Broome Day Two

Broome Saturday Markets  are a "must do". They are as vibrant as ever, more so!  We all bought something, except J. For E a glass lizard, for M a print of Kimberly wildlife, for C a Japanese papier-mâché bangle.

Morning tea in town at Dragonfly Cafe. Then on to Broome Jetty. We walked along to the end, and observed a small cruise ship with its own helicopter. There was also a rig tender and lorries were delivering fuel, water, pipes and other supplies. We saw several people fishing and one man caught a 50 centimetre large fish to his delight. C observed an osprey flying back and forth over the jetty looking for a feed.

In the evening we went for a swish meal at the Cable Beach Club Sunset Bar: J and M had barrundi, E had snapper and C had a delicious bouillabaisse. We were too full for dessert. M just caught the last of the sunset before the others arrived.

Broome Day Two

Broome Saturday Markets  are a "must do". They are as vibrant as ever, more so!  We all bought something, except J. For E a glass lizard, for M a print of Kimberly wildlife, for C a Japanese papier-mâché bangle.

Morning tea in town at Dragonfly Cafe. Then on to Broome Jetty. We walked along to the end, and observed a small cruise ship with its own helicopter. There was also a rig tender and lorries were delivering fuel, water, pipes and other supplies. We saw several people fishing and one man caught a 50 centimetre large fish to his delight. C observed an osprey flying back and forth over the jetty looking for a feed.

In the evening we went for a swish meal at the Cable Beach Club Sunset Bar: J and M had barrundi, E had snapper and C had a delicious bouillabaisse. We were too full for dessert. M just caught the last of the sunset before the others arrived.

Broome

Broome

A poor day weatherwise: very cloudy, cool and a bit drizzly. Our first stop was Woolworths to stock up with a trolley full of supplies for our unit. C had already been for an early morning run on Cable Beach and M had been for a swim in the Bali Hai pool (chased by the Creepy Crawly which was cleaning the bottom).

In the afternoon, J and M went for a walk on Cable Beach. Both the red and the blue camels were returning from their trips and unloading passengers one by one.

For dinner M cooked a delicious Spaghetti Marinara, followed by strawberries and Greek yoghurt. A  bottle of Mateus Rose was consumed

Later we discovered a little green frog in our outdoor bathroom.

Perth to Cue

Perth to Cue (645kms)

Left Burswood at 9.30 am. Morning tea at New Norcia. Made  good progress on the road, apart from a long stretch of roadworks and many oversize loads. At lunchtime we stopped at a layby, where the toilet was horrendous and disgusting, said Ellie ( refusing to avail herself of it).

Good views of the hills around Mt Gibson and Mt Singleton. The crops were in good shape because of early rain and the fields were green. Very few signs of wildlife. Little road kill. No live kangaroos and few birds. 

Arrived in Cue as the sun was setting at about 5.30 pm and checked into the Murchison Club Hotel.  We wasted no time in repairing to the pub for a beer, followed by F and C in the dining room.

Karijini

Karijini

Our first stop was Oxer Lookout.  JL was reminded of Frances's comment in about 1980 that he would die a sudden death (in relation to the steep drop, where every year somebody falls over the edge!) Claire and Ellie were very impressed by the view down into the gorge. "Awesome!" they said. This was Weano Gorge.

Then we went to the far end of Joffre Gorge and had morning tea before walking to the lookout. This gave us a view across the gorge to our camp at the Eco Retreat and also to a beautiful waterfall where people were paddling at the top and two brave souls were swimming in a deep pool at the bottom.

Claire and Ellie snook off for a secret afternoon tea of a drumstick at the bar whilst the oldies were asleep. Compliments to the chef for a delicious BBQ dinner of vegetable fritters: a delicious recipe first served at Ellie's birthday party. It was a basic pancake batter with a tin of sweet corn plus grated carrot and zucchini. After dinner we chatted to our friendly neighbours about our journey to Broome.

Cue to Karijini

Cue to Karijini (750kms)

John continues to be surprised at the lack of live kangaroos and emus. Saw lots of white and purple mulla mullahs  and a few good patches of everlastings.

We left Cue at 8.50 am and had a quick drive round town taking in the historic buildings like the jail, police station and post office. Morning tea in the mulga (flies!) and lunch at Kumarina, where there was a talking parrot that said "Hello!)

Stopped for supplies at Mt Newman. After that we enjoyed superb scenery: Namajira scenes: purple and red in the hills lit by the setting sun, with lots of snappy gums in front. Big spoil heaps from the iron ore mines. We had a mad scramble to reach our destination before dark.

Port Hedland to Broome

We were in the car all day and it was boring. Driving was also incredibly tedious on the long straight road. We got stuck in a long queue for diesel at Sandfire Roadhouse, when we could have gone straight to the unleaded, but our view was obstructed by all the caravans. It was 30 degrees at the lunch stop but only 20 on arrival in Broome in drizzle.

Fires had badly affected the bush a couple of years ago, including Wickhams Grevillea growing profusely from new plants. All the bauhinias are shooting again. We were a bit sad to see the cloudy sky and then the rain as we approached our destination.