Here We Go Again - Chapter 79 - Willare Roadhouse to Broome

Its funny where you get inspiration, and Mother Nature uses whatever she can in this strange old world. A gas storage facility this morning and the sun rising over it inspire me to pick up the camera and take a shot. One of the very few I take this morning.

We have a “quick” jaunt into Darwin today. The last 200 kilometres of the 1,000 of the past few days. By the time I am ready to commence the pack up, several of our neighbours have already gone. The others are quickly assembling their vans and campers ready for the next stint. As you would expect everyone is off in different directions.

The businessman on the phone last night is heading off into no man’s land. From today he will have no telephone reception to assist him in running his business. They and their friends after a short game of cricket on the lawn pack everything into their vans and campers and are on their way.  They pull down a joint washing line filled with dry clothes in readiness for the trek in the wilderness.

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Out on the road it appears that everyone has his motorcycle are on the move today.  if one didn’t know the road rules properly one would suggest that the motorcyclists like the right hand side of the road rather than the left. With very little oncoming traffic their overtaking continual basis is done with safety. 

Whilst it is only 200 km that still means a 2 hour plus drive.  I get a message from my friend’s suggesting he is breaking Lockdown rules.  They allowed you to go to your holiday home at that point, according to him and because he has a licence with that address people lives, he’s able to commute between the two addresses even though they are 3 hours apart.  

That aside, we are in Western Australia where “lockdown” is not part of our day to day vocabulary. We are happily safe. Whether or not our friend should be wandering between addresses in new South Wales given the present level of the pandemic, the could might be a second seat in the discussion.

That thought gets put on hold as we pass the Operations for Thunderbird Mine. Silver Leader quips “Thunderbirds are Go” to which I answer FAB. In Thunderbirds law there is much contention as to the meaning of the acronym. I like to think it means “Fully Acknowledged Broadcast”. The sign is past, the giggle is had. Robyn sneers at the frivolity and we drive on.

Turning onto the final highway into Broome, Robyn is now on the prowl for places to visit. We pass Malcolm Douglas Crocodile Park, a place we need not visit in her opinion. More interesting to her is a bird watching sign which must end up at some sort of wetland or mangrove expanse.

Our last visit here two years ago is not strong enough in the memory. The GPS and Broome are not synced. Not knowing exactly where our final destination is, we are guided by the technology, forgetting it does not recognise, even though it appears on the map, a link road between two roundabouts. Instead the GPS takes us right into town and back to the next roundabout, a trip which may have taken no more than  a minute if the shorter route had been taken. 

The end destination would most certainly be found quicker without the need of the town proper, should the GPS be even close to up to date. This has been one of the few issues of continuing angst with the Cruiser. You purchase a new vehicle (spending close to $100,000) only to have a piece of technology which is greater than three years old as an integral part of the purchase. Worse to update the GPS costs in excess of $300.

The “tour” of Broome finds us passing Broome Toyota, a useful piece of knowledge seeing we have a service booking next week.

The caravan park is on the “other side” of town. Almost at the port. It has a chain gate entrance and exit. As we enter the gates we are impressed with the amount of grass we can see. Unfortunately we are not to enjoy any of it. We are deposited well “down the back” next to the amenities where no grass grows. 

Rose goes immediately to the office to voice her disapproval given our long notice when booking the sites. She returns with the suggestion the administration may move us if a suitable site comes up and there are lots of movements during any given day. Having said that we have large vans, almost 9 metres in length, meaning not all sites are suitable. It is felt the chances of:

1. A suitable site coming available or
2. Administration taking any action in our favour

Are very limited

We have 2 weeks here. We will make the best of what we have.

Given our planned stay, I look to set up the “office” fully. Engage the TV as a second screen and attach the 101 keyboard and external mouse. The plan seemed like a good idea when I was thinking about it at home, but here, in the confines of the van, it doesn’t really work. The TV will not take the input as a second screen only mirroring what I have in front of me. The 101 keyboard is wider than the table meaning the mouse has to be used “at a distance” to be effective and have a piece of paper under it, as the table face wont allow the proper working of it.

All a bit clumsy really.

There are lots of administration issues to deal with once the computer comes live and attaches to the internet. Having been “off the air” for a few days the list of unanswered emails is long and full of many not requiring anything other than deletion.

Its census night. There are forms to be filled out. We need a number to function online. At reception, they have no idea and suggest we visit the Visitors Information Centre on the other side of town.

Time for a wander.

Our investigations suggests the Visitors Information Center closes at 4.30pm, whilst we have plenty of time, we decide to move. The Centre is easily accessed and is quite impressive in its expanse. 

Here they have thought about supply and demand. They have dedicated one person to census forms, and although the other receptionists are able to deal with forms, one lady is dedicated to just that demand. We quickly get our forms and return to the walls to investigate attractions we might like to visit. The collection of brochures is significant, and once they are all obtained its off to the supermarket for some provisions.

Our return to the park and investigation of messages on phones reveals one from Blake (our Darwin fish partner). He has sent a picture of an 85cm Nannygai. A huge fish for that species. We were to visit that spot on our excursion but because of potential weather influences we didn’t do that spot.

Derisive messages are returned in jest. Blake texts back his mirth. If we turn around and head back north I will be checking in with Blake in Darwin (probably camp at Dundee Beach) and hijacking him to take me to that spot. The discussion for the moment is we might turn around at Kalbarri.

The census form is down and lodged. The end of a big day and we enjoy free to air television for a while before retiring, knowing we are here long enough to all but put down roots.