lied about the final pictures. Sandra & I just got up at 5:00am to take some pictures of our final Sunrise in Roebuck Bay. Too good not to add them. See you soon from Port Smith.
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