As 2015 comes to a close so too does our time in Broome. I've been reflecting on the three different stays we've had here over the years and I must confess this town sure ain't what it used to be. It's lost its sparkle and for a town that now relies so heavily on tourism the powers that be really need to have a look at how this town operates. I'd hate to come here as a tourist in the "wet season" as there is precious little to do, I've always felt it's very disrespectful to the locals that business owners of all kinds close down for months at this time of the year and creates what is already a bit of a troppo time, due to the weather, even more challenging. As tourism has dropped off, it is the locals that keep this town going!

Anyhow we came here for work and work we have. I finished work last Wednesday and it was a relief. I was very spoilt by the girls and now have "The Dressmaker" to read whilst travelling and a couple of my favourite bottles of bubbles to drink to celebrate. I was also taken to Cable Beach Club for dinner and drinks.
I'm very grateful to have jagged such a well paying job and having the ability to work whenever I wanted. Kimbo has worked just about every day, as is his want and it has been very difficult to get him to commit to yesterday as being his last day of work here. I think drinking beers after work with his mates has a lot to do with it! For those of you who don't know we're going to Perth where Kimbo will be working out of the depot there for Oilfield Transport Services, the same business he worked for in Broome. Not sure what I'll do, apart from shopping, seeing live bands and revelling in what is "the big smoke" but I'd love to catch up on my blog, as it seems to be spiralling out of control. I still haven't entered our trip to Ireland yet!

I've really struggled with the "wet" season this year, having so far a total of 30mm of rain which basically fell in one afternoon, washed out the Chinatown Xmas street party and demolished our newish gazebo. That was 3rd December and there's been no rain since. We get teased a lot with storm clouds that build during the day, but it all comes to nothing. The humidity sits around 70% most days and it's really draining and makes the temperature feel much higher than the 33-35 degrees registered on the gauge. It's simply as dry as a chip! I don't know if it has something to do with age but I'm over it!   With no rain in sight I know it's not going to get any better. Looking forward to some dry heat and I know Perth does get very hot over summer and ofcourse cold in winter but I'm willing to give it a go!

Since my last update in November I had another quick trip to Adelaide to surprise Deidre for her 60th birthday and had the opportunity to catch up with a few close friends and even spend a nice cool overnight stay in Greenock where the minimum got to 9.6 degrees..........absolute bliss! Thank you Janny.. To cap off a fabulous trip I was on the plane with a few of Australia's rock legends, Paul Kelly, Vika and Linda Bull, Dan Sultan and Ash Naylor and then to my great surprise the one and only Hugh Jackman. I was very controlled and didn't do anything embarrassing!!! It took me about a week to recover!

I've loved volunteering at the Red Cross shop, it's been such fun "working" with so many amazing women. I think I could write a book about the goings on there. So to the locals and visitors to Broome it's a great shop and your clothing contributions are always gratefully received. You'll always find some fantastic bargains there too.

I've been continuing banging around at the gym and Pilates and although I now have a strong set of guns in complete contrast to my angel wings; the rest of the old body leaves a lot to be desired. I can however hold a hover and plank for at least 60 seconds so I guess there must be some strength somewhere! Walks down the beach have been few and far between, only getting down there for my turtle monitoring duties.

Mother nature has been doing her thing and the turtle hatchlings have been making their way into the world and undertaking their perilous trip into the ocean. Nest numbers are down this hatching season but I hope some of the little critters make it to maturity. The cicadas are quite deafening this year, we don't normally hear them in the park but they too may be going crazy waiting for rain!!!  

Xmas day was spent sharing way too much food and drinks with Mick, (who's mo has grown back) Di, Cheryl, Eric and Jess and I thank them for that.


As always there is a tinge of sadness saying goodbye to good friends and we've been doing a lot of that over the past couple of weeks. But as we've learned during our 23 years on the road, good friends will always be there.

This isn't our final farewell to Broome as we'll be back in August for Mick and Di's wedding and Kimbo is honoured to be Mick's best man, this time we'll be tourists and hope we see Broome in a different light.

Hope to spend our last New Year's eve in Broome down the beach.

I'm looking forward to a very different 2016.........look out here we come!