We notched up another milestone of sorts today, raking up our hundredth day on the road since leaving home. Not that we chose to celebrate it in any way, mainly because we didn’t realise until late tonight, the significance of the day.

Rather, we got up and scurried about, busying ourselves with packing the van up. We are not due to hit the road again until tomorrow, but we plan on spending this afternoon and evening in Broome. By the time we make it back to the van it will be too dark to be concerning ourselves with outdoor chores, and with an already early morning in the pipeline for tomorrow, we don’t want to leave more work than is absolutely necessary for ourselves.

With the awning all stashed safely away again, and the inside of the van in as ready a state as we can manage, it was time to harness the dogs, for the trip into Broome. Knowing now that they are welcome on the beach, we are carting them along with us again today, for an afternoon of sunbaking and swimming at Cable Beach.

Before we hit the beach though, there were a few chores in town to which we had to attend. A restock of groceries was on the cards, as was emptying the toilet cassette. The caravan park we are staying at doesn’t have the facility to dump it there and has stringent rules about emptying it down the regular toilet. Thus, we had to bring it with us today, for emptying at the public dump point, which I have it on good authority is located at one of the service stations. As it turns out, the information I had been given was out of date by a good length of time, and the public dump point no longer exists. The only option, I was told, was to take it to one of the caravan parks, where for the princely sum of $5.00, I would be able to pour my container of pee down their drain. I wasn’t too happy at having to pay a fee, as I calculated it roughly in my head to work out at about 25 cents a go. If I had known this, I would have used our potty on a more regular basis and really got my monies worth out of the exercise.

In any case, I begrudgingly handed over the fiver, while I pondered my chances of getting a written receipt for my money. I thought better of asking however, instead simply going about my business of cleaning our canister out. I made sure I used way more water than was required to get the job done though, in one last ditch effort to get more value for my dollar.

Now, we were ready to head for the beach, and we were nearly there when Bec suggested that we ought to get something to eat for lunch. A suggestion that saw us traipsing all the way back to the other side of town to grab a couple of burgers.

Now, and only now, were we again ready to point our noses in the direction of the beach. With no further detours, we rolled ‘The Beast’ down the now familiar beach access ramp on to the soft white sand, as we cruised far enough along that we could perch ourselves on a spacious bit of dirt, with no one else too nearby.

All set for relaxing.

From the back of ‘The Beast’ I withdrew a couple of chairs for us and a couple of beds for the babies, before spreading out the awning attached to the canopy to give us a nice little camp spot for a few hours. As it turned out, the sun was beaming down upon us from such an angle, that the awning threw no practical shade for us, although it did shadow the tub from the glare, which was useful later on when we secured the dogs inside, while Bec and I went for a paddle.

Hmm, that would be nice too.

The dogs weren’t overly interested in the water today, although they might have just been put off by the gangly, pony tailed hippie, who came strutting along the beach with not a care in the world, nor a stitch of clothing, and happily let us know what beautiful dogs we had. What do you say in a situation like that. It’s not like you can return the complement. For starters, what would you complement him on? So I yelled out “thanks”, as I tried my hardest to maintain eye contact. Bec didn’t know where to look or what to say, so quickly slipped into the water and kept on walking. I think it was a more awkward moment for us than for him.

Happy in The Beast.

Giving up on trying to get the dogs to go for a swim, we returned them to ‘The Beast’ leaving them happily chewing on a couple of treats. They would bark occasionally, which we could hear from the waters edge, letting us know that they were still there. As for us, we managed to wade waist deep into the clear but murky water. Sounds strange, but the water was perfectly clear, but the sand stirred up by the waves was enough to create a hazy look to the aqua. The chill of the water stopped us from delving any deeper, and even then we lasted barely 15 minutes before we were retreating up the beach to the promise of sunny warmth as we relaxed in our chairs.

Setting sun over Cable Beach.

Lining up the shot.

This is how we spent the remainder of the afternoon, as we waited patiently for another of Mother Natures light shows, as the sun slid like an orb of reddened molten metal being dipped into the cooling pot of the Indian Ocean. Such was the illusion, I almost expected to be able to hear the hissing sound of the water quenching the heat of the steel.

Hissssss, the sun sets on our Broome adventures.

With the sun down, it was time to rush off of the darkening beach, and make for the other side of the Broome peninsula, for night two of the staircase to the moon. If we had thought it was busy last night, then tonight was even more extreme. A little market had popped up in a park nearby to where the spectacle is witnessed. Such is the traffic, that roads are closed, detours are in place, and the nearest we could find a car park was three blocks away. Little did it matter, as we wandered back towards the market stalls, all faintly lit with an array of dim lights.

Our plan was to have a browse of the wares on display, get something for dinner, then regale ourselves with the rising moon again. This all went to plan until stage two, getting something to eat. While we may have complained bitterly about the markets in Darwin, one thing that they did get right was the food. Here, our choices were limited, and none were particularly appetising. Our first choice didn’t appeal, so we lined up at a burger stand, but after ten minutes, and not progressing in the queue, while the lightshow grew ever nearer in time, we made for option three. Bec ended up with a serve of prawn Pad Tai, the likes of which she has never had before, on account of the fact that her previous dalliances with Pad Tai have at least been edible. Even I, who will usually eat anything couldn’t eat it. Prawns so dry they could have been carved from balsa wood, slimy noodles of barely tepid warmth, all coated in a liberal portion of canned tomato paste. My curry was at least palatable, although distinguishing individual ingredients was a riddle easier left unsolved. I am pretty sure the chewy bits were meat, while the mushy bits were vegetable, but it could have so easily been the other way around.

The staircase to the moon didn’t disappoint at least, and if anything was even more vivid in colour than last night. I was left wishing I had brought my camera along again, even though I had decided that I just wanted to watch and enjoy it tonight, through my own two eyes rather than while squinting through the viewfinder.

By the time the moon had risen to a level that the ladder effect was waining, it was getting kind of late, so I forwent my final chance of a brew at Matsos, so as to get the dogs back to the van, where they had their dinner waiting for them. Back there, Bec and I looked on mournfully as they enjoyed their tucker. After our dismal feed, I ended up raiding the fridge for a bit of left over roast chicken from last night, while Bec fried up a couple of eggs to keep her hunger pangs at bay.

Just a final word of warning, we will be travelling fairly intensively over the next week or so, therefore blog updates will be posted as and when I am able. Keep checking in for the latest news though.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.