Year off around Australia

This caravan park is on the out skirts of Broome, on our way in from Derby. We decide to go with it, as it is so much cheaper than the caravan parks that are right in Broome. We book in for 2 nights $35 per night powered - Jean, one of the owners of the park, is so friendly and helpful - we take to the place immediately! Jean chose a site for us 156, and told us we were welcome to ring her on the provided number if we saw elsewhere free that we'd prefer. This happened, and we selected and got site 154 (more shade and closer to amenities). We settle in, then realise it's lunchtime and we require some bread. This means our 1st trip into Broome to get some groceries. We have a little drive around the main shopping area before we chose to go to Coles. Get our groceries then go for a drive to find the RSL. We do and we call in for a drink and book ourselves in for tea tonight. Next drive back to our caravan, unload groceries and have lunch. Meat and salad rolls. Time to go utilise the pool. Very relaxing afternoon spent at the very nice pool. Showers, spruce up and go out for tea. RSL Club roast night. Roast served by one lady from a bain marie - good plateful and delicious. After our meal and a few drinks, we go back to our van - relax until bedtime.
Wake up abit before 7am - Roger gets up and has his breakfast muesli, I get up and get ready to go try a class of yoga - held Monday and Thursday 7.30am beside the pool. Roger decides to come along too $5 each for a 60minute session. Simone, the lady who does the yoga. very good instructor - even though Rog and I novices, we felt we had a good workout for our bodies and minds. Once this class finished I go back to our caravan and have my breakfast muesli and yoghurt and get in my bathers ready for a swim. Roger is doing some caravan maintenance- checking the wheels and their bearings, I enter a team into the RFDS Oceans to Outback October fundraising challenge. Have called the team For Mint Condition and pledged to raise $500. So far the team made up of myself, Roger, Stacy and Gabe - Rog and I have pledged to walk 96km in the month of October. Good motivation to keep moving. Rog and I go for a quick dunk in the pool before we have lunch - raisen toast and apples. Then after lunch we decide to go for a drive to see what we can do on a public holiday here. No, Moontide Distillery not open today (normally is on a Monday) , yes Matso's Broome Brewery is. Then go driving checking out some of Broome's beaches.
Return to our campsite around 4pm, for Roger to put on a lamb roast in the Weber Q. I make up a bread and butter pudding - so it's ready to cook later (leave it in the fridge for now). Roger has been to the pool for a refresh while I did the dessert, so now I go to the pool while he gets the vegetables for tea sorted. I stay at the pool, chatting with other campers, until 5.30pm pool close time. Go have a shower, ready in time to make the gravy (instant powder) for the lovely roast. I cook up the pudding in the airfryer - not sure about the look of it, but it tastes good. Dishes get done, Roger has his shower. I get on the computer and pay some bills (water rates). Relax until bedtime.
Tuesday - wake up to a wet caravan park with water puddles laying around as it rained throughout the night. I decide this is a good enough excuse not to do the clothes washing as planned - it can wait until tomorrow, weather is going to be dry (still warm of course). We're happy to have a 'rest day' - so we just have a lovely day at campsite. I catch up with Sharon and Stacy via phone calls - all good. Some swims in the pool when felt like - only outing is to drive to Cable Beach in the evening to watch the sunset (also to pick up Roger's old Akubru hat that we left behind yesterday at Cable Beach House). Once we get back we have leftovers (roast lamb etc and pudding) for tea, then have our showers, watch "The Beekeeper" movie on Prime before sleep time.
Wake up early (as we seem to do!) have our breakie. Washing priority this morning, so get 2 loads done and hanging out to dry. Then get ready to go into Broome for the morning and get out it's shopping areas. When we drive in and park in one of the main streets, we can see some police activity going on - obviously got someone/s they are trying to catch up with. Thankfully this doesn't interfere with our browsing - Rog and I do our 'own thing' agreeing to meet up for morning smoko. I prioritise collecting my Specsaver glasses that have been posted from Palmerston to the Broome Post Office - do this no hassle. Then enjoying looking in shops, end up purchasing a few gifts, some toiletries and a cute pair of sandals (dress up casual style) for me. Roger and I have a lovely drink and snack together at Dragonfly Cafe (on a main corner) - pancakes and cappuccino for Rog, citrus tart and 'green goddess' fresh juice for me. Continue our separate look about town until we've had enough. It's late lunch time now so we decide to drive to Spinifex Brewery. Once finished here, head back to camp to get our washing off the line, folded and put away. Relax around camp, I make a booking for us to go out to the Sun Pictures Outdoor movie theatre - movie we're seeing "Thelma" cost $44 for the 2 of us. We have a very light tea (still full from our days eating!) - cold roast meat followed by fresh fruit salad. Get ready and head off for our movie that starts at 8.15pm. Enjoy the movie, come 'home', bedtime.
Thursday morning - last yoga class with Simone at 7.30am, she's finishing her season here in Broome and about to head to India next with her yoga classes. Roger doesn't attend this morning, so off I go anyway - another good 'workout' for body and soul.
