We are now leaving Eighty Mile beach, it's just after 7.30 am and the temperature is expected to reach 38 degrees today.
We spent a great 3 weeks in Broome, enjoying the company of friends and all that the area had to offer. It's a very relaxed place.
While we were there, we caught the tail end of the Pearl festival and watched the closing ceremony from the grass area above Cable Beach. Without sounding too b****y, I have to say we were not impressed! Half the time we couldn't see or hear what was going on (not because of crowds) and what we did see was very amateurish. One of the comedians was down right embarrassing. I think after 42 years of the festival they would be getting it right by now! (OK, Whinged over)
I had my camel ride on Cable Beach with Ellen and we enjoyed ourselves rambling along the shoreline on Kadash, our camel. Chris and Bob were not fussed about the ride so they were our official photographers, they had a game of golf a couple of days later instead.
We walked (or scrambled) over the rocks at Gantheaume Point to see the dinosaur footprints at low tide and were amazed at the colour of the rocks there.
While visiting the Chinese and Japanese cemeteries wandering around looking at the graves, we were lucky enough to tag onto a tour group so heard the history of the Japanese cemetery, it's a bit hard to learn anything otherwise unless you speak Japanese.
We would go for a daily morning walk on Cable Beach and for the last week were accompanied by 3 young boys who were camped near us. Jack, Bill and Tom, real characters and a great family along with Mick and Kate, their parents.
We visited the Buddha sanctuary where I managed to tear my foot on a nail that was sticking out of the boardwalk. Trust me! I bled and limped my way out and am feeling the after effects still. The Buddha was good though and the boys said it looked even better lit up as they saw it with their parents a couple of evenings later.
We left Broome 4 days ago, leaving Bob and Ellen behind, still waiting for their car to be returned to them!
Next stop, Eighty Mile Beach.
What an oasis this place is, a working cattle property that like a lot of others, has diversified into tourism. The caravan park is right on the beach and the shells here are amazing. Every time we walked on the beach we came back with a bag full, even though I told myself we didn't need any more. They are hard to resist!
We saw tracks left by the turtles that came up at night to lay their eggs but unfortunately did not see any turtles, only sea snakes.
We went for a wander late one evening and just sat for a while on the beach but no luck. It's still early in the season though but it was a lovely evening anyway. We just sat quietly, listening to the insects in the grass bank behind us and the waves lapping on the beach, watching the stars and clouds move across the sky. Arhhh!
Now we are on the road again, travelling towards Port Headland, a big mining town and apparently not much else. We'll see when we get there!