Broome

Another day to remember. I really don't want to leave tomorrow :-(

A domestic day! Early morning shuffle & three loads of washing before a 7am Skype call to the kids teachers. A quick duck to the shops for some supplies. Home to remake beds with fresh linen, lunch & a quick dip.

Look who we found. We travel all the way to Broome & run into Neil. He gave us a tour of the hanger. Thanks for answering all the boys questions. I think Isaac sat in every seat in the helicopter. 

Cable Beach for afternoon drinks & nibbles. It's a tough gig. We were joined by Neil, the Richardson family & friends of mum & dads...Bevan & Cheryl.

The kids played in the sand for hours. Poor Jed had an incident with the shovel & put a nasty cut on his foot. Oops...don't give small children shovels to play with...bad parents!

Our last sunset evening in Broome. We WILL be back xxx

Broome

What a beautiful part of this country. It's their peak season but everything still runs on "Broome time". We headed out to Willie Creek Pearl Farm for a tour. A 23km 4WD rode. It was full of corrugations, but otherwise ok.

The kids enjoyed the plaything as they were the only children on site.

We were given a farm tour where the process of cultivating pearls was explained. There are 19 pearl licenses in Australia, 18 of which are in WA. 

We were then served morning tea on the deck. After this we boarded their boat where we were taken out to be shown how the pearls are stored, & treated, whilst growing. We were also told a little about the tides & the resident crocodiles. We didn't see any on this occasion.

Look at the colour of that water...truly magical!

We then had a chance to visit the retail store. Charlotte chose a lovely bracelet & Keira bought a lovely pair of earrings. 

We headed home for lunch & schoolwork & a well earned swim. 

The Richardson family were joining us again this evening. We all headed into the Sun Picture Theatre for "Inside Out". The cinema is open air & will celebrate 100 years next year. It was quite an experience!

Between us we took up a whole row :-) Happy times....

Nan & pop have caught up with some friends who are from Perth. Coffee & BBQ dinner. 

Broome

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The road into town was a lot more desert like than I'd expected. 

I LIKE Broome a lot. Every person we've come across has been lovely. We stayed about 200kms out of town last night
so we arrived at about 10am. We thought we'd try the caravan park on the off chance that our sites were ready...they were!

Tenae had been sick in the car so she went straight to bed for a nap. Michael needed to do some work so I took the other kiddies to the pool. It's so nice to swim in a pool that is clean.

Gantheaume Point. The colours are fabulous. The beautiful red dirt against the brilliant blue ocean.

The boys posing on the point!

This is the port end of Broome. I don't think the boat ramp is needed at low tide.

Fish and Chips at Sunset on Cable Beach.

Wind

Sorry...another sunrise!

400kms today of not much of anything & driving straight into a headwind. At one point I thought I'd be able to reach out the window & touch the CB aerial (it was bending so much). 

Eighty mile beach! Surprise...it was windy. The strangest fish in the shallows...they looked like snakes (just their head above water). 

The most amazing sand...like cornflour!

Sandpiper roadhouse...pet peacocks all about the place. It's warming up..I'm glad we're here in July.

It was a tough driving day so we've stopped for school & Micheal needs to catch up. I thought...a little washing...why not? I can just imagine the look on my friends faces back home. There is NOTHING here. Just red dirt & a picnic shelter which is making a good school/office desk.

The photos never do it justice :-(

Port Headland

Our morning started with a beautiful outback WA sunrise.

I am amazed every day by the wildflowers. The land is so harsh yet the beautiful flowers are blooming. Nature is incredible.

We stopped 80km up the road to stock up at Karatha. We try to shop local but the grocery prices are killing us. We saw Coles & I jumped at the chance. At home I would never buy meat at a supermarket because of the prices but in WA it's the cheaper option.

Roadside lunch stop. Fresh watermelon....mmmmm and then onto Port Headland for a look.

What an incredible sight to see. Iron ore residue & white Landcruisers as far as the eye can see, spotted with lines of white dongers. The people employed in mining really earn any $$$ they get. It's not a fabulous life. The accommodation is appalling. I wouldn't want it for my loved ones. Trucks in constant convoy...incredible!

Trains so long that you lose count of the number of carriages. 

A salt mine right in town...

Random mountain range? 80km to go to "our new home" as Charley says.

Sometimes I think that the random roadside stops are the nicest. There's plenty of space & they're quiet!

The road to Karratha

489kms of driving today and I think we saw two buildings. It is such a huge country, you just cannot believe it.

The road is lined with wildflowers in bloom. There are patches of Sturt Desert Peas are incredible....brilliant red with blackest of eyes. 

When it rains, it really does rain! This explains why everything is so green.

Mesa iron ore mine. This mine alone produces 25,000,000 tonnes of ore per year. There are many more mines like this in the Pilbara.

Our roadside campsite tonight...surrounded by wildflowers in bloom.

On the road again

So, this is what $21,345 buys these days. It looks....CLEAN! You can see I know my engines :-)

Another big thanks to dad who took a quick 400km drive to Carnarvon with Michael to pick Roger up. The boys at Toyota Carnarvon did a fabulous job & they even got my air conditioning going again. They were gutted for us :-(

It's all looking up from here! Bring on Broome in a few days.

A good catchup day today with loads of schooling, washing...and baking. It's time to move on :-)

Cape range national park

Farewell Richardson family...until we next meet.

WOW!!!

We arrive & our first view is fields of Desert Peas...so incredible. I hadn't realised how many colour varieties there are.

Next stop was the drift at Turquoise Bay. You swim out & drift over the coral reef with the current...an amazing experience. It's a shame our go pro is in Roger back in Carnarvon :-( The fish varieties are absolutely brilliant. The colours are stunning!

It was an overcast day & quite windy but nothing could dampen our spirits.

Snorkelling sets certainly don't do a lot for the I.Q.

The good news is that tomorrow we're getting Roger back...Saturday we're back on the road :-)

What an end to the day....a pair of sea turtles frolicking at the beach! We were the only ones there to see it :-)

Exmouth

I headed out for my last early morning shuffle. 

Today we farewell Warroora for our tow to Exmouth. We arranged to meet poppy at the driveway, to save him the 10km of corrugated dirt. I was worried about the Nissan. It was sitting uncomfortably low. We couldn't tow the whole way because we had no connection for lights & brakes, so we get towed again :-(

We hadn't told the kids but we'd hear from the Richardson family again & they were waiting for us at the Lighthouse caravan park. 

As soon as we arrived I shot into town to do a grocery shop. $412.00 layer...that should keep them busy for a few days. I don't know how people can afford to live in some of these isolated towns...the food prices are insane :-( We are very spoilt at home. 

We all got together for a few drinks (one too many for me). The kids watched a movie. Another lovely evening!

Coral bay

The kids had such a blast on Sunday, & after a very successful school morning, we thought we'd head back into Coral Bay for another turn at snorkelling. The overcast conditions did not dampen their spirits. The storm last night has stirred up the water so visibility is not so great.

It's never a bad time for a wading pool...

Isaac is still snorkelling on the reef.

Our Warroora campsite is amongst our favourite so far. The storm last night was a little scary.

Charlotte as a statue!

On a downer...we were supposed to pick our car up today but when we phone Toyota yesterday we were told that we can't pick it up till Friday :-( I'm sure things will turn around for us eventually :-)