Fitzroy Crossing.

Saturday 17th July

Up early we said goodbye to our lovely new friend Broome and headed off down the highway and back to the looming red dirt. We were off to Fitzroy Crossing as our first stop on the way to Kunnanurra.

Something that we have really noticed on this trip is that everywhere you go people are telling you different things about where to go and what to do and what not to do!!! It's like a little competition between travellers

"Where have you been?" "Did you see this?" "Oh you've really missed out if you didn't see that"

Ben and I were starting to feel a bit of pressure on the trip, mainly regarding time, and money. We need to be back home in Perth by early October for work and had just had to fork out a bunch of cash in Broome for our ute to be serviced and a new tyre. Talking about it over and over and going through all our options we just decided that we just have to only see and do the things that we can do, this meant not doing The Gibb River Road in all it's entirety.

The fact that our tyres aren't massive and heavy duty means that we would probably spend the whole trip stressing about every little rock and stick on the track!!! So we decided that that would just have to be a separate trip on its own and we would spend the rest of out Broome to Cairns stint chilling out.

Two things that we really did want to do on this leg of the trip were El Questro (South of Wyndam) and Wolfe Creek…..I'm sure we can make these things happen!!!

Some more pics. xxx

Still Broome. xxx

Broome 3

Thursday 16th

Because Broome was just sooo beautiful, we decided we couldn't leave and just had to stay one more day!!! We had dinner at Uncle Stevens where him and Sean cooked us up some incredible Spanish Mackarel that they had caught out on the boat that day. I decided that Ben must catch some decent fish on this trip so I told Steve he was taking Ben out the next day while I had some serious relaxing time on the beach. This all worked out perfectly especially since we caught up with our old friend Jorje who said we were welcome to crash at hers. This meant no caravan park fee!!! Yipee!!!

Friday for me consisted of lazing on Cable Beach under my umbrella armed with water, nibbles and a bunch of new magazines…Heaven!!!

For Ben on the other hand, he was at Stevens by ten and far out to the ocean by 11. This was serious fishing, stuff you pay big money to do on a charter boat. Sean worked out the coordinates for where the best fish were biting, but the problems didn't at all lie in finding the fish, it was more about keeping them on the line once they were hooked!!! Big sharks kept swooping in and eating the poor helpless hooked fish!!! This became a real test for the guys, it was a serious race to bring the fish to the top and onto the boat. At one stage Ben even hooked a shark and managed to bring it to the surface, 20 minutes of sweat and determination and he had it up to the boat for Sean to cut the line. The poor shark eyeballing Ben before he darted off was a little creepy to say the least. Ben couldn't believe the abundance of marine life out that far in the ocean, whales, sea snakes, sharks, dolphins and all the many types of fish. Unreal!!!

After a long day on the boat the boys came home with loads of fish, we took our beautiful Spanish Mackarel that Ben had caught and Greg had filleted and cooked it up by the moonlight down on the beach, so pretty.

After this we headed over to Jorje's house and had a nice cuppa with her housemate Salty. He was ace, a gorgeous lil' guy from the UK who was over here doing some work with the local kids here in Broome doing skate events and talks at the local schools. He was mad about music and kept asking me and Ben to play guitar for him. This lead to hilarious beat boxing and some pretty sorry attempts at a few Bob Dylan songs…Fun. xoxoxo

Some pics. x

Fatso, Fish and more Broome!!

Broome 2 - The Last two days in Broom have been bloody awesome!!! On Tuesday we checked out Johnny Chi Lane in the town centre, they have a information walk you can take with different stops along the way telling you all about Broome and its history in pearling and settlement etc. This was pretty interesting as Ben and I had no idea there was such strong chinese and japanese culture here. We saw the Sun Picture Theatre which is the oldest functioning theatre in the world. Most of the town is centred around pearling and there are a lot of jewellery stores here specialising in them, very beautiful...And Expensive!!!

We then went and caught up with Steve and had a go at some fishing at Port. we went to some rocks around the bay and Steve showed us his fly fishing techniques, pretty impressive!!! Although we didn't catch anything (again) this was a lot of fun and another chance to see another part of town. Some local aboriginal kids were there spearing fish, not sure if they caught anything either... The spring tides really haven't been in our favour and of course with our luck they are meant to be perfect next week, when we aren't here!!!!!

