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

Ellie is in town!

Ellie arrived on the weekend and has enjoyed her first sunset on Cable beach. She is happy to be back together with the family, but I'm sure the novelty will wear off after three weeks of sibling exposure (and lots of baby sitting).

Back in school

We are in Broome for 6 months, so the kids have agreed to go back to school. They are in their second week at Broome primary and are loving it (compared with us teaching them).

Rube and Darce are in the same class in grade 4 and Anna is in grade 1.

The school is beautiful and green and has alot more real grass than Coburg Primary.

School runs from 8am til 2pm, so there is still plenty of time for the beach after school. We live virtually across the road, which means that we will probably be late quite often.

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!

Darcy Thorn walks out on the Magpies

In a surprise move Darcy Thorn has walked out on the Tom Price magpies to join the Broome Bulls in the West Kimberly football league. The decision was made on Wednesday following a training session with the Bulls.

Darcy was tight lipped about the move but a spokesman said that he felt that it was time to move on from the two team competition at Tom Price and that the contract offered by the Bulls was too good to refuse. In a statement he wished the magpies all the best for the rest of the season and was looking forward to playing with the Bulls.

Tom Price

We've had a great time here at Tom Price. The town itself won't win any architectural awards. Most of the buildings are typical mining town - big on practicality and small on asthetics. Inspiration seems to be from communist Russia.

Despite that, the town is very livable. There is lots of green grass and trees - a bit of a novelty in this part of the world (and Melbourne too!). There is the obligatory Chinese restaraunt (I thought it was pretty good but thats not saying much), a pub, supermarket, video store, hardware and a couple of cafes. The new swimming pool has just opened. The kids have been visiting the library and we've been twice to the open air cinema / drive in.

Darcy has played a couple of games of footy and the kids have been playing with a few of the other kids around the place. They've also made friends with and been walking "nugget" the fat labrador who lives across the street.

Our townhouse has been comfortable, and the neighbours have been good company. They work on the railway, straightening out the tracks each night after the big heavy trains bugger them up each day. Our place backs onto the golf course which is a pleasant place to walk despite not having a blade of grass on it. Fairways entirely made of rock!

The people here are friendly and the population is very young. People just come here to work and then they leave. The average age is 11 years! There seems to be lots of things going on here - its a long drive to look for entertainment.

Dales & Kalamina Gorges

The Dales gorge was different again to the others we have visited here at Karajini. It was much wider and more open than Weno and Hancock, but incredibly beautiful. The gorge looks as if has

been landscaped it is so perfect.

Around every corner there is something different. From the dry dusty Pilbara rock the landscape changes to lush tropical rainforest, waterfalls and swimming holes all in the mater of a few kilometers. The walking was interesting without having to climb like some of the others. This is one of the best walks I've ever done, perhaps because the kids didn't whinge once! The old legs were pretty gorn by the time we made it home though.

Tom Price mine

Tom Price is an Iron Ore mine that has 12 seperate pits. We went to check it out and got to wear hats just like Bob the builder!

The machines were absolutely massive. The dump trucks can carry 400 tonnes. They weigh over 200 tonnes empty and carry 4,000 litres of diesel. When they are full and go flat out up hill they get 20 litres to the kilometer! Makes the landcruiser look economical! Top speed is 40km/hr and the tyres are $100,000 each. If a big rock wedges itself between the back two tyres and pops them - there goes a quater of a million big ones.

The trains to the coast are 2.5km long, weigh 30,000 tonnes and have $5 million worth of iron ore on them.

All in all it's a pretty big dusty hole worth alot of money. Love to go for a spin in one of the trucks though.

Weno & Hancock Gorges

We explored the Weno & Hancock gorges with the Vallees. The road was pretty rough and slow so Darcy drove Matilda and Ruby, Anna and Edith drove our car. They should be pretty good drivers by the time they get their licences. Not quite as much traffic here as on Sydney Road though.

These gorges really were spectacular. It was pretty hard work climbing around to get through but after much grunting and groaning we finally made it after climbing ladders, handrails and a rope - and no one needed an xray at the end! Once again the water was pretty chilly but it was worth it to see the towering sides of the gorges that narrowed down so that you can actually touch both sides as you shimmy along. The pools inside were incredible, but only the kids were silly enough to go swimming.

Hammersley Gorge

We drove out to Hammersley Gorge in Karajini National Park from Tom Price. The gorge is a series of beautiful waterholes seperated by waterfalls. The walls of the gorge have an incredible array of colours and patterns. Its a great place to spend the day scrambling over the rocks and heving a dip, but the water is incredibly cold and its difficult to stay in for long!