4/10/18 Broome

4/10/18 To Broome

No photos for this bit.

We were on the outskirts of Pt Hedland at 7am, having got away early and topped up our petrol.  -We'd got up before the alarm as we didn't sleep too well.  Something in the pizza the previous night?

We stopped before and at Sandfire roadhouse, where we fuelled up and had an iced coffee.  -It wasn't enough.
We had to park around 100km down the road at a 24hour stop with shelter, where John had a brief lie down.  We downed some water and fruit, and that seemed to fix things.  From there we made it to our digs (Roebuck Hotel) in Broome.

The hotel is old, the light switch only works with a bit of cardboard shoved in it, and the bathroom fan doesn't work (a common problem).  Otherwise the room is OK.  A shower improved us no end.  We both arrived very hot and sweaty.
The temperature reached 38C on the way, before a bit of sea breeze pulled it down a few degrees.   John is worried about the temperatures we will face after here.

A new rear tyre is waiting here for John.  I ordered both tyres, but they aren't here yet.  Hopefully they will arrive tomorrow.  I probably don't have enough rubber to make Darwin.

We wandered across the road for a cooling drink.  The first place was closed (at 4pm).  the second one had a sign out, and customers drinking outside.  But inside they were mopping the floor and were closed.  Obviously the tourist season is finished here!
We went across the road and got our mango smoothie, at the Runway Bar, which is new to John.

Tea was a hamburger in the Roey (Roebuck Hotel).  It was large and tasty and decently priced at $18.  Too bad about the beer at $12.50 a glass.

Sleep came a bit late for me, not helped by the thump thump of bass from music in a bar somewhere close until after 12.  Broome residents must all be deaf.

5/10/18  We rode around to look at the 'sights', and a bit of a nostalgia trip for John.  We visited John's old workplace, an aircraft hangar complete with a couple of aircraft.  (He used to fly for Coast Watch.)  Security being what it is, we had to view the plane though a locked mesh gate.  They wouldn't let us in.

Here is John and MMBear at the famous Cable Beach, which really is lovely.  The water is just so blue.  There were plenty of swimmers.  We didn't think to bring our togs.

John coming out of Zanders across the lawn from the beach, after we'd had an iced coffee in there.  Went down well.

Then we rode around a bit more, ending up at the wharf.  It's a bit blurry, but this is John at the table where we'd just finished a barra lunch.  The fish was terrific, the chips were good, but unfortunately that's all that was on our plate.

Sadly, Broome is as far as we are going.

The forecast temperatures ahead of us are just too high in our estimation.  Dangerously so, and potentially turning the trip into torture rather than fun.

We could leave each stopover real early and do shortish hops to avoid heat.  But what do we do when we rock up at a place early?  Too hot to do much sightseeing on a bike, too early to check in.

We discussed options.  One was to go back to Perth and ship our bikes home from there.  (We don't need to do the Nullarbor yet again.)  We've decided to ship our bikes home from here, and fly home, as the least hassle option.  Expensive, but no more so than riding part way back.

Next time we need to get the timing right, and come a couple of months earlier (at least).  A caravan park I looked in on the way back to our hotel, was totally empty in the van section.  All the sensible grey nomads have gone home already.

We've disappointed the bike shop in not getting tyres fitted.  John's they had in stock anyway.  Mine were supposed to be here yesterday but weren't.  We didn't fancy hanging around Broome waiting for tyres to turn up.  I got a phone call at 3 this afternoon.  Too late.  We've booked the bikes on a truck.

(They were going to be very expensive tyres of course.  This is Broome after all.)

Sad to end our trip this way, but sanity has to prevail.

We had tea in the pub with my old boss in Perth, Eddie.

6/10/18 Sat

We rode to Cable Beach again for another iced coffee at Zanders and a sit around.  Then to a shopping centre to buy me a bag.  (John went out later and got one too.)  Snack lunch sitting around the pub pool.

The day was taken up with organising flights and bike shipping online, and trial packing.  (We can't ship anything on the bikes.)

Eddie shouted us tea at a local restaurant.  Too bad the Fat Yak tap wasn't functional (only Carlton draught on tap), and many of their menu dishes were sold out.  But we had a nice meal, followed by coffee and port at Eddie's Broome hacienda.

7/10/18 Sun
Lazy day.  Some washing, sitting round, John had a swim.  This view of him reading, taken through the foliage, makes it look all swish and tropical.  :)

Here is a memorial to the guys who started the pearling industry in Broome.  One of the plaques is in Japanese.
Behind are cones & marks where the road is going to be ripped up.  They are spending $6.9M refurbishing the joint.  Those statues will be moving to Dampier.  -So my photo will be one of the last of them in this spot.

(Photo taken on the way back from coffee & cake in a nostalgia-trip for John cafe.  Very nice.)

At 5 we went out to Zanders again, to watch the sunset.
A couple of beers, a meal, some rosé.  A lovely way to spend our last night on this trip, outdoors in the breeze at a terrific beach.

Tomorrow we drop off our bikes and catch the plane for home.
Here endeth this blog.