Wednesday was our most action packed day up here, we went to Matso's Brewery again for lunch, our first meal that we didn't have to cook!!! so exciting!!! hehe! I had a really nice Thai Prawn Salad and Ben had The local Salmon and chips, YUM!!! All washed down with our favourite new Mango Beer!!!

We left there and decided to go check out The Malcom Douglas Crocodile Park, this was hilarious. Walking in and seeing our first croc was pretty spun out, it doesn't seem old Malcolm has gone over board with security as far as cages go, with some of them barely a meter high and only made out of cyclone fencing, I can't imagine how many people have come close to losing thier fingers!!!

Our main aim was to see 'Fatso', he's the local celebrity here after some lunatic jumped the fence Monday night and tried to have a beer with him!!! It turns out we saw him at the M.C.G campground we were staying at on the first night here, he was off his tree still at 6 am the next morning when we were packing up, doing "Evil Canevil" style jumps on a bike in the front of our tent. So it doesn't really surprise me he ended up in with 'Fatso'!!! The bloody idiot ended up with a very mangled leg, but got off lightly considering how massive this croc is!!!

We made our way around the park and also took part in the feeding tour they have there daily at 3pm.

After this we jumped in the car and headed down to Cable Beach again where a local nut did some naked fishing. This was pretty funny, and he ended up catching a sting ray. Great entertainment as we watched the sun go down. Its our last day here tomorrow and we are desperately trying to savour all our moments before we leave....we'll be back down here for last sunset drinks again tomorrow for sure..... We love you Broome. xxxx

Broome -

Sunday 11th july

We pulled into Broom about 1pm, the weather is unbelievable, and the town sooo pretty. Looking for a place to stay so we can get settled early seems to be a bit of a challenge as everything is booked out, we finally get a spot at M.C.G ( Mango Camping Ground) this place is pretty rank. Filled with backpackers, and the smell of a certain green burning plant like matter I can't quite put my finger on. I first thought it looked like something out of Woodstock. After about half an hour I realised it was just slum like camping set ups and feral people who didn't wash, or sleep, or shut-up. The bathrooms were another story, absolutely disgusting!!! Ben likened them to the bathroom scene out of Trainspotting, so you get the picture.

We left our camp spot and headed off to check out Broome and all it had to offer, Cable Beach being the first on our list. This beach is freakin' awesome and the best bit is you get to drive your 4WD down there. Surprisingly Ben hadn't surfed the whole trip up here due to bad surfing conditions but Cable Beach had a few little waves going and Ben jumped at the chance to get his board down off the roof racks. As I sat in the sun soaking up some well deserved rays and Ben caught some waves Camels come cruising past on the sand, I thought about the fact that it's winter and freezing back at home in Perth, let alone in Melbourne!! And here I am sitting in my bathers reading a magazine!!! This was what we've been waiting for….

After watching the sunset and cooking our dinner on the beach we headed back to camp to sleep…or try to. With foreign hippies left right and centre and the local bingo championship blaring away down the road this proved difficult.

Monday 12th

We packed up early and got the hell out of the M.C.G, my shower there consisted of one giant hairy mother of a spider crawling out of my towel and a huge green tree frog lurking around my head and staring at me with giant bulging eyes, anyone who knows me knows my relationship with things that crawl, so you can imagine….Ben decided not to have a shower.

Heading off to McDonalds where the wifi is free we were determined to find a better place to stay…We wanted to be staying here for about a week after all. Cable Beach Caravan park had one unpowered campsite free and we jumped at the chance to get in. And boy did we get lucky!!! This place is like heaven, with giant mangrove trees and beautiful palms we couldn't believe our luck, not to mention the gorgeous people running the place. THANK GOD!!! After setting up our camp and settling in, most of the rest of our day consisted of chilling out, sleeping, eating, chilling out by the pool, swimming, napping…..etc

Later that afternoon we checked out Matso's, a local brewery here that specialise in a few pretty different types of ales including Chilli beer, Ginger beer, Mango Beer etc. I was super keen to try the Mango Beer as friends of ours Mel and Lee had been raving about how rad it was, especially in hot weather. It definitely lived up to it's hype, I have to say it might just be my new favourite thing in the whole wide world….YUM!!! Ben tried a Smokey Bishop which is their dark ale, he really liked it but it would probably be better suited to a cooler climate.

My uncle Steven is up here for a few weeks so we were keen to catch up with him, he is a mad keen fisherman so we were hoping to get some tips from him on where to go and what times to go, you really have to know your stuff here in Broome as it's very tidal, with generally a one to two hour window in some places where the tides are right for catching anything.

