SO MUCH TO SAY!

Hello again everyone. Sorry it's being such a long time between posts (a week is really pushing it, I know) but I do have a really good excuse! Since last Thursday at 6am in the morning I have been out of Balgo, only returning late on Wednesday night from Broome, the 'capital of the Kimberely'. We were lucky enough to be offered the opportunity to travel a bit this year by Brother Rick which was very kind of him and our first adventure took us to the Pearling coast. We're planning to also go to the Bungle Bungles and Alice Springs/Uluru during the year so it's super exciting that we're seeing a bit of the desert. But I better not get ahead of myself; instead I'll get you up to speed with the happenings in Broome and then the first day back at school!

Hopefully you'll all reach the bottom of this post and see the time I posted this latest update. Yes, once again the middle of the night! I couldn't sleep and was wide awake at midnight, knowing well and truly that if I went to sleep I would not be a happy chappy for the 6.30am alarm. I've discovered strangely enough I'm more cheerful with no sleep than six hours which for me is great because I get SO much done between those early hours of the morning. This time I managed to get all 111 of the photo's of our first term in Balgo that I printed out in Broome bluetacked ready to be put up on the wall in our dining room. Then I caught up with my journal writing which took a good two hours (BIG mistake leaving my journal in Balgo while I was away!) and then decided that I couldn't do much else without a computer. Problem being that my laptop is locked away safely in the Parish house and I haven't been over to pick it up yet. So that meant a 3.30am trek from the house to the school, a journey that was very cold and very VERY quiet! And here I am, in the staffroom blogging all my adventures dressed in my gym clothes ready for a 5.30am session. Totally psyched; going to be super dead by 5.30pm!

Where to begin. I'll start with our drive. We piled everything into the school bus (it's really a van but we like to think it's better than that) at 6.00am in the morning on Wednesday and headed out. I was super tired so was hoping to just go from my bed to the van with my pillow in tow and sleep the whole way. However I forgot about the Tanami, my new found enemy. The Tanami is the unsealed road between Balgo and Halls Creek, 350kms of shuddering, bumping, thumping, whacking-my-head-against-the-windowing and in general a road that denies one sleep. So that was fun. I entertained myself by spotting brumbies and marvelling at the hefty amounts of horse manure piled in precarious positions along the road. Seriously, it’s kind of incredible how many horse apples are in the ten kilometres or so before the Sturt Creek. It provided some interesting and unusual conversation though, which was kind of weird...ANYWAY I was thrilled when we reached the Sturt Creek because we were all wondering how much it had gone down since our visit with Brother Lou a month prior and if we would be able to cross! We got more and more nervous as we approached, waiting to see if we would be granted or denied our holiday…

(Suspense!)

It was OK! Actually, it was incredible how much water was still there and how fast it was flowing, but amazing to see how much it had dried up since we had passed. I remember thinking when we visited that it would be impossible for all the water to go down; there was just so much! However, while there was still water, it was passable. To make things even better, it was also very pretty. The water was so still and the early morning sun was peeking through the trees, providing for some excellent photography opportunities.

Before. The water was so high it came up to where the unsealed part of the Tanami meets the sealed part, a rare occurrence.

Completely dry!

Sturt Creek, 7.30am

Crossing. Note Henry as the marker.

On the other side!

We made a stop at Fitzroy Crossing, a lovely place however I was really annoyed because I was kind of asleep when we crossed the river, something I was super looking forward to because it was in flood, apparently a rarity. But I promised myself to be wide awake for the reverse journey. We also stopped to change drivers at this MASSIVE boab tree which had a couple of Grey Nomads camping beside it (Mum and Dad, you in a few years!)

My favourite stop however was at Wilare, a roadhouse 250kms outside of Broome. There was literally NOTHING else around it, but the compound the roadhouse was set in had a camping ground, pool, beer garden, diner and the funniest and quirky things we had seen along the journey including Corona salt and pepper shakers. However the strangest thing was a blue cable that looked almost like an extension cord that stretched from Wilare to about 15kms outside of it. It was quite amusing for a while spotting where it went and finding it snaking through trees, across bridges and even through a creek at one stage. We were most disappointed when it stopped, hoping it was going to Broome and discovering that we had finally cracked how Wilare got its Internet connection.

