Current Mood: Sickly & Tired

So we’ve got to Broome, Lucy with an ear infection and me with some sort of bug which really wasn’t a good start! Also, coming into Broome at the tail end of a cyclone meant that the rain was torrential and made the days really humid. We checked into the Kimberley Klub and got to our room, not a bad size but it looked like a map of the world on the ceiling from all the mould that had formed.

I slept the whole of the first day, not in very good form. The girls went and explored around us, coming back to report that ‘Hot Fuzz’ was on in the local cinema and that there were two small shopping centres near us. About 6pm I managed to get up and even get my ass to the cinema, didn’t feel too great, but the thought of seeing Simon Pegg and Nick Frost lifted my spirits – it really is a bloody good movie and made me laugh loads, not good when I had to get up to go and be sick, but I don’t think I missed a major part of the plot ;).

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We returned back to the room and I jumped straight back into bed, Em sat with me while Lucy went out and saw some of the others we met in Exmouth. With my high temperature I was dreaming quite a lot and then when I woke up didn’t know where I was, even having mild hallucinations which scared me a little – like a good little nurse though, Em looked after me and the next morning I felt a lot better.

We jumped in the Hyundai Tucson and headed to Cable Beach, it was not the nicest weather but if you go to Broome then you’d be stupid not to see it! It really is a spectacular beach and I reckon if the weather had been nice, our whole time in Broome would be here! Still, it wasn’t, so we buggered off back to the shopping mall where we stopped to pick up some medicine from the Pharmacy. Yum yum…

Our hostel is quite central and they don’t check anyone who comes in and goes out, quite good for us as Marco and Lea came and joined us for a couple of evenings – enjoying a nice ‘Cold’ stubbie before going to watch ‘Old Hogs’ at the cinema. Then returning back to have a few more stubbies. Rich, Vic, Simon, Sarah, Mel and John were also at the hostel so we joined them in the pool where we just chilled out and relaxed.

Not that much to do in Broome during the weather we had, but good fun was had and it became a very relaxing place to plonk our bums for the 5 days. It also had the best internet place, I managed to get in an hours gaming during one particularly wet day! What a geek!!!

Wow, we’re missing all the birthdays being over here during this period of the year – but we just want to wish Sarah Harvey a very Happy 28th Birthday. We miss you mate and can’t wait to celebrate (belatedly) when we get back! Enjoy your day and we’ll hopefully speak to you soon… HAPPY BURPDAY :D

Current Mood: Tired & Sickly

Up early and loaded into the trusty Hyundai Tucson we got ready to drive to Karratha, our first nights stop. But before we actually left Exmouth we visited the supermarket to pick up some supplies! I wait in the car to keep the a/c on while the girls went in, all of a sudden Em comes running out telling me to lock the car and go with her. As any man knows, you don’t argue with a woman when she’s like that so I obliged. All of a sudden I see a lady holding a Joey (Baby Kangaroo) in her arms like a baby, his name is ‘Midnight’ as that is the time he was rescued from his dead mums pouch. She had been hit by a car! We all took it in turns to hold him, getting our pictures taken and finding out about what happens to him now – shame he’ll end up as a burger… Only joking, he’ll be released back into the outback when he is 1 year old if he seems able to fend for himself.

After we left the supermarket we said goodbye to Scatt as she was flying back to Perth and then onto Brisbane to see her boyfriend Dougal. Then it was on the road – our first stop was due to be Karratha, which was about 3-4 hours away. We kept ourselves amused playing the ‘Name Game’, ’80s Tunes’, ’80s Cartoons’ and a load of other random rubbish. When we arrived at Karratha we had a quick stop at the Supermarket to get some water, it was still early so the decision was to continue to Port Hedland – about another 3/4 hours up the road. Easing our bellies with a Fillet from Maccy D’s we continued on, more games and more larking about later we arrived at Port Hedland, it was dark (about 8:30pm) and we were going to try and find somewhere to sleep for the night. Our trouble was that there was NO space at all!

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Back on the road again thanks to a late opening petrol station we carried on driving, hoping to get as near to Broome as possible. That night we kipped in the car having driven for around 16 hours! We woke in the morning and sat waiting by the petrol pump for the store to open… Once again caught out by the time difference, we were waiting for about an hour as the clocks had gone back! Wonderful…

Refuelled and back on the road we carried on driving, but after we had driven about 10 mins I had to pull over – I had stomach cramps, headache and a high temperature. Em took over and I tried to get some sleep! I woke up about 90kms from Broome and felt really ill, I kept my gob shut and my head down for about 70kms but then had to get Em to pull over where I was very sick :(. I felt terrible and luckily Em and Luce got us to the YHA and checked us in while I went to Lay down! We were in Broome and I couldn’t move very well, liquid coming out of both ends.

