The mighty Taipans

After what Terry and I described as a year of rebuilding (code for "we didn't do that well"), the board agreed to renew our contract for 2011.

Nedless to say their confidence has been repaid in spades with two wins from the first two games. The detractors are saying it's more good luck than good management but we have once again given an undertaking to step down if we fail to make the finals (top 4 play off in a 4 team comp, so we rekon we might be right).

Dress up day at school

That lovely little girl on the right is Ruby dressed up as Pippi longstockings for the "dress up as a book character" day at school.

The other little girl is her brother Darcy dressed as Goldilocks. And he won a prize! He did say he would go to school one day dressed as a girl - can cross that one off the list now.

James Price Point protest

Well the coppers finally started to get a bit fair dinkum.

About 40 came up from Perth to get the protesters to "move on". Tracey and the kids were once again out there doing their bit. There were 25 arrests but the best Tracey could do was a warning. Anna was pretty impressed. Told me she heard plenty of "s words" and even a couple of "f words".

Sadly Woodside had their way and have began clearing the site. Very few people in Broome want the gas hub at James Price point and are hopeful that it can still be stopped. Alot of people remain camped at the Minardie Road turnoff in an attempt to slow the progress of the works.

Netball and footy lightning carnival

Broome Primary travelled to Derby for the lightning carnival. Trace and Gran and Gang (who are in town) went along for the trip.

Ruby played in one of the netball teams who did very well and came fouth. She had a dodgey foot which Mr Super Physio (Terry) fixed for her so she could keep playing.

Darcy played in the footy team which came runner-up which was a great effort considering there were some pretty handy teams there. There was even a team from Wanami which is a remote community 3 hours from Derby which was all girls except for two players!

All the kids had a great time and all the supporters were most impressed with the sportsmanship shown by all the teams.

Broome races

Ahhh you know the racing season has arrived when you can smell the motor oil in the main straight (it keeps the dust down). Not quite Caulfield, but then again Caulfield dosen't have two-up either.

Some of the reprobates I work with - case in point the bloke with fists full of bottles.

I think the bookies went home happy.

James Price Point picket

Tracey, Rube and Darcy and friend Holly went out to the Minardie Road to do their bit to stop the James Price Point gas hub. Along with many others who are camped out there they threw their bodies (not quite) in front of the Woodside veichles to stop them clearing the land. They met John Butler out there before he flew off on his American tour. I hear he was extremely chuffed to be rubbing shoulders with such high falutin folk!

Look what happens when Tracey goes out on her own

She buys paintings. Or etchings as she corrects me. Actually a very nice piece. Like her hairdo's I didn't ask how much. The figures are Wanjinas which are anly found in this part of the world, and only certain artists are allowed to paint them. This etching was done by a dozen or so different artists, so will be a great reminder of our time here.

James Price Point

Darcy is pointing to James Price Point which is about 60km North of Broome. It is a spectacular bit of Kimberly coastline which Woodside and the WA government want to build a big gas hub on. It will be bigger than the township of Broome when it is finished. There is alot of opposition to it in Broome beacause of what it will do to the kimberly and the township of Broome. Have a look at savethekimberley.com

Camping on Cable Beach

On the long weekend we went for a drive up Cable Beach with some friends and camped in the sand dunes for the night. Anna kicked me half to death in the tent and the rest slept on the beach under the stars. Except for being illegal it's a great place to spend the night - deserted beautiful beach, no rain, spectacular stars and a driftwood fire - not sure what the fine is if the ranger catches up with us, but I'm sure its worth it!

Overnight camp at the rodeo ground

We had a great night out at the Rodeo grounds with a whole lot of other 10-12 year old girls and their families. We had dinner there and the girls all played a variety of horse oriented games. Ruby and I camped overnight and then the girls rode the horses down to Cable Beach where they galloped up and down on the sand. The horses legs enjoyed the nice soft sand and Rubes head enjoyed it too when she fell off.

Diedre drops in for a visit

Diedre came to Broome for a week or so with a trip around the Kimberley in between. Great to see her again.

Mothers day concert

On mothers day we went to a big concert which featured Paul Kelly, Barnsey, Alex Lloyd the Pigram Brothers (local mob - check them out they're very good) and many more.

Barnsey belted out that gentle balad "from little thinds big things grow" with Paul Kelly and made it sound like Khe Sahn. Was waiting for him to skull a bottle of Jim Beam and sweat all over the crowd but he has matured somewhat since the Chisel days. An Aussie classic - the kids didn't seem to appreciate how lucky they were to see the great man in the flesh.

Traceys birthday

Tracy had another birthday which she was thrilled about. We has a celebration on the deck with cake and stuff. She blew out all the candles.

End of the basketball season

The end of the basketball season has arrived with Darcy's team finishing equal 1st with Roebuck Primary.

Ruby played in two teams (until she got busted and had to hand in her resignation for one - which is probably just as well since she also did dancing on Fridays and may have expired from exhaustion) and they both went quite well and improved lots over the season.

Easter holidays at Barnhill Station

For Easter we went to Barnhill Station with Jann (Tracey's mum). We bumped into lots of people we knew down there and made some new friendswhich was great.

Roses the dog was still here and seemed to remember us. She slept under our van for the whole time and came on lots of walks and swims to the beach.

My fishing record was true to form with a total of 0 fish. Luckily a couple of blokes nearby caught more than they could eat and slipped me a few - already filleted mind you, so it actually turned out better than catching them myself.

Bye to the Oggs

Sadly, one of the first friends we made in Broome have left for Italy to live for a year.

Sandy and Alex (photographed after (another) torrid day packing) have been great friends and made us feel very welcome when we arrived in Broome.

As well as being terrific friends for Ruby, Darcy and Anna, Addison & Liam (the one in red is a ring-in) have kept me gainfully employed in the Broome Hospital Xray department. Without their regular visits I'm sure the management would have been wondering if the workload justified my position.

Have a great time, you'll love it. Hopefully you'll find some welcoming Italian family when you get there (Oggotoli, Oggonello - something like that). Best wishes.

Tracey's op shop

Our friend Zahara leaves town

This is our Friend Zahara who lives next door with Holly. She's moving down South and we'll miss her lots, especially her heart - attack desserts. Bye xxx :(

Hopefully she can become an Australian soon.

We're 11!!!!!!!

A couple of weeks ago Darcy and I turned 11! I got some great presents including a pair of jodhpurs and boots for horse riding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was great to have Nanny up here for our birthday and we spent the afternoon at town beach just chillin'.
We decided to have a birthday party this year with all our broome friends. It took place at the Amphitheatre at Cable Beach and there were about 30 of our friends. Mum did a great job with the food and dad did well with organising the games with us, the games we played included; a scavenger hunt, dress up relays, tunnel ball and just soccer and footy. The dress up relays were particularly funny with the boys running around in bras and girls falling over in hiking boots!
I'd just like to thank all my friends and family for their lovely birthday wishes and presents