Half-lap Day 69: Broome

I was still feeling a bit sore and low when I woke up, and I spent some time playing on the iPad which was lovely and soothing. I was reluctant to use the computer because the keyboard is still playing up and I didn’t feel like I would manage the frustration well. After everyone was up and had had some breakfast we went for a swim. Tony took the kids over first and I joined them later, they were playing Marco Polo with 3 boys from another family. I played with them for a while then we all went and did our separate things in the pool. It’s such a beautiful pool to swim in, surrounded by big palm trees and sculpted rocks with water running over them, it’s easy to spend a lot of time there. We’re really close to the pool in our new spot now too so it’s even easier to pop back and forwards for a swim.

Tony came back to the tent to watch the Collingwood game on his phone, and after a while the rest of us got out and got changed. The races were on in Broome today, so we decided to go and drive past the racecourse to see if we could see the horses (there are signs on the roads all the way around the track, cautioning drivers to watch out for horses, so we thought we might see some being walked around before their race or something). All the kids came with me, and we drove past the race course and saw a couple of horses in their stalls, nothing too exciting.

The race course is right near Gantheaume Point, and it was high tide, so I suggested we hop out and have a look at what the point looks like with the water up high, after only being there for a very low tide beforehand. It was a completely different place – the very blue, silky looking water came right up to the cliff, and that red rock/blue water contrast was really stark. It was hard to imagine that we had climbed down the cliff just here, the water looked so permanent and like it was meant to be there. We wandered around the rocks behind the cliff, then down to a flat area near where we climbed down last time. The waves were breaking just below this area, and sometimes splashing up near our feet. We kept well back from the edge and stayed and watched the waves for a good while, LiAM and I in particular were fascinated. There were guys jumping off the cliff top into the water – this scared us a bit as we remembered what it looked like under there, the rocks were pretty jumbly and we didn’t think it was incredibly deep – everyone jumped safely and happily though so we left them to it. There were people setting up there for a wedding – a beautiful place to get married!

This is where we climbed down to the rocks a few days ago at low tide.

Once we left we drove slowly past the race course again and saw 10 horses being walked around by their wranglers, getting ready to race. One horse in particular (#9) was not happy, trotting when he was supposed to be walking, tossing his head, trying to go backwards. We pulled over to the side of the road and watched as they got all the horses ready, and #9 didn’t settle down, even once the jockey was on and they’d moved out to the track – he went through the gate to the track sideways and unhappy. It was cool watching all the horses moving around and see how differently they were reacting to race day.

We went back to the tent where Tony was very happy because Collingwood had won. We spent the rest of the afternoon between the pool and the tent, going swimming then coming back and playing, reading, relaxing. LiAM decided he wanted to learn how to ride a bike, so Caitlin took him and Millie’s bike out to a flat, clear area and helped him for a while – half an hour later LiAM rode back over to the tent. He loved it and spent the rest of the afternoon riding around the caravan park as much as he could. Caitlin has been putting Millie on the back of her bike – sitting her on a cushion (or using our stepping stool) on the cargo rack at the back, and they both love riding together. With LiAM on Millie’s bike the three of them were able to ride together which they all enjoyed.

We had a few snacks through the afternoon, then Caitlin put her tent up, and around 5.30 we headed into town to go to the movies. Tony dropped me off at Sun Cinemas to join the line for tickets (I was worried about the length of the line, the realised they hadn’t opened the doors yet, and it ended up being fine) while he and the kids went and bought some hot chips. I got the tickets then met the others back at the car when they returned and we ate our chips, then grabbed our pillows and headed back to the cinema. This is a garden cinema, with the screen outdoors surrounded by trees on either side, and the roof only covers about 2/3 of the seating. The chairs are all deck chairs (hence the pillows, for comfort). We found 5 seats together and debated whether to sit there or on the grass – we all preferred the seats except for Millie, who was worried she wouldn’t be able to see – she sat on her pillow on Tony’s lap and then she was happy.

We saw Finding Dory (sequel to Finding Nemo) and it was fantastic. I loved everything about it. There was a very cool short film beforehand too, called Piper, which had incredible animation and a very cool little storyline, with no words. We had bats and birds fly across in front of the screen a few times, and it felt wonderful to be sitting outside (we were under the roof but it felt outdoorsy, just like sitting under an awning) and watching this great movie. At the end of the film the audience applauded, I think the venue made it all seem so much more real and like we were part of the experience.

As we were getting our stuff organised and watching the credits at the end, Tony said ‘isn’t that Millie’s friend?’ – and 2 rows in front of us were the family we met at Kings Canyon, who we’ve seen several times since, but not since Katherine! It was so exciting to see them again and catch up on their news and tell them what we’d been up to. We chatted for a while in our seats then realised there was another movie on soon so we probably should go outside. The girls were shy with each other at first, and both feeling tired and wanting to go home. As the rest of us chatted though they started playing, and played a complicated game about being sisters and not realising, and had a great time. We stood out the front of the movie theatre and chatted for nearly 2 hours. LiAM got a bit bored so he and Tony went for a walk and bought a carton of chocolate milk, they came back and we talked a bit more and then finally all headed for home.

It was late when we got back to camp but everyone was in a really good mood, although Millie crashed pretty quickly. We read a quick chapter of Inheritance (it was the first night in 3 or 4 where everyone was still awake so everyone was keen to hear more of the story) then happily went to sleep.