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DAY 92 - 98 Thursday 22^nd - Wednesday 28^th October

Finally, the temperatures are back in the mid-30s and we are camping in our tent. We have a powered site so we bought a $15 fan to ensure we get some sleep. Mark and Sharon stayed until Sunday and have completely changed their plans for the remainder of their trip. They are now going the same way as us all the way down the west coast but we are staying on in Broome for a few days longer.

On Thursday afternoon we took a beach run along Cable Beach and noticed that many people were going naked. So we did what the locals do and found our own patch of sand and water along this 22km long beach.

	In the late afternoon as we left the beach, we noticed that more people had come down with their picnic sets to have nibbles on the beach watching the sunset.
We went back and got Mark and Sharon and our things and set up to watch Broome's trademark sunset with camel rides along the shoreline.

I went windsurfing on Cable Beach on Friday but the 9m tides made it a little tricky. It has been the first sail I've had this whole trip so I didn't really care if it was good or bad - it was wet and I was windsurfing.

After a bit of sight-seeing around the township of Broome on Saturday we went to the Diver's Tavern with Mark for some sunset drinks at Cable Beach before coming back to cook dinner - Thai kumera curry. We played a few games of pool and spoke to a few people - all having a great time on holidays like ourselves.

Sunday proved to be windy again so we put the sailboarding gear into the car and went in search of a new location. With decent, regular wind, there just had to be some locals who might pull out an old plank or two. We drove around the southern end of Cable Beach towards Gantheume Point where, on low tide, some dinosaur tracks can be seen fossilised in the ancient red pindan rock. The tide was high however, which was bad for viewing the fossils but better for windsurfing. Here, the beach faces NW rather due west at Cable Beach proper, which meant it was easier to get out into the wind on the westerly wind. David had been most helpful in preparing my gear for sailing and was now patiently waiting his turn. Although my board is far too small for a man of his size we persevered with the basics of beach starting so he learned more about how to handle the sail and to manoeuvre the board without having to actually stand on it.

On Monday, we went to the local Internet café, which frustrated David immensely. The operation was run by a guy who seemed to know very little about networked computers and tried to charge us for time we spent waiting for his dodgy modem to come back on-line after it went down intermittently. The shop was full though, as usual, with backpacker types collecting and sending email messages using their hotmail setups. The service is free, they just have to pay for the time they spend working at the computer. We are always amazed at how many travellers use this service and how easy it is for people with almost no computer knowledge to get their own email address and get on line. We spent almost an hour uploading our website information and checking our email. (We do all the writing and layout of graphics off-line on our own laptop).

Tuesday was a day of fishing… and of frustration! David had spoken to some locals in the tackle shop and learned that for the next few days the fishing was to be ideal with neap big tides draining the rivers and trapping the fish into small pockets of water. I couldn't believe the plan when he told me - we would be walking out between the mangroves beyond Stretters jetty which would be empty of water while the tide was low and fishing from the river that lay behind. This was the only way, other than by boat, to access the river. We walked in the deep, mangrove mud - sometimes sinking up to our knees in the smelly stuff. I could not believe what length fishermen go to catch a bloody barramundi! I had a really hard time sludging through the mud for about ˝ hour but continued on in the hope of catching big fish. When we finally did start casting in our lures the tide was at its lowest and we were about a kilometre away from high tide mark and it was only 7am. We tossed lures for a while and then David caught a trevally. He threw it back in - we were here for only one kind of fish. Instantly, he had another bite and brought in a small barramundi. Too small, 45cm. Another hour later I cast and before I'd even lifted my rod upright I took a big hit. The water foamed and crashed and we saw to our delight that an enormous barra had taken the lure. In seconds, he had taken the lure and my line and I was left with nothing. That was the end of fishing for me.

When we returned to Cable Beach Caravan Park we talked about where we would travel next. The locals were raving about a place north called Cape Leveque. We did our research and decided to take a trip there in a few days and then return to Broome before making tracks towards Exmouth.

