Last day in Broome :-(

We woke up early this morning, packed up our stuff and dropped it at reception before heading to the resort next door – Bali Hai – for our spa treatments. At the spa, we registered and began our three hour spa extravaganza!

First, our therapists washed our feet then we went inside and began our hour full body massage. This was followed by a salt scrub and full body mud masque. While the masque did its magic, we were treated to a hair treatment and fantastic head massage. We had to wake up and head back outside to the outside shower to wash off all the mud.

Back inside, we started with a facial followed by a hand and foot treatment. It was fantastic! The therapists were very nice and the treatments were wonderful. We walked out of there with a new lease on life.

From the resort, we walked back down to Cable Beach for some lunch at the café on the cliff above the beach (see photo). We enjoyed our seafood and white wine while overlooking beautiful views. As it was our last day of holidays, we shared a Banoffee pie and had coffees before calling a taxi to take us back to the resort to pick up our luggage and then on to the airport.

We had to wait a while before the check-in opened at the airport but soon we were on our way back to Perth. The flight was pretty uneventful and when we landed the weather was wet and freezing! We jumped in a cab and headed to the Comfort Inn for a quick night before heading back to the airport early in the morning.

As the cab pulled up at the lights on Great Eastern Highway, it jolted to a stop and the driver couldn’t get it started again. Ross and I waited in the taxi and couldn’t believe our bad luck. Eventually the car started again and we managed to get to the motel before it conked out again. It was pouring rain so we grabbed our key and ran to the room, locked the door and swore that we wouldn’t be going anywhere! We ordered chicken noodle soup from the restaurant and they delivered it to our room. We had showers, organized a few things and jumped into bed as we had to be up at 4.30 to catch a taxi to the airport tomorrow morning. It was a miserable night in Perth and the rain and wind pelted the door all night.

A quiet day in Broome - Elyse leaving :-(

This morning started a bit slow. Elyse was leaving us this morning so she spent the morning getting organized. My bites were driving me insane so we said goodbye to Elyse and Ross and I caught a taxi into town so I could go to the Chemist and get some relief for my bites. After taking some anti-histamines and smothering myself with cream, I was starting to feel a bit more normal.

We had some breakfast from Brumby’s then walked to the markets up the road. We browsed around there for a while before walking back into the main street. We stopped and watched a local cricket game for a while before walking back to Coles to pick up some supplies for dinner.

We thought we would catch the town bus back to Cable Beach so we waited at the stop and chatted with a couple of other tourists before getting on the bus. We got a full scenic tour of Broome before we started heading back to Cable Beach. The bus took about an hour and we were so ready to get off by the time we left – next time we’ll catch a taxi I think.

I had another nap for a couple of hours, we watched a bit of TV, had a snack for lunch and in the afternoon we walked back down to Cable Beach to watch the sunset for the last time. We found a spot on a rock and watched as the sun went down – beautiful!

After the sun went down, we walked back to the apartment, packed up our stuff and then got busy making some dinner. We spent the night flicking between the football, cricket and Tour de France while we enjoyed our prawns and salad with our last beer.

It was great to have a quiet day in Broome.

Broome - 200 posts!

Ross was up first this morning and I found him out in the lounge watching sport when I got up at 8. Elyse woke up last and once we showered, we walked down to the shop on the corner for some breakfast. It was already warm so we headed down to Cable Beach to make the most of the great weather. We rented a recliner chair and an umbrella for half a day. The guys who ran this rental shop were definitely onto a gold mine; they rented loungers, boogie boards, umbrellas, kids sand toys and heaps of other stuff – what a great idea!

I was pretty hungover so I decided to go for a swim to wake me up. Ross joined me and we braved the cold water and waves and walked out to float about in the crystal water. It definitely refreshed us. Back out of the water, I resumed my spot on the recliner and soaked up the sun for another couple of hours before getting too hot. Ross and I left Elyse on the beach and walked back to the shop to pick up some hangover snacks before walking back to the cool apartment. We relaxed at the apartment for a few hours, I had a nap, caught up on my blog and we watched the AFL. Elyse joined us later in the afternoon after she had had enough of the sun too.

