20th August, 2009
We’re here! We’re in Broome! After four months of traveling we will set up home for a while. We stopped off at Derby along the way to see the Boab Prison Tree and arrived in Broome around 5:00pm. Jock met us along the highway, and the boys were straight in his car to chat with “Grandad” as we made our way to his place.

We are staying in Jock’s caravan on the Willie Creek Pearl Farm Bus depot. Sounds glamourous hey? We’re currently looking for more permanent accommodation and will probably take a cabin at the local Vacation Village which has a swimming pool in it which everyone says is a must if we are to survive a wet season here. Most people now are getting ready to leave Broome and head to cooler summers south, so they rent out their places here fully furnished. We just have to wait until the right one comes along. Prices are exorbitant, with caravan sites going for $250 pw, to 2 bedroom apartments going for $550 - $600 pw minimum. We’re hoping that when the wet really hits, we’ll have a bit more bargaining power over price. We’d be happy for just a 2 bedroom cabin in the caravan park, but will need to wait a couple more weeks until more people move out to escape the wet.

Cameron starts school at the Cable Beach Primary School on Monday. He’s so excited. He will be in grade three. Where in NSW we had the choice as to when to send Cam to school due to his birthday being in February, here we don’t. So due to his age he has now skipped a whole year of schooling. He’s over the moon and thinks he’s top dog now, but we’ll see what effect it has on him down the track. The school is fabulous, and the class sizes are small – well under 20 per room, and he can’t wait to start. Due to the heat, school hours are 8:00 to 2:10 pm.

Dan starts day care one day a week next week at a place called Little Pearlers. It is opposite the road to Cam’s school, so quite convenient. He should be going to school under a Kindy programme (this is like NSW pre-school but only two days a week) but all the classes are full and there are waiting lists. Word is he won’t get in at all this year. Next year he will be in Pre-primary school (this is NSW kindy) so he’ll be with Cam. Dan also can’t wait to go to school, and begs for it every day.

Steve also starts work on Monday. He will work for NorWesCom Communications helping them develop and install Voip Networks around the Kimberley region. He’s really excited too. He gets a company Troopy to drive around in also.

We’ve had to go on a big shopping spree for Steve’s work clothes, and Cam’s school uniforms. The lady at the menswear store said “Well, we’ll be seeing a lot of you then. We’re the only menswear store in Broome, unless you shop at Target!.” That’s OK though, everything we need is here. The locals are friendly, and everyone has time to stop and have a chat and share a story. We had a really good night at the golf club, which will see Steve and I joining up soon.

As for me, I will wait until everyone is settled at work and school before I start looking seriously for work. Steve will have to do some initial traveling so I’ll keep home in order. I will put my name down at all the tour companies for part time work in the next dry season, which will be easier as Dan will be at school then. Currently, Dan is only doing day care which costs $75 per day, so no part time job will cover that.

As for Broome as a city – it’s fabulous. The local beach is Gantheume Beach, where you go at low tide. It’s about 2 minutes drive from where we live, and you pull off the road and drive down on to the beach and pull up anywhere you want. This is a perfect spot to sit and watch the sun as it sets over the Indian Ocean. The skies turn the most beautiful colours. The temperature is great (at the moment) and the waters are so warm even I can swim in them.

We’ve been here 7 days now and have done well – jobs, school, day care! Not bad, now we need a more permanent place to live. We’re happy, relaxed and care-free. We don’t need much more, particularly while we’re living in this little paradise.