On May 28th, Paul flew down to Perth to check out the car that he and old friend Andrew had purchased through a colleague (sight unseen) for $1000. Thankfully, the car turned out to be a real trooper, only needed a bit of oil, new tyres, and a few bolts here and there, plus a bit of a paint job to decorate it in the team colours of "Team s***box Jellyfish". The Jellyfish name had been chosen by a codeword from an IT project a few years back that had 'stung' just a bit and seemed to go quite well with the 's***box' pronoun.
Mum, the girls and I did some sightseeing around the courthouse weekend markets, joined up to the local library, more walks along the beach and visits to Gantheaume Point, and more of the dreaded school work. A gander at some statues remembering Broome's multicultural past reminded us that Broome was the only place in Australia (so they say) to avoid the White Australia Policy from 1901, as they desperately needed Japanese and Chinese Pearl divers so were exempt.
We also spent a a few hours at the Malcolm Douglas crocodile park outside Broome - home to several of the state's biggest rogue crocodiles, dingoes, birds and other local fauna. Malcolm had tested a theory a few decades ago in keeping a big clutch of croc eggs in the same pen - approx 70 crocs in all - to try to avoid the strong territorial instinct of the animals and make a daily tourist 'feeding time' very entertaining, and not a little scary. We learnt a few interesting croc facts as well from our host:
Did you know that 'Salties' have 2 glands at the back of their throat to process all the salt water that flows through them in order to survive? Most other crocodilians don't have this and can't survive in salt water for long periods of time.
Did you know that the breeding program for Alligators in Australia is so tightly controlled because if they got free, all our waterways (other than those inhabited by Salties) would be flooded with them - including cold freshwater rivers like the Murray and Darling?
Crocs can hold their breath under water for 2 hours or so, awaiting their prey to come down for a drink.
On the way out to meet the fellows, our spare tyre decided to remove itself from the roof basket while I was going at a 100km per hour and roll to the side of the road. Thankfully there was no-one behind us.
The boys arrived at the Day 3 Check in point at the Broome Gateway caravan park, about 30km north of Broome, in fine style a short while before sunset, dressed in their "Where's Wally?" shirts representing the days festivities. The girls and nana had made a banner to welcome them in, and I think they were totally chuffed. Choosing to spend the night with us rather than in another dusty caravan park, Paul and Andrew dusted off, quick swim in the pool, and then off for a bite at Divers Tavern.
The following morning, all the teams met up at the Broome Turf Club where breakfast was put on by the Lions Club. Many went for a dip in the sea, stocked up on supplies and beer, did some minor repairs, and then took off to Fitzroy Crossing at midday. The founder of the s***box Rally - James Freeman - had "60 Minutes" in the car with him for this leg, so his co-driver Mel (incidentally the mum of a little boy that Harri went to kinder with) became a passenger in another car for the duration of the leg. There will be a documentary made of this rally, but for some great photos and vids, check out www.s***boxrally.com.au.