Brrrr, it's cold in here!

Hello from the frigid and wintery capital city of WA; Perth!

Last time I blogged, I was telling you all about how hot Balgo was. Our winter was about two weeks long and in the last days I was there, it started to get that really lovely 'before summer' feel, where the mornings are still quite crisp but the smell of warmer weather is hanging around. I generally love that feeling as it usually brings an end to three months of constant wind, rain and below twenty temperatures. However, it seems weird to accept the end of winter when I had hardly gotten into it!

Our NAIDOC celebrations concluded on Wednesday night with a community BBQ and disco. There was a slight glitch in the evening, occurring as the men of Balgo were unable to go out and hunt which meant no bush tucker, however we made do with plenty of sausages, meat and damper. There were so many people and it was such a great atmosphere, with the kids (and at times adults) dancing away while all the older people gathered around and talked about the festivities and the quickness of the term. Once again, I cannot believe how quickly it has all gone!

With Sophie, Kane, Donna, Steve and I leaving for Broome the next day, Thursday ended up being our last teaching day for Term 2. For Sophie, this was also her last day in Balgo. With NAIDOC festivities having concluded the night before, many families had begun their holidays earlier and we ended up only having seven students in Primary C which worked to our advantage. I had a fun day getting ready for Term 3, playing with the kids, helping them make cards for Sophie and most of all, hosting a party for our very special student teacher. As all the Primary C parties are, it was very civilised and we all enjoyed our frogs in jelly, cake and cordial with a mandatory 'Bon apetite' after each delicacy was passed around.

Primary C is learning about the human body next term which I am very much looking forward to. We're focusing on hygiene and body parts and I'm looking forward to teaching many fun art lessons as the term progresses. My role in the classroom is expanding to encompass more of a student teacher role which is really exciting and I'm looking forward to planning with Jenny and having a stronger voice in the classroom, especially as it really is the best class in the school.

With Term 2 officially concluded for us, Sophie and I packed her suitcases and got ready for a 5.00am start the following morning having a quiet Thursday night. The only problem was that we were in no mood to wake up the next morning and it took my alarm so long to wake me up that by the time I had gotten out of bed and woken Sophie up, we only had ten minutes to do all our last minute packing, get ready and load the troupie before take off. Amazingly and by some miracle, we achieved it all! We loaded ourselves in the back, Kane, Sophie and I on one side and all the luggage on the other, waved goodbye to the dark community of Balgo and hit the Tanami before the sun came up. The sunrise was absolutely spectacular and the pink rays bathed the desert in the most amazing colour. I very much regretted not getting photos!! We made it to Halls Creek across the chopped up Tanami in three-and-a-half hours, quite an amazing feat. Our stops at Fitzroy and Wilare were also achieved very quickly (within the speed limit) and we made it to Broome in eleven hours.

The only problem with the drive was the amount of cars towing caravans along the roads! It was staggering, almost as if the whole of Australian caravan population was spread out along a tiny 700km stretch of road. Every rest stop site we passed was chocka-block with Grey Nomads and their pride and joy and I could just imagine everyone comparing the technical aspects of their vans. Kane and I took advantage of this heavy traffic by comparing the number of waves we got during our driving legs. Kane got a fabulous 54 while I got 46. We both decided that I would have won if my leg was as long as Kane's (it was 40km shorter) but I still paid up and brought the winner a drink in Broome, the prize for such a fabulous feat.

After settling into our rooms in Broome, we all made our way to Cable Beach and enjoyed the setting sun, something you HAVE to do if you're in this Kimberley coastal town. It was quite fabulous and we further enjoyed the dying light at an amazing cocktail bar and restaurant on the beach, a hard earned prize after a long day crammed in the car. It proved to be a beautiful way to end the day and we made further entertainment by judging all the camels coming up from the beach, declaring none of them to be as awesome as our own Balgo Jellybean!

Sunset at Cable Beach

Cable Beach

I don't care what Henry says. Even without waves, it's still one of Australia's best beaches

The little girl next to us at the beach made a hissing sound when the sun hit the water, as the water was putting it out.

So cute.

'Bye bye Sun!'

We had a casual Saturday morning before our mid afternoon flights back home to Perth which we took advantage of to do some last minute shopping and Broome Chinatown sightseeing. When that got boring, Sophie and I retired to the sunbeds at the Roey bar with cocktails just chilling and relaxing after the craziness of the past term. Then it was time to call a taxi and luckily we did so with plenty of time to spare because due to the famous Broome races happening on the same day, one didn't arrive for forty minutes. It was a crazy hour getting to the airport, checking in and loading onto the plane however the two hour and four minute plane ride (Virgin are very precise with their flight times) proved to be a fabulous way to unwind, reflect and chill.

Having a window seat, I managed to take some great photos in the air, as we took off in Broome and as we landed in Perth. I'm sure the guy next to me was getting pretty sick of me shoving a camera in front of the window every five seconds but I could not get over how lovely, bright and blue everything looked above the clouds compared to the overcast and frigid looking conditions underneath.

Broome from the air.

Sun on the clear and flat ocean.

The clouds looked like marshmallows!

Took me a while to convince myself that the pink on the wings was from lights, not fire.

I've watched too many movies about plane crashes!

Descending. Above the clouds; warm and lovely looking.

In the clouds...

Below the clouds; cold and dark. Brrrr

Ahh civilisation.

Home!!

As soon as we got off the plane, still dressed in our Broome clothes fit for thirty degree temperatures, we were hit with the freezing Perth air. The last few days, it's been under twenty (today barely hit thirteen degrees) windy and rainy. Absolutely crazy! I cannot believe that in two hours, I went from the sunny and warm Broome air to the cold and miserable weather of Perth. However, it's great to be home for a while, catch up with everyone, enjoy my Mum and Dad's birthdays (I came home on Mum's birthday, which was a nice present for her!), enjoy a bit of my favourite season and rejuvenate before Term 3. Still, it's kind of weird been back. So much has changed in a short time; areas of vacant land around my house are now full of units, buildings have sprug up all over town and most shockingly, my house has a new kettle and even worse, a new door handle so I am essentially locked out of my house until new keys become available. Pretty sure that was the parentals idea from the start; to lock me out in the hope that I'll just go somewhere else!! Even worse, I still think I'm in Balgo. Like today, I was walking across the car park and almost got hit by a car because I was still in the midset of Balgo where I never have to worry about looking before I cross! There are also SO many people and time time it takes to get from one place to another while still technically been in Perth is RIDICULOUS!! But I suppose, these differences are why I love both places just as much.

Keep warm Perth readers!