Wilare, very much in the middle of no where!

Cheapest Salt and Pepper shakers around!

We arrived in Broome at 5.30pm, quite happy with the fact that the drive only took 11 and a half hours. After settling into The Roey, our accommodation for the next few days we tried to go shopping. In hindsight, that was a really random thing to be the first thing we did in Broome but I think we were just eager to set our eyes on more than one shop! Unfortunately, only Woolworth's was open. BIG disappointment. So we checked off number two on the list; find the fattiest, most disgusting meal in Broome and consume it. For the boys, that was Eagle Boys Pizza, for me and Brother Rick it was McDonald's. Take away has never tasted so great! Back at the Roey, we were quick to check off the third item on our 'Things to do in Broome that we can't do in Balgo' list; consume an alcoholic beverage! That was a big disappointment; my beer tasted disgusting and I thought I may have gone off alcohol all together after consuming only cordial for two months. Fortunately my taste buds came back in time to try the Mango Beer at the end of the trip. But THAT story is coming. We crashed in bed, eager for sleep after a long journey.

We were awoken at 9am the following morning by a knock at the door, followed by a lady saying 'Housekeeping' before coming into our room and cleaning as we stared at her in a half asleep gaze trying to figure out a, where we were and b, what sort of a place does housekeeping THAT early! It was something we soon got used to, because that was to be our wakeup call for the next few mornings. It didn't deter me sleeping in later most days and I attribute that to my speedy recovery from whatever I was suffering from when I left Balgo; I came back much more healthier. Well, the sleep ins and the intense humidity! At times, Broome was unbearable. It was so sticky and I marvelled how people could stand it when I was told we were there for the un-sticky part. It was like Perth, but times a thousand. At least when Balgo is hot, it's dry so it's bearable. I'm not one to be able to stand humidity. However, the humidity makes the Frangipani flowers absolutley amazing and so frequent. They dot the trees everywhere and are a beautiful sight!

Our days in Broome were filled with shopping, relaxing, swimming at Cable Beach (it was like bath water!) and sightseeing. On the Sunday we aimed to get out to Gantheaume Point where the old lighthouse and a set of dinosaur prints are. Unfortunately we heard a funny sound driving the Troupie out only to discover we had a flat tyre. The boys were eager to fix it however technology promted epic failure as we had no idea how to use the Jack. Even the instructions clearly printed on the side made no help and they were forced to make an SOS call to Brother Rick. I used this as my chance to walk 300m down the road to the shops to 'get cold drinks' but did a bit of shopping in the nice aircon while I was there. I did bring back copious amounts of icy cold slushies just as Brother Rick left, apparently pressing one button and getting the whole Jack to work in an instant. We headed out to the Point and were met with some beautiful sights, including orange dust and rocks meeting the clear blue ocean; quite a site. Around the area are one of many sets of dinosaur footprints in the Broome area, however they are underwater unless it's very VERY low tide. I am actually amazed they have survived millions of years of possible erosion by sea water!

Cable Beach in the distance.

The deset meets the sea.

The most amazing house with the best view in the whole of Broome. We're assuming it used to be the Lighthouse keepers house.

A cast of the dinosaur footprints.

The house, the Lighthouse and a jet stream in the air.

Anastasia's Pool. In the 1920s the lighthouse keeper had a wife named Anastasia who suffered from chronic arthritis. He had the pool carved out of the rock at the base of his house and every day she would sit in the pool, refreshed at high tide by the waves, and stretch her arthritic limbs. It worked her wonders and is still there today.

Broome was also great to catch up with a few family friends. I had a great couple of nights with the Barton family who not only fed me but let me watch the Royal Wedding as well (OMG!!) which was incredibly nice of them. If anyone is in Broome on Sunday nights I fully recommend you have the Roast Dinner at the Roey, between 6 and 8pm. Absolutely to die for!

