Just when you thought it was safe to check your emails, we reappear. Been off the beaten track and no connection for a couple of days. We got into Broome and yep just couldn't be bothered, the weather was good and decided to look around and see some sights. As we were staying at Cable beach we headed to the beach and had a nice walk along the white sands and endless water's edge. Yeah I forgot that someone said it was a nudists area further up the beach, low and behold a strapping old man just happened to strut his stuff down the beach into the water and back up in time for us check his bait and tackle, he did have a good suntan. Enough of that, we headed over to Gantheaume point and checked the sight out from the sandstone edge. The views and especially the water is so clean and blue. Probably the white sand that helps but still beautiful. Checked out the racecourse with the intention of hitting the track on Saturday. That didn't happen because we were on the beach.

 I was speaking to a colleague and told him that all was going well with the car, van and everything else, well that wasn't the case after the phone call that night. I always say don't talk about things that can go wrong because they will, Gabriella has learnt that I won't answer her if she says things are going well. Anyway the hot water hose decided to come loose overnight and turned the van into a heated swimming pool. It took three days of running a heater and fan to dry things out. Lucky the floor is marine ply as it didn't soak into it just ran off and through any little opening. Anyhow it's done and cleaned up.

When finally we got into the town centre of Broome we found the Sun Picture theatre. This is an icon with old projectors in the foyer along with photos of past actors, shit I'm starting to sound like Bill Collins. Yep thought so, don't know who Bill Collins is, he's not the race caller from the sixties he's the movie buff, probably passed away by now. Anyhow we went to the movies the next night with our neighbours to watch Salmon fishing in the Yemen.
The ambiance in the theatre was great as we sat back in  canvas deck chairs with the birds singing and the occasional 737 aircraft buzzing over the roof as it landed at Broome airport. Scared the shit out of some people, but again added to the night and the story telling. Gabriella did a test run of the seating and also checked out the acoustics of the place for the best seats, no only joking they open it up during the day for people to check it out.

  We headed out to a place called Cape Leveque. This was a trip of about 220 klms with about 86klms of unsealed corrugated road. We drove into Cape Leveque and the road was a little uneven but the area was very picturesque. Once again the beaches in the area are all beautiful and they seem to just go on and on.
As you can see I was into the fishing again and still didn't catch anything. It' very relaxing just like playing golf. Bullshit I haven't caught anything and I'm getting a bit frustrated with the whole thing. I'm going to persist and I will catch one even if I have to go to the fish farm. We stayed and had a bite to eat and then off to One arm point and the 86klms of dirt road. On the way out of Cape Leveque we came across this sign. If was a corrugated dirt road with more pot holes than the Western ring road. Check it out and see if you think it makes sense. Funny photo for Hey Hey its not on anymore.

As we drove up to One arm point the road started to get bad but we continued on. We came across some of the local fellas who had stopped as their car had over heated. They wanted some water and we gladly assisted them and had a chat with them for a while. It's funny how pretty much all other people driving past didn't stop or ask if they needed help. We had a laugh and they asked if we were staying up in Beagle bay which was our next stop. I think they would have had some interesting storys to tell. Oh, their car wasn't registered and they only used it to travel to the main road and then changed into another car to drive into town. They obviously have money as everyone in the North west has a Toyota 4x4 of some description. Some not as pretty as others, smashed and knocked about. Anyhow we made it to Beagle Bay unscathed and visited the local church which had a pearl shell alter. Pictures tell the story, not sure if the locals attend the Sunday mass.

As there wasn't much to see in the town we grabbed an ice cream and headed out.

We drove to One arm point and looked around the beaches and checked out some of the other features of the town. This area has street signs that tell you not to go into local areas but they were quite happy taking twenty dollars off us to drive into the area. It seems that the places of no interest or very little interest charge you money to go into the areas. The roads are bad, the upkeep of the facilities is poor but they charge you for it. Not too many people said a good thing about the money they take and how they use it.

Anyway we headed back out and down the sealed road for about 110klms and then hit the 86 ks of unmade road. We passed two recovery vehicles putting a couple of new Toyota 4x4s on tray trucks and it was a bit of a worry seeing new cars braking things. But the Nissan Navara made it through. I thought at one stage something broke as there was a load bang under the left front of the car. Luckily nothing broke and we made it out OK. I have decided that the Nissan has done it's job on off roads until I get some suspension mods done. It would be fun doing these trips with a small  4x4 camper trailer in the future but the caravan would fall apart 10ks down one of these roads. The speed hump sign road was what the 86 ks of road looked like on the return so I was very sore after the drive.

We got home and hit the shower and into bed, you wouldn't believe driving could take that much out of you.

We went down to the jetty to do some fishing and I was talking to the security guard on the gate, there was a cattle ship leaving for Egypt and he told me that they take 20,000 head of cattle on it. No wonder price of beef is expensive we send it all overseas. Oh yeah, they have to bring the cattle in by truck, yep all those road trains. It's either iron ore or cattle.

Now it was back to the beach so Gabriella could do the camel ride. It was a very warm afternoon so sat, drank and fished while Gabriella rode a camel. The pictures below tell the story.

The line up before they are set upon by the hordes of tourists. The keepers say they love being ridden on the beach. My comment was "which one told you that?" the girl laughed.

I said smile.

Off they go down the beach.

Yep they came back and still smiling.

had to throw this one in. Who is that good looking guy with Gabriella. Is that a six pack. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

This fella was the grumpy one of the herd.

This is the photo that you get on postcards. Thought I'd do it myself.

having a great time see you when we get back. :) Rod & Gabriella

This is the hardest shot to get on the beach as you have to wait until all the tourists have walked past and then start snapping.

Well that was our adventure in Broome, we are moving on to Karratha with an overnight stay on the way down. We decided to stop at DeGrey river which was very nice. There was close to a hundred vans, tents, motorhomes and camper trailers spread along the river banks. Left the next morning and headed down to Karratha, did some shopping and hit the Chinese restaurant for some dinner, it was beautiful.

We will look around town today and head down to Dampier for a look as well, only have today as we head to Coral Bay for a well earned rest.