Next is breakfast - my usual porridge mix and cup of tea. Now I get busy on looking up about a Horizontal Falls day tour that I read about last night in bed, from Broome Visitor information booklet. Wow- there is one tour left for the season and it's tomorrow and appears to have availability.......This sends me into overdrive as we already have a couple of other tours booked for tomorrow.....if we can reschedule them....? After some phonecalls - getting no responses, just messages saying book online or 'send in an email' etc Roger and I figure we'll drive to the Tourist Centre and see if they can help sort us out....they do. Yippee, we're now doing a Horizontal Falls tour tomorrow, so excited - will be an early start though. Head back to our caravan, spend the rest of the morning tidying up and then relaxing happily. Roger alternates between reading and going to the pool. He has lunch, a meat and salad sandwich followed by fresh fruit. I'm holding off on eating until we go out this afternoon - we're going to try some oysters. We get organised to go out for the afternoon - this includes us having our bathers. Off we go at around 2pm.
When we get back it's about 5pm. Time for a swim in the pool for both of us (it closes at 5.30pm every day) before I have a shower while Roger prepares tea - BBQ marinated steaks with salad and airfryer chips (home-made by Rog). I do dessert - thermomix custard served over fresh bananas. Rog washes dishes, then has his shower. I dry dishes and tidy up. We'll have an early night (earlier than usual early lol) to be ready for our 5am tour pick up.
Well we're up at 4.30am this Friday morning to be ready for our tour pick up. No need to worry about breakfast - that's provided by the tour once we are on the Ohana - the charter boat. We catch our tour bus with 2 other couples from our caravan park.
We are returned from our tour by the same bus at around 7.30pm. Roger heads straight for a shower, I get ready for bed. Earliest night to bed for me in ages. Sure we're asleep before 8.30pm! It's been a great day out.
Saturday sees us up around 6.30am. Roger has his breakfast, but I decide to 'hold out' to have my breakfast at the Broome Market that we're checking out this morning - it starts at 8am. We drive into Broome to the Market. It's a good one. After we finish at the Market we drive to the shopping area and go to the Red Cross shop to drop off some of our reading books and buy (cheaply) a couple more. Next we go to Coles and get a few groceries, before driving back to our caravan. Now have a tidy up then go for a swim in the pool, Roger has got to the pool earlier and is happy reading his book on a lounger in the shade of an umbrella. We relax at the pool until we go back to our caravan for lunch. Roger decides to go back into Broome to get some beer (can't purchase alcohol until after 12noon) and some more grocery items (avocado and mushrooms) so we can have bacon and eggs tomorrow morning. I have my shower while he does this - then we have lunch together when he gets back. Sandwich for Roger, open toasties for me. Now just get ourselves organised to be ready for our bus pick up for today's tour we've got booked. It's a cruise in Roebuck Bay to spot for Snubfin dolphins and other marine species and birds. Goes for 3hrs on the water, including watching sunset. We then relax and wait for our collection time of 2.15pm at the front entrance of this caravan park.
When we get delivered back it is around 6.30pm. Roger and I can't be bothered with tea, after the lovely food we've eaten on our tour - so we just have snacks instead. Cabana, dip, cheese and biccies. Shower for Roger, then he's off to bed (reads a while). I stay up abit later - do some of my budget books to get up to date and write up this. Will sleep well tonight I think! We've got another tour booked for tomorrow morning.
Sunday morning we're up nice and early as Roger is going to cook up our bacon and eggs feast - toast, avocado, tomato, cooked mushrooms, bacon, eggs and goat cheese - YUM! Then we tidy up and get ready to head off for our tour this morning - kayaking looking for marine and bird life. We're driving to the Broome Visitor Centre to be collected at 8.30am for the tour. When the tour finishes we are returned to the ute at the Visitor Centre and we head back to our caravan park for a swim in the pool, before I go have a shower. Then get ready to drive to Moontide Distillery. When we return from here we just have a relaxing remainder of the afternoon. Then get organised to drive into Broome to go to the movies again - abit earlier tonight, starts at 6.15pm. When we get 'home' we can't be bothered with preparing tea - think Rog has some weetbix and goes for his shower, and I just have some fruit salad. I catch up my budgeting books before bedtime.
Monday morning up around 7.30am, we both have porridge for breakfast. Tidy up and relax until it's time we can go do some grocery shopping. Roger drives us to the shopping centre that has Woolworths, so we do our shop, then have a wander about the plaza for a look. As Roger's got our 'cold stuff' taken care of in the Engel and eski we decide to go for a drive about Broome and check out some places we haven't yet done. After this we go back to our caravan park, unload our grocery shopping and make up sandwiches for our lunch. Roger goes for a swim, I muck about on our laptop - sorting my emails and thinking about dates to go to Canada next year. Afternoon slips by, Roger prepares tea, he crumbs Ronnie's Barramundi and pan frys it, serving it up with a garden salad and airfryer potato chips. Delicious meal. Tidy up, and relax before bed.
Tuesday - clothes washing day! Have breakfast and get 2 loads of washing happening. Once it's all on the line drying - swim time. Lunch, sandwiches, then more relaxing and swims. I have a shower before we drive to Cable Beach to watch the sunset. We chose to go to the Surf Life Saving Club again - beaut spot to watch sunset. After this we go for a nice walk along the beach in the dusk, beautiful evening, then walk up in the street area with lights to finish off. Back at camp, I cook up tea in the Thermomix Asparagus Risotto and we follow this with Apple Crumble that Roger prepared this afternoon and has now cooked up in the airfryer. Roger goes for his shower, I do the dishes. Now time to catch up on writing this up before bed. A bit sad that we're leaving here tomorrow - but it's time to go look about again which is exciting.Read more