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.

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.

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

Lime aid

Last Week Ruby, Anna, and our next door neighbours/friends Raf and Azsa and I decided to take action in the horrific floods in Queensland and Victoria by selling limes, lemonade, malt ball's and having a sausage sizzle. The Idea was a great success with us raising $267.

With that money we bought groceries and sent them via transport company TOLL.

One of the photographers from the local newspaper came and interviewed us and we were in the paper on Thursday

Darcy

Our mate Cameron

Introducing Cameron who has left Broome to return to Melbourne. I'm sure Melbourne has noticed the change - Broome just isn't the same.

Happy now miss?

Cape Leveque with the Karatzicos's

Probably spelt that wrong but not to worry. Theo, Mary, Alexia and Thomas came up for a week which we spent half in Broome and half at Cape Leveque. Great to see them again and they have promised to pass our regards on to Coburg.

We stayed in a thatched hut on the beach, the weather was warm and the insects were few which was very fortunate beacuse I somehow managed to forget all three of our tents. Apparently they should be one of the first things to pack when you go camping. Amazing! We all survived I am happy to report.

Holly and Brin came along so they could be jumped on by a whole lot of kids for a few days.

Once again it was sensational up there, not many people and beautiful beaches. We visited a couple of the aboriginal communities nearby called Lombadina and Chilli creek which were quiet and shady. Once again there was alot of swimming, sleeping, reading and eating. Very relaxing indeed.

The Russells come to town

Puppy, Kay and the family dropped in for ten days or so. It was very windy from the moment they arrived and stopped the moment they left. Must have brought it with them.

It was great to see them and better to see the Cats destroyed by the Pies while they were in town.

Johnny got Anna to give the old hairdo a bit of a touch up which was brave, but Kay was able to tidy up afterwards.

Bye to Patricia

Our dear neighbour (who became our good friend) Patricia has left Broome to work in Kalgoorlie. The three months she spent here went very fast and we had alot of fun together, with a great Hawaiian party to send her off.

Dan, Miranda, Gus & Sienna are in town!

The Jaques / Mitchell family arrived in Broome covered in mud and accompanied by massive rain clouds after meeting us (minus Duncan - someone has to work) at Fitzroy crossing. It was really great to catch up again, the kids had a great time exploring the Kimberley and on cable beach while the grown ups wined and dined (and some of us wined (whined) some more).

Goodbye to the Vallee family

Its very sad but our friends from France (Fabrice, Julie, Jean & Edit) have left to continue their trip around Australia while we stay here in Broome.

We met in Port Lincoln SA in early Feb and have been travelling together off and on since. We have shared dozens of meals and dozens more cans of beer.

Jean and Edit didn't speak any English when we met and now they know all the swear words in English.

We will miss Fabrice playing the guitar (either "dirty old town" or "waltzing matilda" since those are his two best songs), Julie driving their van "Matilda" with the awning down, Johns bow and arrows and other inventions and Ediths gymnastic tricks such as jumping off the roof of our car!

We have had great fun with the Vallees and wish them well with the rest of their travels. xx

Broome with Michelle and John

We have arrived in Broome where we have met Michelle and John Porter who are up from Tassie. It's been great to see them again and I think they're enjoying some warm weather.

Since being in Broome we've had the obligatory camel ride, been to the horse races, caught some fish off the jetty, seen plenty of sunsets at Cable Beach, been to the markets, done alot of swimming and squeezed a few beers in. Not a bad spot here!

Perlubi Beach

Between Streaky Bay and Smoky Bay we found a little gem of a camping spot called Perlubi Beach. The Vallees met us there and we camped under the huts that were on the beach. Some other French backpackers that we had met in Streaky Bay called Bruno and Beverley met us there with their French buddies and before we knew it we were the ones speaking a funny language. There was a night soccer match on the beach under lights (kids lost 10-9), fishing from the pontoon and a very relaxing few days with great company.