Here We Go Again - Chapter 91 - Broome Day 13

The original plan was for six months on the road on this trip. If that is so, today marks halfway around. 91 days after we left Smiths Lake we are still here in Broome and if you look at the map we are almost diametrically opposed to our starting point. Covid has seen us rethink what the rest of the trip might look like.

The car fridge has made it through the night, and as soon as the sunlight is suitable I position the solar panel to help recharge the auxiliary battery. The driving we have been doing has not been long enough to ensure full power levels have been attained on any given day. It doesn’t help that there is nio gauge inn the Cruiser to monitor the level of charge for the auxiliary battery either so I am not sure how close we might be to car fridge failure.

My mechanic back home has told me of a screen replacement for the one ion the Cruiser that can have all sorts of data linked to it. I might investigate that when I return, especially if we are going to do more remote camping. Things like the auxiliary battery charge, continual tyre pressure analysis of both Cruiser and van tyres etc will be on the list of things requiring monitoring as well as access to a better GPS option.

That aside, there is a taxation deadline approaching and as we are bugging out shortly, today is a day where it will be all guns ablazing on that business today. With the internet working well enough, BAS and other important lodgements are dealt with for my small client base. I chase the ones that are yet to provide information. There is always the normal itinerary at ones who need to be chased up every time a lodgment is required. 

It should not be the accountant’s job to ensure lodgments are done on time if the client is not willing to ensure practical completion of the day-to-day activities. Having said that I build a practice around the idea that clients will be dragged kicking and screaming to compliance,

Because of a mishap with Silver Leaders Jeep on our last trip, we missed one of the main reasons for visiting Broome. On the full moon, Stairway to the Moon occurs in this town. From various vantage points around the town, visitors gather to watch the full moon rise and reflect over the mudflats of low tide. Such is the notoriety of the phenomenon, the best vantage points need to be booked for fear of missing out.

The ever researching Silver Leader has found a suitable venue for us to encounter the Stairway.  A motel with a rear-facing “beer garden” fully appointed with bars and kiosk has been “booked” (as far as we are able to book) and the plan for the evening’s festivities.

We arrive early to secure a good vantage spot, having been told that to be late is to watch the event through a writhing mass of humanity. It’s easy to see why one might think this. There are a number of tables positioned along and back from a fence where the view down to the mudflats is unimpeded except for the odd palm tree. Once the moon arises, those from the back of the venue would potentially surge forward (as apparently is the want of people in this state given the inability to social distance and the parking we have seen) and push up to the fence for that elusive “best shot” of the Stairway.

Reconnoitering the landscape and not wanting to be a part of the impending throng, we settle for a first-floor balcony, overlooking the beer garden and if one might suggest, a better view of the Stairway when it finally commences. We are adjacent to the bar and the kiosk, and apparently secretive enough that no one else notices, what more could you want. Cocktails, yes, and something to nosh on – the only missing things. I deal with the drinks, Silver Leader with the food. 

I get the girl some minty green-looking concoction on the recommendation of people ahead of me in the queue, that goes down a treat. Silver leader and I settle for beer and bourbon.

Impatience abounds, egged on by the earliness of our arrival. I open the SkyTracker app on my phone to check on the potential arrival of the moon to the scape in front of us. Frustration commences as I attempt to take a screenshot of what I see on my phone but to no avail. It will not do it. We settle for the third-party option of Rose taking a picture of my phone and then sending it to me, which I then send as part of the commentary to the astrophysicist’s daughter.

There is a real haze on the horizon, we feel like it might take away from the experience.

All of a sudden the moon appears, not as a slither rising over the ocean but as a disk emerging through the haze, faintly at first, than ever brightening as a prelude to the main show.

The haze creates a redness to the show, reflecting along the mudflats. The higher the moon rises the “better” and clearer the show becomes. The reflection of the silver moon on the grey mudflats creates the stairway this time is famous. The moon rising and the tide rushing in across the mud, changes the vista with every new glance.

Some keen photographers have noticed our vantage point and come to join us. I point out one of the better spots on the balcony to shoot from. Everyone gets what they came for, all while the drinks and the food flow.

Many of the patrons leave well before the moon gets directly above, not that we want to wait until midnight either. What it does allow, is that although we are getting great shots from our vantage point, there are palm trees in most shots. The very front of the beer garden should give uninterrupted access.

The final shots are taken and we head back to the vans. There is still tax work to be done as my phone has alerted me to emails from the itinerant clients who have now sent their information through to complete their BAS. Not that preparing and lodging a BAS will take much time but it still has to be done before the deadline. 

I’m driving back through the gateway to the caravan park, we notice a number plate which causes much merriment amongst the vehicle.The friends of Robyn’s sister, Lisa have joined us in the caravan park. Quickly parking and heading over in their direction we knock on their caravan door. 

We’re baaaack.

The smiles on their faces tells it all and we sit down to a cup of tea. We catch up on where both of us have been and laugh again about the stalking situation out of Cooinda. Unfortunately, I need to get back to the work that needs to be done and lodged before midnight, so I excuse myself and head back to the van. I expect Robyn and maybe sometime before she gets back to the van, such was the voracity of the conversation as I left.

Later I am sure I hear the voices of the two women just prior to Robyn’s return. Did they venture across to our van for a look, perhaps? More probable is that Robin has shown the toilet facilities adjacent to our van. 

In any event, Robyn eventually returns, the work it’s done and a big day culminates with heads on pillows and copious snoring.