The girls explored, while I just lay there feeling sorry for myself :(

Current Mood: Esctatic & Tired

Thank goodness for a short drive, only an hour and a half from Coral Bay to Exmouth so we were there bright and early at 10am – checked into the hostel side of the Potshot hotel and into our room by 10:30, first thing to do – Sleep! The room is nice and compact and we have a huge a/c unit, so when we woke up we realised that setting it at COLD setting wasn’t too great an idea – you’ve seen the scene in Dumb and Dumber where Harry and Lloyd go all the way to the ski resort on the scooter, well that’s how we felt!

Most of the first day was spent catching up on the website, sorting through the millions of photos I have taken and then burning a DJ’s worth of CD’s and DVD’s… When we got back to the hostel we flopped back on the bed and watched some TV, something we have missed from the UK – Lost, Prison Break, Bones, 24 and Crossing Jordan (Em also delved into the realms of Neighbours and Home and Away). Then ‘Knock, Knock’ on the door and we open it to find Lucy standing there, they’re in the room next to us! Freaky…

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The following day Em and I head to the Northern point of Exmouth to see some of the beaches and various sites that there is to offer. The first stop Bendigo Beach where the water is flat, calm, see through and there is a Jetty without a barrier – perfect for some high flying action. We only stay here for 15 mins as there is a wealth of beaches to see…

The next stop on our Whistle stop tour of this part of Oz is the SS Mildura, a Cattle ship that collided with rocks on the 10th March 1907. Every person lived but all 481 cows and bullocks on board were left to drown :(.

While we were here we saw what we initially thought was a lizard, then out of the shrubbery shot a little mouse, we thought we were suffering with a bit of the ol’ Fisherman Syndrome (everything is bigger than in your mind than in reality), but the next minute a long thin brown snake shot out the shrubbery in hot pursuit. It was like Tom and Jerry on the beach, the Mouse would gain a bit of space then the snake would catch up and grab hold of the mouse – who would retaliate with a kick to the head and a bite of its own back until the snake let go, chase resumed and away they went again. I’ll tell you what snakes can seriously move quickly!! After about 30 seconds and about 4 rounds of Mouse vs Snake, the mouse did the unthinkable and ran towards the surf (Crazy fool!), the waves were only 30-50cm’s high but to a mouse that’s like a tidal wave! Even the snake thought he was crazy as he stopped dead in his tracks, coiled up and craned his head to see what was happening.

The mouse was engulfed in a wave and we thought how brave the poor sod had been. Resigned to the fact that the mouse was to join the cows in their watery grave we started taking pictures of the snake again – then as if by miracle a little up the beach we saw a little thing get washed ashore in the next big wave, Mighty mouse! Wet, bedraggled, tired, limping, yet alive, he hopped back up the beach to safety – the snake still looking out to sea… Victory for the mouse – wahoooooo…..

Time for Em and I to run as the Snake slithered back up the beach and past us, thoroughly pissed off I’d imagine!

Quite buzzed from our close encounter with nature we visited every beach down the coast hoping to see something else as cool. Nothing quite the same cropped up, but there were a mixture of washed up Jellyfish, some round, some square, some a mass of tentacles and others just a big mashed up, bird pecked mess! Em collected up some shells while she was beach combing and we both looked for the hatchling turtles that were said to be around.

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The following day was Lucys Birthday (and Clare Coopers back home!), I had sneaked out after she had gone to bed the previous night and stuck a ‘Happy Birthday’ banner up on her door with a couple of balloons, then Em and I went into the Kitchen and bench area in the morning to decorate it for her arrival which Scatt was looking after. With it all prepared we sat and waited, Rich, Vic, Sarah and Simon joined us and we waited some more – next moment, Scatt pops her head around the side of the wall “Oh shit!”, she shouts, realising that they were late – off she runs again to get dressed and more importantly, get Lucy.

“Surprise!”… Luce was a little overwhelmed and quite chuffed which was cool, I began cooking pancakes for everyone but with them taking some time I employed the culinary skills of Rich who joined me at the pans to dish out a mixture of perfect crepes, fluffy pancakes and the odd lump of slosh! We spent the day at Bendigo beach with Marco and Leaz joining us – most of the time here spent throwing ourselves off the jetty! That evening we all got dressed up and went to the hotel restaurant for a lovely meal and then to the disco where a few MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice moves were bust before we called it a night! A cool time has been had in Exmouth!!!

Current Mood: Playful

Just a quick blog to wish Clare Cooper and Lucy Evans both very Happy Birthdays.  Lucy is being spoilt rotten out here in Oz, I hope you guys back home are spoiling Clare!

Current Mood: Cool & Tired

Both Em and I had really wanted to dive the Navy pier in Exmouth, in fact that was one of the only reasons we had come here – trouble was, the pier has been shut down! The reason is not really known, so we resigned ourselves to the fact that we would probably have to resign ourselves to a lesser dive. Em booked us two reef dives and we waited outside the office at 7.30am for them to open up and to get our equipment.

