WEEKs 5 - 11, 15 June - 1 August

Well, its been awhile since I last wrote about our adventure. We have been holed up in Broome doing the hard yards. By hard yards I mean relaxing and enjoying all that Broome has to offer.

It didn’t take long for us both to settle into “Broometime”. Within the first week Stephen had joined the gym and I started going to water aerobics at the leisure centre. This has been a three time a week occurrence for us both. I don’t think Stephen has made any friendships at the gym, or if he has he hasn’t told me about it, but I have made some acquaintences at water aerobics which has been nice. I also joined the local Bridge Club where I play each Tuesday afternoon. It is not an affiliated club as it only runs during the tourism season but the numbers are around 36 so you at least get some competition and I am still on my ‘game’ so to speak. My bridge buddy, Anne, and I have had a few games online as well. I have been paired up with a lovely lady named Wendy and although she is a beginner we have had some good afternoons at the table.

The weather has been great since we arrived, although the first week we were here was a little cool by Broome standards and we even had one evening where some rain fell. Since then we have had a steady 27-30 degrees with full sun each day. I know a lot of you are thinking, how boring, but we are trying to cope with this hardship as best we can. We have a sheet showing us when the tide is on its way in or out and we adjust our trips to the beach accordingly. The first couple of weeks we alternated between going to Cable Beach or the pool at the caravan park. Unfortunately we are about 1.5kms from the beach which is a little too far to walk and cart all our stuff, chairs, towels, sunshelter etc. So as it is much easier to take the car, we now drive to Gantheaume Point where we can drive the car onto the beach and put our awning out from the car. This has been a much better option and we can while away the time swimming or sitting in the shade of the awning while drinking cool drinks from the Waeco fridge in the back of the car. Yes, yes, I know it sounds just so boring but someone has to do it so it might as well be us. Some days we can’t be bothered even going to the beach so we go down to the pool at the caravan park for a quick dip to cool down then back to the van for a spot of reading or watching the Olympics.

It has been great to be in WA for both the Tour de France and the Olympics as they are on at a civilized hour and we can still be in bed by 9.00pm. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the whole park is asleep by 9pm. At first we were horrified but now we just go with the flow with the rest of the old people. Unlike other sites we have only one neighbour. The first two weeks we were here there was a couple from Pinjarra (that’s somewhere down south!!!) who we got on famously with and shared drinks on a number of occasions. They then left for Darwin and were replaced by Bernard and Marion, the Scots, from Mandurah. They are also very nice and while Marion is very quiet, Bernard is a bit of a character. We are in an area of the caravan park where most of the ‘residents’ are here every year and have the same sites so we are the interlopers from Victoria. The CP population changes sporadically but mostly stays the same. I should say that Broome has a population of 15,000 but is now teeming with 60,000. If this CP is representative then many tourists are from the south of WA (Mandurah in particular), quite alot from Queensland and a few scattered from NSW and Victoria.

The supermarkets are struggling to keep up with stocking the shelves and you often have to get there before 10am or you miss out on the produce. I swear some days you would think you are in Melbourne the roads are so busy. I remember the first time we came to Broome and it was a quiet little outback town. Not anymore. The suburbs are booming and industry is thriving. However I think most of the locals holiday in the wet as they say it is unbearable here during that time. There are some beautiful homes throughout Broome, Kerry Stokes has a house, or should I say property, nearby to where we are.

We have made use of the Sun Theatre, an outside picture theatre, to see The Dry and the Black Widow. Last week we went to Cygnet Bay, 200kms north of Broome, for two nights of glamping, a gift from the family for Stephen’s 70th birthday. We visited Cape Leveque, or Kooljaman as it is now known, while there and had the privilege of paying $20 each to have a swim at the beach as it is now owned by the local indigenous people. When we visited in 2009 it was free, but a lot has changed since then. Our second night of glamping we went to a long table dinner at the restaurant at Cygnet Bay. We had a wonderful night, the food was delicious and the company most enjoyable. I even got to try on a string of pearls worth $29,000. That won’t be happening again anytime soon, or at least that is what Stephen said.

So now we are back at Broome hanging out and writing this. Stephen has rushed to the carwash as his precious blue car was covered in pandan dust and he was having a mild seizure about it. He doesn’t seem quite so concerned when the caravan floor needs sweeping or the dishes need cleaning. We have decided to stay at least an extra week, maybe two, so that we can be sure South Australia is covid free as we have to travel through there to get back home. There has been some crying and gnashing of teeth from the family as they are missing the babysitters but they will just have to hang tough for another couple of weeks. Stephen has arranged to have both the van and the car serviced over the next two days so we will just have to make do with the pool to keep us amused.

So until we are back on the road it is once again goodbye from me and its goodbye from him.