We headed over to Steven's place over at Palm Groves later that night to have a few beers, he was staying with an old family friend Greg and his son Sean. It was really nice for both of us to sit down and talk to other people for a while! hehe! after talking about fishing, and surfing, and fishing and surfing and fishing and surfing for a few hours we decided to stumble back to our tent and hit the hay. We really needed a good nights sleep. After late night driving stints and drug crazed hippies, Cable Beach Caravan Park seemed like an oasis of sweet dreams, about a thousand sleeping retired couples and plenty of Zzzzzzz's…..Sweet action. x

Coral Bay

Friday 9th July

We pulled into Coral Bay around 11am and it felt good to have plenty of time to set up camp at the Coral Bay People's Caravan Park. With crappy weather conditions this was no time for fishing or snorkelling, it was pub time. There was a neat little Public Bar at the resort next door where a pint of Cascade Green went down easily looking out over the windy Bay.

Coral Bay is a cute little bayside town with friendly locals and on a half nice day, incredible waters. It sits on the Southern gateway to Ningaloo reef so you can just imagine the hundreds of beautiful tropical fish and marine life that swim here. Again we were really unlucky here with weather and there just wasn't anyway of taking part in all the aquatic activities…bummer. BUT in the back of our minds Ben and I know that moving back to the West Coast means that we will be able to visit these places again…. and soon!!!

That afternoon we went 4WDing around the back of the dunes for a few hours, this was fun! I even had a go and managed to put a few nice scratches down the side of the car…Ben was thrilled.

Port Hedland

Saturday 10th July

We got up early to get some beach fishing done and go for a run along the beach, it was a beautiful clear morning and you could really see Coral Bay in all it's beauty.

Leaving the town by 10am and heading for Karratha we were making good time, Long roads and long chats make for good entertainment and the time goes quickly.

Getting closer to Karratha we realise that Port Hedland isn't really that far away and we could probably make it there by about 6pm. So, Ben and I downed a couple of 'Mother" double strength energy shots and got driving…..This is where our problems begin…

Pulling into Port Hedland we thought we'd drive around a bit and see the town, as Ben put's it, it feels like a machine. With giant silo's, cranes, ships, and machinery all around, there's nothing natural about it. Then you see that actual Port and the beautiful waters, you can almost imagine it 50 years ago when things might not have been so complicated….and maybe people weren't so greedy.

Now its time to find somewhere to sleep, we pull up to the Big 4 caravan Park and realise its closed!! AND FULL!!! heading back to the car we go through all our options and finally come to the decision that there is a bush camp ground abbot 2 more hours down the road, so we decide to go and have some dinner first and then make our way there.

Shining brightly in the shopping centre car park is "Yummy Noodle" this looks good! A friendly Asian family welcomes us in and we have some pretty awesome freshly cooked noodles. Feeling good about our decision of where to sleep and heading back to the car Ben says "I hope my guts is alright ay"………

Five minutes later we're driving down the road and…"Nope, this isn't good, I've gotta go to the toilet and I've gotta go now"

Considering Ben's diet that day consisted of, 2 pieces of promite toast, a large mug of black coffee, 5 corn crackers with cream cheese, 1 Mother energy shot, some Mexicana Dorito's and a box of "Yummy Noodles" you can see why tis might be the case.

Driving in the dark and searching for a loo, we see a pub, but it's Saturday night and as we get closer we see the parking lot full of work utes and looking through the window all we see is a sea of hi-vis work shirts…Ben's not keen. so we keep driving, it's time to do a drive by…Ben's got the sweats but everywhere we go to pull over there seems to be people popping out of the dark!!! Finally we find a place on the side of the road we can pull over and Ben gets down to business….Let's just say if you go searching around Port Hedland for rare metals or minerals be careful what you find about a Km out of town and a little to the left……it ain't copper.

Driving driving driving, it's all we've done today, we finally reach Cape Keraudren. Its a long drive down a red dirt track till we decide that we don't care about finding a nice little nook with a picturesque creek to camp by, we just wanna sleep. So we pull up to what seems to be the side of a paddock and push our seats back, bring on Mr Sandman!!

It isn't until we turn our headlights off that we see the sky, it's possibly the biggest brightest night sky imaginable, drifting off to sleep its hard to close our eyes as we count the stars shooting by…but eventually we do.