We climbed aboard the bus and were advised that there were only 8 people diving today, bonus considering they usually have 20 dives! When we got to the harbour we saw the boat and it looked massive, climbing aboard we saw how big it really was – you could easily fit 40 people without anyone complaining, a fully equipped kitchen, bath/shower room, large carpeted deck with seating and places for all your equipment, lounge area and the Captains cockpit which contained more computer consoles and screens than my old office.

The skipper came out and advised everyone the rules of the ship and the diving – “Don’t flush the toilet at the dive site, we want you to all log your dives, not dive your logs!” was a typical line and I missed most of the others because of laughing. We got kitted up and ready for our first dive ‘Blizzard Ridge’, the reason it was called this was the current and when you jump in you are being pulled straight away, we were finning hard to stay in the same place so descend down to the ocean floor to escape. The current on the sea bed was virtually non-existent and the life was amazing – loads of big fish like Potato Cods, Lagoon Rays, Bat Fish etc, but zillions of the little ones like nudibranch, anemone fish etc that really made the dive. Everywhere you looked there were fish, making for one of the most interesting dives I have ever had.

The next dive was at a place called ‘Labyrinth’, which was because the reef down on the floor created like a maze which you could swim around and get lost in (coming up a bit if you wanted to see where you were again!). Around every little corner were different fish and then when we turned one corner, we saw a Teenage Mutant Ninja Sea Turtle just sitting on the coral itching his belly. He wasn’t interested in us in the slightest and we hovered near him taking photos and watching him chomp rock for ages. He wasn’t even afraid to be touched and his shell and skin felt really soft? Strange!

Leaving him to his own devices we went a little further around the maze, coming face to face with two white tip reef sharks, neither of which were fazed by us and came right up close – really nice as usually they bomb off as soon as they see you.

On the surface everyone was on a high and chat about what they saw all the way home, it also now becoming common for people to have underwater cameras so we were all looking at what each other took. Great day, great dives…

Current Mood: Happy & Tired

After our slightly disappointing stay in Denham we moved onto Coral Bay, we weren’t holding out much hope as our stay in the more populated Denham was a bit boring – so we prepared ourselves for the worst.  We needn’t have though, the cabin we had booked was nice with a separate bedroom area and lounge/kitchen with a table – wahooo, modern amenities hey, how we miss them!

After checking in, we had a brief exploration.  5 mins later we had visited the whole of Coral Bay and had decided on the best spot.  We went to the office and after handing over a total of $5 we walked away with snorkeling equipment for the day, we walked for 5 mins around the southern peninsula of the bay and swam over the boating lane, into the deeper part of water.  The fish life was great and we spent over an hour swimming around taking snap shots and getting a tan on our backs.  Knackered and needing a bit of shade we hit the beach and had a little nap.  This is the life…

We ran into the girls in the evening, they had been there a few days longer than us and in the tradition of Scatt had spent everyday on the beach topping up their tans.  We said we’d meet them the day after and hit the sack – tired and happy.

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The next morning we met up with Marco and Leaz, the guys we had met at the Sea-Lions tour back in Green Head.  They are a nice couple and good company.  While Em, Lucy and Sarah had a sunbathe, Marco, Leaz and I swam up to the Shark nursery where the Black Tip Reef Sharks leave their pups to get bigger before they go out into the blue.  We only managed to see a few though, one of them a mum as it was a lot bigger than the pups!  With our Sun cream struggling to keep the sun from burning our backs we head back to base.

Marco and Leaz joined us for Sunset and finished up by cooking us the best Spag Carbonarra I think I have ever eaten.  We laughed and chatted into the night, the drive to Exmouth is only an hour and half so we didn’t have to worry.

Current Mood: Bored

So after our trip around Kalbarri and all of our various adventures we had there, we have spent the last few days just chilling around the pool and reading our books. Denham is a nice place, but really small and has one supermarket where they sell everything for living, an internet place in the Telecentre that costs a small fortune for you to even log on and a surf shop that sells t-shirts/shirts that look like they have been made by someone with one arm.

We have been making the most out of the room and the pool, the room itself is quite large but we have a slight problem with mould on the ceiling – not a problem if you don’t look up ;). We have a kitchen inside with all the necessary equipment to cook up a storm – Em’s Mushroom Sauce on chicken breat with Veg… Yum yum… God, I really am scraping the bottom of the barrel on things to put down for Denham. Next I’ll be telling you about the choice of pants I put on each morning or something!

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So after 3 fun-filled and extraordinary days in Denham, we checked out and headed towards Coral Bay – stopping briefly at Monkey Mia to see the Dolphins. Em got picked by some German Girl who must of been helping out there to go and feed the dolphin, she only just put the fish in the water when the girl was already saying “Okay, you can go back now”, some Dolphin encounter that was…

Onto bigger and better things now – Coral Bay with a population of 120 people – uh oh…