Here We Go Again - Chapter 90 - Broome Day 12

There is either a big ship moored delivering into port or one arrived requiring loading. The noise of the road trains, apparently significantly increased in frequency heading to and from the docks, keeps me awake during the night. The park is close to the only road from the township to the docks and every truck must travel past us.

The noise seemed to continue all night but I suspect it ran too, well into the night, stopped and started again early. It just seems like with my broken sleep they were going all the time. Their incessant drone-like sound as these massive delivery vehicles thunder along the road is enough to keep one awake once awoken. There is no great crashing of gears or howl of air brakes, just the drone of the engines struggling against the great weights they are distributing.

This morning we are going to hit Cable Beach, but not for the restaurants etc. we are going for a drive on the beach. There are videos to be shot and the white sand against the blue backdrop of the ocean will give a perfect setting

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The drive off the road onto the beach is at the end of the road and via the car parks. The “track” then wends its way through a rocky outcrop, around a point and then onto the long stretch of divisible beach.

We hit the beach just after the top of the tide and the track is underwater. It won’t be long before the tide drops to expose the rocks and the track but for a little while, we are stymied in our quest. 

Beach, me and videos – hmmm something is missing. Oh yes, those long things perched on the bull bar with braided line, hooks and sinkers attached. As an interlude, we could use those to propel frozen pieces of fish into the surf perhaps upgrading the size of the offering.

Thus starts “videoing, with a side of fishing”, much to the chagrin of the co-driver. I only get a few casts in before more vehicles are on the beach and the falling tide has exposed the track and I retreat to the Cruiser, secure the rods and we head off.

Funnily enough on the other side of the “track” is one of those one-tonne vans, backpackers like to deck out and wander around in. Certainly not 4WD in nature, it was caught above the high tide mark in the much softer sand and is bogged. No one seems to want to stop them, they are not in any danger and they are not in the way. They do have assistance and are in the process of digging themselves out

We too, pass, giggling at their predicament and the “stupidity” of their dilemma. The beach below the high tide mark is hard and easily traversed, but where the water doesn’t reach, the continual traffic has churned, softening the sand to the point where reducing tyre pressure and engaging 4WD is imperative. Something these people were blissfully unaware of until they were caught. Obviously unable to read the signs at the entrance to the beach suggesting vehicles allowed onto the beach were required to have 4WD functionality. 

The merriment aside we travel down the beach and find a spot well away from anyone else to give us a quiet area to perform. Almost immediately another family pulls up close by and out pop “yapping” dogs. Not yet set up it is easy to move on, not that we should have had to but in need of relative quiet for the production, we move further down the beach.

Unlike the others already parked on the beach, Robyn is unsure about parking the Cruiser below the high tide mark, so we back well into the soft sand. This gives us the ability to set up the tripod and camera on the bonnet of the Cruiser, attach the microphone and still have the background we want to make the videos. One video entitled Me, A Beach and Two Lines seems particularly poignant given the scene.

In the short time, we look to shoot a couple of videos, the line of water has receded many metres. I finally talk Robyn into moving the Cruiser close to the water, needing to walk back and forth to re-bait, now at more than 100 metres. Silver Leader and Rose arrive and we break out the chairs and table for morning tea.

The fishing is slow but not uneventful. A couple of very promising bites encourage prolonged attempts. From time to time we up stakes and move towards the receding tide. By the time I have “caught” a number of “weed fish” we are several hundred metres under the high tide mark.

All this videoing, fishing and sitting in the sun has taken its toll, it’s time for lunch. The others look to the Mango Place as a venue of difference. It’s a little way out of town but not so far as to be an issue of the hunger we are experiencing becoming overwhelming.

The GPS takes us around the world again. There are dirt roads to be traversed and suburbs to be encountered, all of which could have been circumnavigated if it would simply engage in the road between roundabouts, it simply does not want to believe it exists. By the time we are on the main road to our intended venue, Robyn realises the Mango Place is closed today. 

Quick re-think. Divers is close, and we know where it is and do not need the maddeningly inefficient GPS to get us there. Quickly there we split one of their signature schnitzels (so large are they) and manage a couple of libations to make the lunch head well into the afternoon.

Back at the caravan park, I set up the solar panel to continue to feed charge the auxiliary battery which controls the car fridge continuing inter alia, frozen bait. To have the car fridge not functioning would be somewhat disastrous not just for the frozen bait but the ability to keep our drinks at an acceptable coldness.

The videos now need post-production. All this can be done online and with a few minutes of work they are ready to post. Given they are for the Property Portfolio Solutions business, I save them to our Google Drive for later use in our marketing. I am particularly proud of the Me and 2 Line video and the message it exclaims. Between it and the ones shot at Mary Pools about blockages, the imagery signs are well contained in short videos – perfect for their ultimate use on social media.

The trucks are still heading to and from the docks but not in the number they were this morning, or at least they don’t seem to be. Head down, sleep comes very easily.