In the ladies room I met a lady, Dorothy Adcock, who was travelling with her husband and twin 6 year old boys from Dural, Sydney. They were camped a few sites from us and so we got talking. We had seen a sticker on their vehicle a few days earlier that identified them as members of the TLCC (Toyota Land Cruiser Club). We had plenty to talk about and soon discovered we also had plenty of similar interests. We waved goodbye to them the following morning as they pulled out to Cape Leveque and said we'd see them there.

We packed up our tent and trailer on Thursday and drove the 220km to Cape Leveque.

The road was soft and sandy, but bright red. The trip took 2˝ hours which wasn't too bad but it was hard going with the trailer in some narrow sections when we had to pass oncoming vehicles.

We arrived for a late lunch and set up our tent in a beautifully shaded, grassed area. There were only 2 other campers, one of which were the Adcocks.

The camping area was just above the red pindan cliffs with the fabulous beach of the Cape Leveque coastline below.

The area's beauty is striking with the colours of the turquoise sea set against the white sand running beneath the red cliffs.

With just one look, we knew we'd stay longer. This was only the second place we'd visited on the whole trip where we had to make a booking, which seemed strange because it was deserted.

We set off in the car for a better look. Only a few hundred metres away, the road dropped over a hill and revealed a stunning view of a bay. The views here were even better. We drove along the sand above the beachline and found 8 "Beach Shelters" which were craftily made huts for rent at $15 per person per night.

Each hut was constructed with coppers log frame and laced with palm fronds. The floor was sand and the front of each hut had an unobstructed view of the Indian ocean and headland. Although basic, each hut contained a concrete floored cold shower and picnic table and was given an Aboriginal name. We chose Ugamo.

We found the Adcocks next door and spent the afternoon swimming and lazing about. After packing up for the afternoon we made a 7km beach run out to Hunter Creek which was even more spectacular. The creek was lined with coral walls and then dropped off to deep, tidal water, which was said to be good for fishing.

We stopped along the way back to collect shells and take photos. I just loved this place. Unfortunately, we managed to get a flat tyre but we hadn't noticed it until we were back at camp after watching a beautiful sun set over the beach, as it does on the West Coast of Australia.

Poor David had to fix yet another flat tyre - our 6^th for the trip. It's an awful job and it takes a few hours to do it properly. I was raked in to work the jack and wheel brace too so we both were hot and sweaty at the end of the day. The Adcocks had invited us over for "after-boys-have-gone-to-bed" drinks but we fell asleep before they did!

The following day was Friday and we set off early to walk on the low tide around the headland. We found lots of caves formed in the high cliffs and discovered that a channel separated the headland and the point was in fact an uninhabited island. We thought it strange that the lighthouse was not on the island but behind the campground.

That afternoon we snorkelled out to some exposed rocks off the beachfront but the viz wasn't great although we did see wrasse, parrotfish and butterfly fish.

Not long after our snorkel, we noticed a number of cars had arrived. Being Friday, it looked like the locals were coming up for the weekend from Broome. In the end, almost all the beach shelters were allocated to paying campers and we had to move out of our beach shelter to share the Adcocks. We had a lovely afternoon and enjoyed the company of Dorothy and Rob and the children, Jackson and David. Little David told us that his Daddy went out in the water but he only had goggles so it was called "goggling". For the rest of the weekend, the Adcocks and us spent the days together. We both extended our stay until Monday 2/11/98 and returned to Broome after dropping in to look at the well-known pearl shrine in the Aboriginal community church at Beagle Bay. We found a few muddy sections on the return trip, which reminds us that the wet is quickly approaching. Dorothy and I compared notes for our trip south of Broome and plan to meet up along the way. David and I offered to babysit David and Jackson on Monday night in Broome to give Dorothy and Rob a night out in Broome to celebrate their anniversary. We parted company on Tuesday morning and travelled 365km to Eighty Mile Beach where we planned to stop for just one night.