Here We Go Again - Chapter 80 - Broome Day 2

I woken up with a headache. between the dust and the time since my last adjustment, my neck  by a chiropractor, it’s starting to feel the effects of travelling.  Add to that, my lower back, injured in and equestrian accident when I was horse breaking at 16, and I am a real wreck.

First on the agenda for the day is to replace Robyn’s phone, injured to almost beyond repair, in a fall at the Grotto. I was the culprit on this occasion as I was carrying the “superfluous” bag of “stuff” my wife must never leave the house or car without. I tripped and used it as a fall breaker. Unfortunately the phone managed to be in just the place my hand encountered the ground. A nasty crack on the screen resulted.

The phone is not “terminal” – well not yet, and the crack is in a position where the face can still be seen quite readily, but it is old and as we are about to find out, lucky to still be working.

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The is a small light industrial area just up from the van park. We know Bunnings, Harvey Norman and a Solar Power store are resident, having used them on our last visit some two years ago.

There is the matter of the faulty isolation switch we need addressed. All Volts, a place where we had exceptional service in the past is the first port of call with the part. It seems the part although recommended in Mt Isa may not be the correct replacement. The technician at All Volts is a grumpy person. His questions as to why we are “annoying” him are disconcerting to say the least. The best bet os to bring the part to him for confirmation.

His gruffness wanes though as he sees we are not so much picking his brains but actually customers looking for attention. He confirms the replacement part is incorrect and should we have been able to install it we may very well had many other issues. His best advice is to perhaps do nothing. We might reinstall the “faulty” part as it may by now have reset itself but leaving the whole thing the way it is, is probably the best for now.

His suggestion is to bring the van to him if we are really worried, but he is not perturbed when we suggest we will take his advice for now and leave it as it is.

Harvey Norman is around the corner from All Volts, just past Bunnings. Time to negotiate about a new phone. This could take some time because if there is more than one option (and that could extend to colours of the same model) the conflict that will cause in my wife will take hours to arrest. 

Thankfully we get to meet Chris. A young man with inordinate amounts of time it would seem, although he is always keeping an eye on his shop as people come in and out, directing sales staff to be “on the floor” as he remains at our disposal. Yes unfortunately there are lots of options, but he is adamant about what he feels is the right choice for her. She agrees. Now all we need is to get everything transferred to the new phone in the quickest and easiest amount of time.

Photographs – already done in readiness for this visit. The rest is easy. Leave the ohken with him and he will arrange it. Phone paid for and instructions as to recovery of data etc. It will only take a short time, we can go and do other things and return.

While this has been going on I have been discussing my internet issues with him. Unable to understand why Robyn with basically the same laptop and SIM card can access internet when I cannot, Chris suggests bringing my laptop in for a quick check.

We can return to the van, grab the errant part,a s well as the laptop and revisit All Volts in the meantime.

The technician at All Volts confirms his suspicions on seeing the box with the replacement part. It certainly is not the right one for the job. He goes into a very technical remonstration about the ins and outs of a Redarc system which is lost on Robyn and I but in the end confirms what we have done in bypassing the faulty item was the right and continues to be the right thing to do.

By the time we get to Harvey Norman, the phone is ready. Robyn is suitably impressed with the new phone and immediately takes a picture in celebration. Chris takes to the laptop and finds a number of issues, especially with the hardware around the SIM card. No wonder your laptop “eats” SIM cards he says.

We talk about the issues around updating the laptop. He is of the opinion he can all but mirror the hard drive, maintaining all the current programs and passwords intact (an issue which had prevented me from updating previously) to a laptop with close to a 101 keyboard, ie one with a keypad for inputting numbers. This has become essential with the inability to use the 101 keyboard we have brought.

Options, there are lots of options, and just like Robyn there is conflict about options and cost. Most of the laptops I am drawn to do not have inbuilt SIM cards anymore so I will need a further device, but if coverage is going to be enhanced, then I think we are going to be better off. What it does mean of course is that I will need to leave the laptop with him overnight as the transfer is done.

Is that an issue? Other than for the protection of client information, no. An afternoon of having to do something other than be glued to a laptop, how very difficult. Its a tough life but somehow I think I will be able to manage it.

The laptops are left in his apparently capable hands (given the phone episode). The transfer might take up to 24 hours by the time he gets everything transferred with new versions of programs downloaded. He will spend some time on it after the store closes as well as having some things automatically transfer in the shop.

All this movement and its only lunch time. One of the things on the list for today was to wash the Cruiser, now caked in the red dirt of the Kimberley. From memory of our last visit we head towards a larger establishment that will do not only the Cruiser but could do the van as well, although we are not interested in washing the outside of it just yet. 

The car wash is full with a line up waiting. No, not my idea of fun. We will try another time.

Whilst we are on at wanderings we get calls from time to time from Chris needing passwords and secondary authorisation protocols, calls which come to my phone directly.  He was going to do much of this “after work”, but it appears demands on his time in the shop are not going too high and he’s been able to deal with my laptop. 

The sunsets over Cable Beach are legendary.  Again we find the demand for anything in these Covid times  to be ridiculously high and this manifests itself in the initial inability to find a parking spot.  Luckily though we find one quite adjacent to the access to the beach.

Here, in Broome,  they are trialling parking caravans and motorhomes in the car park at the beach in an attempt to take pressure off the caravan parks and overflows around the town.  There is a ranger  on duty to see that owners remain with their homes rather than use the car park as a place to leave their vehicles. 

Its Broome Cup weekend and space is limited. The residents beside us in the park have only been lucky enough to secure two nights and with tickets to the race meeting which happens to be on their last day, they will need to move their van before they can go to the races.  At present there is no availability within the van park nor does there seem to be any in Broome.  Luckily we have booked our spots in this van park some time ago.

The sunset does not disappoint. Although there is no cloud to mirror the sun after it goes behind the water, the haze from burn offs and bushfires in the area enhance the reds, oranges and yellows of the lowering sun. Boats travel across the view giving interest to “just a sunset”.

Trying out any potential new settings in Robyn;s new phone I find there are a couple which can make for excellent enhancements to shots I try to make from mine. The most engaging is the 30 times zoom (mine only goes to 10).

There are several eateries on the beach here. We decide on Xanders for our evening meal. Not being ridiculously hungry, we settle on two entrees as well as a Long Island Ice Tea, a drink I have become accustomed to since my travels to Singapore. A refreshing cocktail which has no tea “injured” in its concocting.

Its been a big day. The first of 14