On the road: Broome to Darwin

We ended up staying in Broome for 7 nights and we spent a lot of time doing nothing other than going to the beach. I got in a bit of body boarding. The waves were nothing special but it was a good way to say adieu to the Indian ocean. There was one day we couldn't go in because there was a shark. We hung about Broome for the Staircase to the moon that happens 3 times a month. We headed down to the mangrove hotel to get the best view of the orange moon rising over the mudflats and creating an illusion of steps to the moon. It was pretty cool, there was a guy playing the didjeridoo as the moon rose but it was difficult to get a good picture of it, although we did try. We also went to the famous sun outdoor cinema and caught the film about Bob Dylan called i'm not there. I enjoyed it but Emma wasn't too keen. We had dinner in a couple of places as well, one was an Italian Cafe and they made the best pizzas we've ever tasted.

Broome was cool and all. It allowed us to recharge the batteries but its very small. After all that outback we expected something a bit bigger. There is a place on the coast called Gauntheme Point that was absolutely beautiful. it has huge flat top rock formations overlooking the ocean which looked even more blue than usual.

The day after the moon we hit the road again. We didn't get going till the afternoon because it takes so long to back the van and stock up on groceries for the next part. We got to Fitzroy Crossing just after dark and had a bit of trouble finding accommodation. Fitzroy Crossing has little more than a petrol station in it and this also seems to be where all the aboriginals live as there were dozens of them hanging about there. The camp site we stayed in was described as an oasis and it proved to be just that.

The next day we were planning on staying at Halls Creek but after Fitzroy Crossing we decided to bomb onto Kununurra, the next big town. We stopped off in Halls Creek for petrol. It was midday and the place was full of aboriginals sitting drinking in the shade or coming out of liquor stores with crates of beer. They don't bother you or anything (apparently they get $1000 a fortnight benefits and also a royalties cheque from the national parks) but a lot of them don't seem to live anywhere. A lot of them hang about the roadside and apparently they sleep there as well. The locals call them "Long Grassers". They remind me a bit of the gypsies at home (although we can't talk living in caravan sites). Not many people have any time for most of them but the common line seems to be that they don't do themselves any favours. There are plenty of aboriginals working and raising families in a way we recognize as civilised. In Timber Creek I saw an aboriginal girl breast feeding her baby while smoking at the same time (the mother not the baby) .

Once we got past Halls Creek we drove through the Kimberley which has the most breathtaking scenery. After a thousand kms of vast nothingness the next 1000 were absolutely beautiful. Eagles circled the air above these huge red/orange plateaus that the roads wound around. Kununurra was the next big town and we spent one night there and stocked up again before heading to Katherine via Newry Station just over the border in the Northern Territory. I think it was a horse ranch. In katherine, we had one night in a sub standard caravan park and then we found a nice one with access to the hot springs ( a pool created by water from under the ground, crystal clear and warm like a bath) we also headed to Nitmiluk National Park and took a boat trip up the Katherine gorge. Dilly says it's like Jurassic park and I can't do any better than that.

We arrived in Darwin 2 weeks ago and after a slow start we got ourselves jobs. i contacted some production houses here and had an interview with an editing company. I thought it went well and the guy said he'd defo ring me on friday or monday ( 2 weeks ago) but I never heard from him. Then we were out having lunch one day they guy from the place came in andd said he hadn't forgotten about me and he'd give me a ring so i gave him a ring just to remind him again and he said he'd phone me back in 10 minutes but that was last wednesday. I'm working for the Defence Housing Australia. They sort out housing for the military and their families. It's only for a couple of weeks but it's the best money i've been on since I got here. Accommodation for us has been a lot more difficult to find. We're still in the van and it's difficult working and having nothing to go back to and relax but it's so warm up here it's nice sitting out in the evening. The plan at the moment is to head for melbourne down the middle of the country via alice springs and ayers rock .

Dah-win is a nice place, small only 70,000 people, full of irish but it's the biggest place we've been to in a month and we're enjoying city life again. It's a bit of a pain having to go through the whole process of testing and registration with agencies but thats what we have to do to get work. There are loads of people in the same boat as us working and living in caravan parks. It's difficult to get short term accommodation here which is amazing considering the amount of backpackers. It's still great though we can't swim in the water because of the crocs and jellyfish but we've done a lot of beaches since we've been here so we're in no rush to go swimming in the sea.

We ended up checking into a hotel for anight to get out of the van. God I've missed TV. There was a movie channel but the selection wasn't great and we watched snakes on a plane, big mommas house and gone in 60 seconds none of which I'd watch ordinarily but when you've been without tv you'll watch anything. The Greek Glenti festival was on in the esplanade near where we were staying so we treated ourselves to food from it. It was great to get a break from cooking.

We went to Litchfield park on sunday and swam in the Florence falls plunge pool. There were fish biting my toes, I thought they were piranhas and had to get out. We also went to tolmer and wangi falls but you couldn't swim in them because of crocs. on the saturday we checked out the museum and there is an exhibition about the 1974 cyclone that almost destroyed the city completely. Its a big military town that found prominence during the second world war 2 when the allies used it to take on the Japanese and consequently Darwin took a hammering in air raids. There is a road called Bombing Road and one of the arcaes is called air raid arcade. At the moment there are international air force war games going on and the noise from fighter jets is staggering. Food is excellent here (as it is in every place we've visited in Australia) we went to a restaurant call char, it's the best in the territory and last night we went to the jetty rrestaurant for all you can eat buffet. I had 4 courses before dessert and finished off with some fruit. I got my moneys worth. Mindil beach markets have every type of food you can imagine. There is another national park called kakadu that we're not gonna get to see because we'd need a 4 wheel drive vehicle. I might get some fishing in over the weekend. There are loads of tours. We're gonna hang about until monday and see if we can get to watch the Armagh and Down game somewhere. Come on Armagh!