Broome

The town of Broome is like a magnificent oasis. Nestled on the shores of the Indian Ocean it is a garden of beautiful flowers and palm trees galore. Our caravan park had a fabulous pool and the daytime temperatures were very warm, usually around 27 - 32 degrees Celsius most days. During the cyclone season they have enormous downpours of rain and the houses and cottages in this part of the country don't have any gutters on them. We saw some of the devastation created by these tropical storms when we were at 80 Mile Beach. Fortunately Broome has escaped mother natures wrath of late and is still in pretty good shape. Cable Beach is known for it's amazing sunsets and if you are lucky enough to be here during a full moon, you can witness the famous " Staircase to the Moon" event where the suns reflection on the receding tides creates an awe inspiring illusion. We missed out on this but, we may be able to see the same thing when we get to Darwin.
The pearling industry in Broome has been going on for hundreds of years and they produce some of the best
cultured pearls in the entire world. In the early days they employed hundreds of Japanese pearlers and aboriginals to work on the boats called "luggers" similar to the one in the photo. It was dangerous business and many died trying to retrieve the precious pearl shells from the bottom of the ocean. We took a day tour out to Willie Creek which is still a prosperous pearling operation in the area. The two pearls in the photo are worth around $10,000. The big one is worth about $7,000 and the smaller one around $3,000. They are valued on size, colour, shape, luster and weight. They go to a lot of trouble to make sure every pearl shell is growing in the best possible conditions and are cleaned and checked on a regular basis. The industry today has come a long way from it's dangerous and humble beginnings and the headstones in the local Japanese cemetery are a testament to this fragile but still prosperous business. Just to top off our adventure in Broome we went for a camel ride down Cable Beach. It was an amazing experience to sit atop one of these gorgeous, gentle animals.  If you ever get the opportunity, you should visit this beautiful town. We hate to leave here but must continue on our journey and will soon be into the much heralded Kimberly region. Will keep you posted on more exciting adventures... Bushy Bob & Mary-anne

80 Mile Beach & Tom Price

No adventure would be complete without a bit of "bush camping". We stopped one night at a road side
camp area and of course had a campfire. We cooked our tucker on a camp oven and our burgers never
tasted so good. We then drove inland to the town of "Tom Price". The town was named after Thomas Moore Price who worked for the American company, Kaiser Steel. In the early 1960's he was instrumental in convincing the mining companies that the area was worth mining due to its rich iron ore deposits.
Today the area is one of the biggest mining areas in Western Australia. The huge mountain pictured here is called Mount Nameless. Interestingly, the aboriginal name for it is "Jarndrunmunhna". It would have been more appropriate to call it Mount Unpronounceable but that's just my theory!
We then drove to Port Headland for a look around the town. There is a salt mine here and supports a large
trucking business. The massive trucks called "road trains" haul enormous amounts of iron ore out of the area.
The one in the photo hauls 180 tons and has 180 tires, one for each ton. Bob couldn't help being in awe of them and also the giant dump truck that was being transported to one of the mines. We then made our way to 80 Mile Beach which is 80 miles long, hence the name! It is covered in shells and everyone loves driving along the beach or sitting and watching the sun sets. We had to drive into the caravan park along a red dirt road for about 22 kilometers and even the cows were amazed as we drove by. The park is actually part of a
cattle station and covers over 500,000 acres. That's a lot of land folks!

Carnarvin and races

Carnarvon is a lovely little coastal town in North Western Australia. The further north we go the warmer
and more tropical it is becoming. We spent one warm sunny day at the race track. Although we placed a few
bets we didn't pick any winners. Just outside town is a "huge" telecommunications dish that was once used
by NASA as a tracking station. The area us also a flourishing fruit and vegetable growing district and supplies around 70 percent of Western Australia and beyond with produce especially bananas.
Bob found out that it's hard to find a good car wash in town as they seem to have a dislike for "mud".
I don't understand this at all because the area is full of these gigantic termite mounds that are made out
of, guess what? Mud!
Anyway, we are now heading for Exmouth and following the sunshine. Yesterday was June 1st and the beginning of winter here although the temperature is around 28 Celsius. We are looking forward to
hitting the beaches again when we get to Broome. Cheers for now....Bushy & Mary-anne