As those of you who follow this blog will know very well, the two of us lead a very stressful life. We are taxed to the limit by having to make difficult and contentious decisions daily, such as whether to buy Heinz baked beans in barbecue, cheese or the standard tomato sauce. So after the added strain of driving the Gibb River Road we decided we needed a holiday.

Although the western end of the Gibb ends in Derby (pronounced Durby, not Darby) we continued on to the holiday town of Broome. Initially we only planned to stay for a few days to get the car serviced and spend some time on the beach. In the end, however, we stayed for more than two weeks - which in our Old World was half our annual leave allowance. Shocking!

One reason we stayed so long was the car. I won't bore you all with the details, but even though Ramsey didn't get a puncture or break down on the Gibb, the corrugations gave him a bit of a beating. We ended up with a new radiator, repaired front wheel bearings and a new idler pulley (which is something on the front of the engine and makes a right racket when it gets worn). And a very large bill. To add insult to injury, a few days later we found that the battery was fading fast so had to buy a new one.

Oh the joys of buying an old car and driving it around a continent-sized country with a climate inhospitable to motor vehicles. It makes us realise how easy we had it with our cheap long-term rental deal in New Zealand. On the 'irony' front, however, we bumped into the guy who had given us tyre advice while we were in Kununurra. He had come west not via the Gibb, but on the normal road and had suffered a puncture! To his credit he was pleased that we had avoided such a mishap.

Another annoyance we had to deal with on reaching Broome was the underwater camera. We had ordered this while in Kununurra, but the company failed to despatch it before we left, so we cancelled it. However, having reached Broome we discovered that the camera had actually been sent - another example of the Electronic Bazaar either not knowing what they were doing, telling lies, or both. The fact that it had been sent to Kununurra and we were now a few hundred kilometres away didn't prove the obstacle we initially feared. It cost us $13, but the post office forwarded it on to us in Broome so we now have two cameras, one of which can be quite happily taken into the sea. I even rinsed it in the beach shower the other day, much to the initial surprise of someone waiting nearby.

Anyway, we had decided we were on holiday, so what were we to do in Broome? I suppose the answer could best be summed up as the three B's - beach, boogie boarding and beer!

By the latter I don't mean that we hit the bars every night and sucked down the standard fizzy, cold, tasteless liquid that passes for beer over here. Broome is home to a 'boutique' brewery called Matso's, and - if you have read our past blogs - you may know that we are fans of small, specialised breweries. You may even recall that we tried Matso's at Home Valley Station while on the Gibb and that Katy drank them out of the Mango variety.

The Matso's pub in Broome is situated overlooking mangroves and the Indian Ocean, so isn't a bad spot in its own right. Even better was that we had the whole range to choose from rather than just the four bottled varieties and over the two weeks or so, we tried them all. Our overall favourite was a red beer called Sow's Ear, which at 7.2% certainly gave a hefty kick on the way down. Other varieties we both liked included Mango and the two dark beers - Smokey Bishop and a porter. I also liked the Ginger, but as with the Mango it is best sampled in the heat of the afternoon or early evening.

Warning! Warning! We now need to issue a beer alert! The Matso's Chilli beer is dangerously hot! We only had a tiny sample and it nearly blew our heads off. Whatever you do, don't buy a pint of this stuff or you won't taste anything for a month. In fact the only sensation you will probably have will involve the 'ring of fire' as the chilli exits your system!

It is so strong that Matso's offer it in a mix with the Mango - entitled Chango - but even that is way too strong for comfort at the usual 50-50 balance. After a bit of fiddling around and a Mango top-up, I concluded the best bet would be 75% Mango with 25% Chilli - and that last proportion is a maximum.

As regards the second 'B', we camped at a site right on the small town beach and from our tent, we looked straight out over the turquoise blue ocean. We also had a grandstand view of a phenomenon known as the 'Staircase to the Moon'. This occurs when full moon coincides with very low tides. The result is that the moon rises over the ocean and creates a narrow ripple of light over the wet sand and water - the ripples forming the 'staircase'.

The effect appeared for three nights and it was a pleasant enough sight, but one that was very difficult to capture on camera. Most of the photos looked like a couple of shaky white blobs in a sea of darkness, but a few came out ok. To capture the full effect requires a better camera and also to be present at a different time of year - when the moon rises not off to one side of the bay as we experienced, but more centrally which would create a longer 'staircase'.

A much better beach in Broome for sunbathing or mucking about in the water is Cable Beach, about 4km across the other side of town. This wide strip of fine white sand stretches for 20km according to te guide books, though most people congregate in the area patrolled by lifeguards and serviced by a couple of cafes. The waves come rolling in with just enough height and force to make them interesting without being particularly dangerous. Lots of kids were playing at wave jumping and a girl who resembled my wife, but who behaved as if she were 14, joined them!

As well as surfers and kite surfers, we saw lots of people on boogie boards. These are shorter and wider than surf boards and much simpler to use. Katy decided she wanted to have a go so we rented a board for an hour at a cost of only $5. My job was to stand in the water with our new camera and take photos and videos of her prowess.

Initial progress was slow, until she worked out a better angle at which to lay on the board. This helped her 'catch' the waves rather than have them just pass her by. After a few minutes, she was being propelled quite quickly over respectable distances by the waves. I even managed to capture some of these highlights on video which was no mean feat considering that I could see damn-all given the light conditions and spray on my glasses.

Boogie boarding is therefore now officially Katy's 'New Best Ever' and we will probably shell out for a board because we expect to come across a lot of beaches in the second half of our trip round Australia. Yes, I did say second half - we now have less than five months to go!

Cable Beach is also 'the' place to go and watch the sunset. The tide was low enough to drive onto the hard sand - some people even did it without a 4WD. We took a couple of drinks and competed to see who could get the best photos of the sun sinking down over the horizon. We also watched the many camels transporting overweight tourists on rides along the beach. At $60 for an hour and a half, we decided this was money for old rope and it was no wonder there were three companies (each with 10-15 camels carrying two people each) given that there was hardly a vacant saddle.

Further along Cable Beach is Gantheaume Point, which is the site of some dinosaur footprints preserved in the rocks. We went out for a look and to admire the views around the bay. Most of the footprints were unfortunately under water because of the tide, but we did see a cast of three prints belonging to a therapod - a two-legged meat-eater, in case you're interested.

One of the reasons we ended up staying so long in Broome has been the weather. It's not just the fact that it is hot and sunny here, but the weather around Perth further south has been pretty poor by all accounts. We are heading down to see one of Katy's old school friends, but we don't want to be too early and suffer rain there or on the journey down. There are a few places to see on the way, but we will be taking the drive in a very leisurely fashion until spring is well and truly sprung in Perth.

Richard