Elyse brought home a six pack and we sat outside enjoying a beer before we headed back to Diver’s to watch the Tri-nations game between NZ and Aus. We arrived a bit early and managed to snag a table right by the TV. We watched the game (unfortunately Aus lost) and then we moved tables as some of the locals were getting a bit feral.

We spent the evening drinking, chatting with locals and watching as women kept walking in the bar completely dressed up to the nine’s. We wondered what it was all about until someone told us that the races had been on today in Broome and so everyone was coming from there. The pub was packed and Ross, Elyse and I kept ourselves amused by watching the ‘fashions’ that walked in the door time and again.

Towards the end of the night, we got chatting to a couple of guys called Will and Marcus who had traveled down from Derby for the races. Ross and I had had enough for the day so we headed home and left Elyse chatting with Will. However, we were lucky to witness some guy, obviously from the races, who decided to bring a blow up doll into the bar (see photo).

Obviously the night before, I must have been eaten alive by mosquitoes. I had completely reacted to the bites and they had swollen really badly. I spent an uncomfortable night scratching myself stupid!

Eighty Mile Beach to Broome – Last day with Bessie! (365 km)

We managed to sleep in until just before 10 this morning. Surprising considering the caravan park was almost empty by the time we rose – we couldn’t believe we didn’t hear everyone leave!

We had breakfast, packed up Bessie and hit the road again for the last time in Bessie. Today’s journey was similar to yesterdays so we ended up in Broome early in the afternoon. We checked into the Broome Beach Resort, dumped all our stuff out of Bessie before having to take her back to Britz.

After catching a cab back to the resort, we had some lunch (with our last beers from the road trip!). We made the most of having our own shower and took our time luxuriating under the water and scrubbing away the grime from our road trip. We all put on clean clothes (we had been wearing our tour tank tops everyday up until this point!) and headed down to Cable Beach in time to catch the last minutes of the sunset. There were tons of people doing the same thing.

We walked across the road to the Cable Beach Club Resort where we indulged in a fancy cocktail by the pool (see photo) before heading to their other bar for a bottle of sparkling wine and an appetizer of prawns on ice. A nice way to begin the evening!

Back up the road towards our resort, we stopped off at the Diver’s Inn which was pretty packed with everyone watching sport. They had so many screens with different sports on that Ross didn’t quite know what to do with himself. 2 games of AFL, league and cricket kept us entertained so we settled in with a drink and soaked up the atmosphere of a real pub. We also enjoyed looking at the wildlife that had been attracted to the watering hole – some strange types in Broome!

We stayed there for hours, drinking, sharing a massive chicken parma, watching sport and chatting with the bartenders. About midnight, the bouncers came in to kick the stragglers out – yep, that included us. Despite Elyse being determined to finish her drink before we left, we pretty much left when the bouncers told us. Elyse and I ran home as it was cold and we were in summer dresses. At home we all fell into bed after a great night.

Road Trip Highlights:

• The drib: the backwards ‘bird’ that was given to drivers coming the other way if they did not return our wave

• Lollies: snakes, wine gums and other lollies kept our energy up and provided entertainment as we lined up gums on the dashboard, stretched snakes on the steering wheel, and did some weird things with lolly teeth and snakes.

• Elsie jumping at every road house and my bad photography skills trying to capture her while off the ground

• Cocktails on the run – a quick dash into the back of Bessie and Elyse and I had cocktails on call

• Air guitar, drums, jug, eukalali (sp?) and head banging as we ploughed through the playlists on the iPod at max volume

• Elyse’s knack of falling asleep on the spot

• Counting down the 850km on our longest driving day

• Playing shithead in our pyjamas while drinking cocktails in the back of Bessie until late at night

• Walking around the caravan parks and seeing the long-termers with their plants, satellite dishes, shell ornaments and whirly gigs set up outside their caravans

• Pulling Bessie into her parking bay in the caravan park, getting the table and chairs out before anything else and enjoying a beer in our new location

• Watching Elyse try and insert herself into the upper bunk after a few cocktails each night!