On our way to Broome we spent a few nights at Mimbi Caves (east of Fitzroy Crossing). The area is the remains of an old coral reef and the caves are quite good. The campground is run by the local community and Ronnie, our guide, was very entertaining. After a smoking ceremony we were taken through the caves, had some of the rock art explained to us and finished up with tea and damper.

Broome was busy! Traffic everywhere but we still had a great time. Swimming at Cable Beach, a trip to the open air cinema – Sun Pictures, and beers at Matso’s Brewery. Last time we were at Sun Pictures an Ansett jet few overhead and it looked like it was about to land in the screen. Only one light aircraft flew over this time! Jude couldn’t decide at Matso’s what to have so said ‘surprise me’. I was going to get her a mango beer but someone told me it wasn’t very nice so got her a ginger and chilli beer. One sip and I ended up with the ginger/chilli beer and Jude had my Pearlers Pale Ale! At $26 for two beers we only had the one though… Poor old Streeters Jetty is about to be refurbished. We can still remember an old pearling lugger tied up to it but the mangroves have taken over now. They have approval to proceed with the restoration but it was held up because of a complaint about removal of the mangroves.

A highlight of our visit was an evening with Greg Quicke and his Astro Tour. Greg is known as ’Space Gandalf’ – it’s the beard. He’s a self taught astronomer and has been doing his tours for about 30 years. He’s appeared on the ABC/BBC TV show ’Stargazing Live’ alongside Professor Brian Cox. The evening was a guide to the night sky and then the opportunity to look through one of the many telescopes he has set up. Very informative and good fun! Another t-shirt and book…

Had a great lunch at Mabu Mayi Cafe and then went on to catch up with one of Jude’s old friends and work colleague, Lyn, at Nagula Jarndu Women’s Art Centre. Came out a few hours later with some nice t-shirts and some beautiful block printed material.

There are three colours that define the coast here – turquoise coloured water, red cliffs and white sands. Our trip along the Cape Leveque road to Goombaragin Eco Retreat certainly demonstrated that! Our campsite was on top of the cliffs overlooking Pender Bay on the Dampier Peninsula. There’s a lot of red dirt up this way and our feet had changed to a nice orange colour! We were told by the owners that it was safe to swim but we both still felt a bit nervous and didn’t venture too far into the water! It was amazing walking along the beach with the sea on one side, red cliffs on the other and no one in sight. Saw a few turtles one day and some dolphins out at sea. On another day the WA firies flew their helicopter in and landed just below our van. They were meeting with the owners about some of the nearby fires – the locals had been burning the neighbouring scrub to smoke out the bush turkeys!

We returned to Broome to stock up on supplies and then started the long drive south.