THURSDAY 7 SEPTEMBER     MIDDLE LAGOON

It was another hot day, but with a strong breeze, which gave some relief from the heat.

The owls had gone back to their usual tree. Maybe the one by us was too noisy, after all?

Both frogmouths are in this picture

As the tide was going out, we walked around the beach and out onto the exposed reef. It was surprisingly extensive. There were superb little rock pools and crevasses.

The reef exposed at low tide. The rock pools in the deeper sections have their own ecosystems

A little pool still holding water in the exposed reef, with greenery

We saw crabs, iridescent fish, octopus, clams. The latter were quite fearsome looking. I would not want to get a hand stuck in that opening!

A clam in a reef pool

There were several different types of sea birds too, including a Brahminy kite, assorted plovers and sandpipers, and a beach thick knee.

It was all very engrossing, and the tide was part-way back in before we realized.

A little oyster stack on the reef

It was hot out there on the reef, of course.

The tide starting to come back in over the reef.

Lunch was a late one.

John had a sleep during the afternoon, and spent some time using his computer.

I sewed.

K came down. She’d come down in the morning to tell us that there were whales offshore, beyond the reef, but we’d gone off on our explorations. Pity. I think we would have had to have been around on the cliffs to see them.

K had a bar shouldered dove that couldn’t fly and she was planning to take it to a wildlife rescue service in Broome, when they went back this afternoon.

All the young adults and kids of the extended family left, and the place became very quiet. It was also much easier to get a shower – we had been sharing this with the extended family.

Tea was curried sausages and rice.

There was a superb sunset.

SATURDAY 2 SEPTEMBER     BROOME

In the morning, J tried to phone daughter R but got the answering machine and left a message.

We went to the markets and bought some vegetables. Then did the shopping that didn’t happen yesterday. I wanted to go to the book exchange to stock up a little, but John wanted to go straight back to the van so he could watch the football final on TV.

After that was over, we drove around Broome to see if any of the fuel depots were open. They weren’t, so we bought the more expensive fuel from a servo – $1.10cpl.

We did the usual preliminary pack up.

John tried phoning R again – still no answer. He left another message.

Tea was roast pork – very nice and lean.

FRIDAY 1 SEPTEMBER     BROOME

Spring! It really does not make much difference in Broome, except that it is getting hotter.

I worked on letters in the morning, filling in time, waiting for John in order to go and do the shopping. John was working on his next long letter to relatives. I set up the printer to do my letter – which involved hauling it, and paper, out from under the bed and setting it up on the bench. John then claimed it to print his letter to Landrover, asking for compensation money for the bearings fiasco. He then had to go to the Post Office to send it.

I got his lunch organized while he was gone, and he then went to bowls.

I did washing, including the bedding. It all dries really quickly, here.

There were a few people in the laundry, chatting, as one does. A lady came in with a bag of washing. She commented that she was so pleased to be staying two nights in one place, because it gave her a chance to do the washing. She said that she and her husband were driving right around Australia – in four weeks! This was the first time since they had left home, in Sydney, that they’d stayed longer than a night in one place! Basically, they were seeing what was on either side of Highway 1, and not much else. She was not enjoying it.

At bowls, John met and talked for a while with Mary – of the TV documentary program Grey Nomads fame. Her journey around Australia, from the Ballarat area in Victoria, had ended when she decided to stay a while in Broome. It was Mary whom we’d emulated at Wonga Beach in ’98, sitting on the driftwood log on the beach. It was interesting to find that she was still in Broome, several years later. She helps out with cooking at the bowls club, and does some work at the markets, so she has carved out her interesting niche.

For tea I cooked some cobbler from the freezer – it was rather dry. We bought chips to go with it.

Dusk over Roebuck Bay