The coolest part of Broome, for me was seeing one of the places that featured in one of my favourite movies, Australia. The cinemas that showed The Wizard of Oz in the film is in Broome and I took quite a lot of photos of the place until being told that only the outside featured. Oh well, still really cool. While I didn't go and see a movie there, the humid nights make for great outdoor viewing.

On Tuesday, our last day in Broome, our little group of five was extended by a further four. This was due to the arrival of two Notre Dame student teachers who are in Balgo for the term, Sophie and Jarred and my Year 9 English teacher Mr. Connor who is teaching at Luurnpa for four weeks. Mindy, our Primary B teacher also flew in after jet setting around WA for the past two weeks We had a lovely dinner that night before heading out to Matso's Brewrey to try what you HAVE to try if you're in Balgo; Mango Beer. It is AMAZING; kind of like a mango smoothie, but without the thickness, with more bubbles, alcoholic and beer. Really, nothing like a smoothie but that's the closest thing I can describe it to. Very yummy!

Remember the sign, remember the name. Go there!

Our drive home was met with quite a few hiccups along the Tanami where we stopped to help someone who had run out of fuel and then another person who had a flat tyre. This, along with the fact that the bus was full of people and the troupie was full of groceries so a lot slower than the way in attributed to a 14 hour drive to Balgo. By the end of it, I was ready to cry every time we went over a hill and I couldn't see the lights of Balgo. But it was the BEST feeling when we finally did at 8pm that night! The most interesting part of the journey was stopping at the Wolfe Creek turnoff to wait for Brother Rick in the troupie who had made a detour. Sophie, Anthony, Jarred, Henry, Ale and I are totally planning on watching the movie and then camping out there. However it got spooky as it got darker...

Because there ain't no rest for the awesome, we all rose somewhat bleary eyed yesterday morning to greet the first day of school. Luckily though because of the crazy start of term (a Thursday, really?!) we only had 15 kids so spent most of the day preparing for the next few weeks. In Primary C, this meant chatting about our break with Jenny and Sophie who is also in there with us this term (yay, another girl!) and the little projects we're hoping to do to coincide with our topic for the term; SPACE! So keen on making a paper mache Solar System with them! The staff were kept bright eyed and bushy tailed thanks to a large amount of chocolate I put out at morning tea time, courtesy of Mum who decided to post me up a whole box of chocolate blocks. Mum, the staff loved it (and me, woo Brownie points :P)! Thankyou!

Brother Rick kept saying to me that pretty soon, I'd think he was the best principal ever. I learnt this fact today, along with the fact that he 'extends the truth' quite often. The other day when we were loading the troupie we put in a massive and new TV which Rick said was for the Trade Training Centre, being built in Balgo. Sounded logical. I also thought storing it in our house while the centre was being finished was the go as well when the boys came in and placed it in the corner of our room. I was too tired to ask and just went to bed however woke up to discover the boys had actually set it up in our lounge room. Thinking Rick always tells the truth, I told him how funny it was that the boys set it up as soon as they could and that it would be hard for them to go back to the smaller TV we had when the Trade Training Centre wanted it back. He smiled at me and said, 'Naahh, it's yours!!' He's such a tricker! And yeah, I suppose he's a pretty awesome Principal for that reason. Super happy to have a large TV that I can watch excessive amounts of Greys Anatomy with Sophie! We're pumped.

Balgo, going through the 'Spring' season is experiencing the worst of it; the prickles. They are EVERYWHERE and cling to EVERYTHING! Somewhere they get in between my shoes and even on the bottom of my thongs so when I walk through my house they fall off and stepping on them in bare feet during the middle of the night is a rude wake up call! Chronic ouch! Hopefully they die down soon because they are huge and very painful.

Well, I suppose I better stop writing now. That took me a lot longer than expected. It's now 5.19am and the sun is just poking up. The gym beckons and after a strong cup of coffee so does the new day. Thank gosh it's Friday! What an easy week!