Road trip to Broome (pt III)

We arrived to unwelcoming weather in Coral bay, said goodbye to Jess and Hannah (and the French Toy Boy they had conspired to accompany them for the drive back to Perth), and said hello to Adam, Ange, Jack and Jade who were travelling up the coast and with whom we were to spend or last week.

We had spent time snorkelling inside the spectacular ningaloo reef with Jess & Hannah + now with Adam and Co: the coral was beautiful, as were the tropical fish, sharks and turtles (which Adam forced me to use for personal transport ... philistine), more importantly there were fish that looked like they should be on my plate - surely we could catch some here. Unfortunately spears were not allowed, and we weren’t going to lose our tackle to the reef like suckers, so we had to adapt our technique: snorkelling with handlines ... unbelievably we only managed to catch fish suitable for an aquarium - they were small & for all I knew, poisonous beneath their beautiful facade.

After two failed attempts at the new sport of snorkel fishing I succumbed to the desire to catch one of the elusive bastards and we all jumped on a charter boat ... it all suddenly seemed ludicrously simple as we reeled in big freaks from the deep ... unfortunately Ange was too busy coughing up burley to join in the fun and was not about to smile when we suggested that it was psychological.

Ange + entourage had to keep heading north and Jen & I had an esky full of fish to get to the freezer so we headed to Perth a few days early. Along the way we detoured to visit the pinnacles - these could be adequately described as a heap of pointy rocks stuck in the dessert, but were strikingly beautiful when in the correct lighting and mindset.

We arrived home almost 1 month and six and a half thousand ks later - at least half of which seemed to be a result of having to dodge carcasses (or soon to become carcasses) of the large mammals littering the road. The highlight.... Driving with the Girls along a dead straight road under the baking sun while listening to BRMC and passing the turnoff to DIDJABANGA, we didn’t even have to stop to enjoy ... surely the essence of a road trip.

Well now I'm back in Perth and supposedly job seeking ... or procrastinating ... why do u think I’m writing this blog???? ... the weather doesn’t help; I have been learning to ride on waves that are dwarfed by the board ...I think it still counts as surfing. I haven’t bothered fishing.

Road Trip to Broome II

Our plans for a long drive to Broome was compromised by reduced service hours at Sandfire leaving us 300kms short and with nothing but the burnt out shell of the old roadhouse to crash in. The next morning we continued to Broome where we were fortunate enough to have free accommodation. The girls were dead keen to get to Cable beach and swim in their "party suits", however, sticking to the busy family part of the beach reduced them to sunset Yoga (a practice they would tragically continue throughout the trip) ... I joined in to promote group bonding until Hannah introduced a move unfortunately (though aptly) described as "the downward dog" ... that was my cue to run and hide, though some of the locals were remarkably interested.

Broome had the feel of an tourist town - and the extent of a seasonal tourism and its effect on the locals was emphasised by the fact that the local guys have seasonal girlfriends - the local girls are referred to as wetsuits as they keep the guys warm in the wet season - due to this mindset, and the influx of miners, our lovely hostess (Ellyn) assured the girls that she could “get you a root” - surprisingly none took up the offer. We enjoyed, kicking back on the beaches, swimming, playing Frisbee, fishing, loosing money at the races and two up, and even managed to find a great Chinese restaurant (where Jen struggled to keep the food contained in her mouth). Due to the extended stay in Broome we had to compress our time by driving a 1500km day to Exmouth.

Unfortunately we missed the opportunity to swim with whale sharks at Exmouth by a couple of days, however, the sun sand and snorkelling were fantastic ... and more importantly it offered another chance to catch some dinner. I had almost decided that concept of recreational fishing was an industry ploy to sell a whole lot of lures ... kind of like Hallmark’s valentines day, I had spent far too many evenings trying to catch dinner and then explaining to the unduly smug and disbelieving girls the many reasons why I was unsuccessful & somehow restore a fading sense of male provider masculinity. Fortunately, just when I was about to finish the deal and throw the rest of the gear into the sea, I latched on to a monster ... well, it was something between a sperm, a tadpole and the small goldfish I caught in china ... I was loathe to keep it and thus end its obviously short life but I had to show the girls. It tipped the scales at.... errr... it didnt even tip the scales ... i quickly cut off the morsels of flesh and sheepishly hid the remains inside the head of someone elses fish in the bin. After a couple of days in Exmouth it was time to head to Coral Bay.

Road Trip To Broome I

In keeping with the one month delay on my blog posts, I can now write about my road trip up the WA coast - fortunately such a period affords me an excuse for literary embellishments.

Jen, Jess, Hannah and I had a few weeks to drive from Perth to Broome and back, trying to catch all the points of interest and dodge the kangaroos and cows along the way. We were to take two cars half the way and travel the rest in one, so room was critical (particularly after Hannah's 8 layers of sleeping gear and Jess' circus marquee were fitted in) - I managed to persuade the girls that it was worth sharing our head space with fishing rods for the trip as they would pay for the trouble with all the free meals which I would catch.
Skipping a lot of the mid south we headed to Kalbarri and then on to Monkey Mia to feed the dolphins (as Jen & I had done with our family ~ 20 years ago) ... It was beautiful but bordered on kitsh in contrast to the rugged simplicity of our next stop - Red Bluff. The facilities and coastline at Red Bluff were perfectly primal compared to Monkey Mia, and consequently we extended our stay - much time was spent reading, sunbaking, rock hopping and watching consistently perfect waves ... I decided then and there that if I was to spend much more time in this state I'd have to learn to surf. It would have been paradise if the fish were biting - unfortunately they weren't so we headed inland to Karijini. On the way to Karijini we stopped to restock in Canarvon, where, much to Jen's surprise our car security remained uncompromised by the locals, and included a quick unplanned sleepover at the Tom Price primary school (unfortunately we hadn't factored in an early morning working bee as a wakeup call).
Karijini is a perfect piece of Australiana - deep vertical gorges juxtaposed with the horizontal landscape and layers of red rock through which they gouge, emphasised by the deep reds, muted greens and bright blues from which the landscape is composed. It is the kind of place that frustrates me in my inability to capture it in photos or expression, resulting in the prior awkward description or giving up and reducing it to: a ridiculously beautiful and affecting place. The best option is to just explore and enjoy - which we did for a few days before heading to Broome.

(map:http://www.eastravel.co.uk/australia/map008.htm)