End of the holiday

We are now sitting in the Perth Airport waiting for our connecting flight to Brisbane.  Time to think back on the frantic activity of the last two weeks.

It has been an incredible trip.  Made even more special having Chris and Emily along and having Luke as the leader.  We have been amazed at how hard Luke works, he is up first every morning and doesn’t stop until well after dark.  I’ve never worked that hard in my life!!

Perhaps what makes us even more proud of him is his love and admiration for the Aboriginal people and their stories and traditions; his love and knowledge of the coast and desert of Western Australia and his inclusiveness of the people of all ages and from all walks of life and nationalities who come to love him as their guide.  He makes a huge impression on all those who come in contact with him which is evident when we call into any road house, hotel, hostel or beach people come up to him who have met him in the past and remember him with such affection.  Lots of them are tourist operators or past clients now working along the coast and through the outback.  They all have a deep appreciation of the beauty, danger and uniqueness of the Australian bush.

This trip really made us understand why Luke stays in the west.  It is dry, dusty, hot and cold, but oh so beautiful.  It may take days to get around but the rewards are immense.  The rich waters of the coast to the solitude of the national parks makes this trip quite incredible and the photos we have taken and the few we managed to put on the blog are but a small sample of the highlights along the way.

What we enjoyed too was the company along the way, Pam and I loved going to sleep to the conversation and laughter of all the young and enthusiastic youths swapping stories from their own incredible countries and sharing such goodwill and camaraderie with each other.  It really gives us confidence in the future.   They all contributed to every aspect of the trip and couldn’t wait to lend a helping hand in the cooking, cleaning and hiking departments.  They all included each other in all things and made us feel part of a very special group.

We are so glad we did this trip with Luke.  The roads and walks we did and the people we met along the way would not have been possible in the two weeks.  Our car would have been wrecked on the roads and we wouldn’t have been confident enough to complete some of those very difficult and technical walks through Kalbarri and Karijini National Parks.  Not sure we will be back this way but it has given us a taste to see more of the top end from Broome to Darwin and down to Alice Springs….maybe next year?

Thanks for reading the blog, when we catch up we will bore you to tears with even more stories and photos.

Cheers

Pam and Vernon.

Last day in Broome

Free morning until 11am, wandered around the town centre until then and then met at the Pearl Lugger Museum for a 1 hour presentation on the history of pearling in the North-West.  Interesting talk about the dangers and rewards in the industry.  Straight after that we had to drop Chris and Emily off at the airport, poor buggers have to go back for work, exams etc etc.  Sorry to see them go after having such a wonderful time with them over the last couple of weeks.
Met Luke back in town for a late lunch, back to the motel for a swim and shower and prepare for a sunset camel ride on Cable Beach then tea at the cafe on the beach.
Almost time for us to say good-bye too.

Down town Broome

The arcade

More of down town Broome

The park in down town Broome

Pearl lugger with friends.

Pearl lugger, at least 9 people would live on a lugger like this for about 9 months of the year while hunting pearl shell.

Chris getting fitted for a dive.

Luke looking the natural.

Images from inside the pearling museum.

Lugger model.

Sad to see them go from the Broome International Airport.

Can;t keep a good woman down.

Took the camel ride, good experience and something you'll have to do while in Broome, feel a little like the typical tourist but it is worth the money and effort to let the camel take you along the beach at sunset on this beautiful beach. 
After we had tea with Luke and Feli, (a close friend from Germany who is currently looking for work in Broome) at the Divers Tavern at Cable Beach.  Pam was kind enough to drive home and need very little instruction from me.....

Vernons ride.

Ready to go.

Pam with her friend for the evening, 'Wun'

The tourists.

Hanging in there.

On the beach with the camel train.

Vernon and Pam at sunset.

And it's a cracker.

Feeding a 'thank you' carrot to the camel.

Pam about to recount her fingers.

Shadows on the beach.

Holiday time in Broome

Great nights sleep last night in a real bed with a real shower, wow, what a pleasure!

Off to Cable beach for a swim this morning with Chris and Emily.  Luke had a sleep in.  (We found out later the beach was closed at about midday after a crocodile sighting, so lucky we got in early)  Back and lunch at the Matso Brewery in Broome, a bit like Little Creatures but a fair bit smaller.  We bought a taster tray of 9 brews including chilli beer, lime and ginger cider, mango beer and a lychees beer and more.  Had a very relaxing lunch with the family.  After lunch we drove 13 kilometres out of town to the Malcolm Douglas Crocodile Farm.  Lots of animal photos for the children and a very professional concern with a great crocodile feeding display.  Can’t believe we can get THAT close to the crocodiles.  They are very creepy creatures!

Pam dropped into the motel to freshen up before our night out, I went with Chris and Emily to watch the sunset at Cable beach.  It is their last night here so they wanted to head out to watch the required event.  Spectacular colour in a beautiful setting.

Back into Broome to meet up and go to the oldest outdoor theatre in the land.  Grabbed tea and sat down in the old style chairs to watch the movie “The Grand Budapest Hotel’.  Had to wear a little insect repellent to ward of a couple of stray mossies.  The theatre is in the main street, the airport is also in the centre of town and the planes land straight over the main street, as luck would have it a Qantas planed skimmed over the tree tops about half way through the movie just to add a little ambiance and mirth to the evening.   

Cable beach without the crocodiles.

Good swim, very refreshing.

All to the crocodile farm.

They look so lazy.

And we can get so close to them.

A smiling crocodile.

Not much of a fence to keep out the humans.

Some animal pictures for the grandchildren.

Passing the crocodile around.

Emily smiling at the crocodile.

Grilled or roasted??  Let me think.

Passing the buck.

Waiting for lunch.  The green on them is the duck weed from the top of the water, disguises them very well.

Lunch time.

Straight down the throat.

Sunset at Cable beach, with a spotter plane above looking for dangerous animals.

Chris and Emily enjoying their last Cable Beach sunset.

Along with lots of other people.

Just perfect.

Outdoor theatre

Almost ready for the show.

Looking good

Time to sit down and enjoy the show.