HAVING A BEER WITH SAMMY BEFORE DEPARTING BROOME...

Crackers went off! Sammy woke up! looks scary..but the kids love it...and adults too..

THE WINNER IS:

One of the highlights of the festival,was the cooking of meat pearl by several local chefs. Pearl meat is worth $130.00 a kg. Each chef presented his own dish and gave the recipees. The lucky judges tasted allthe delicious dishes; spectators tasted pearl meat cooked outside the competition.

I ve found a picture of the stairway to the Moon...

limo/trike, the only one registered in Australia...

Shinju Matsuri

I was going to leave Broome to go South but the Shinju Matsuri festival was on...I volontereed to be one of Sami the dragon's leg....we had a ball...

Broome caravan parks and accommodation were full, many clubs have their facilities available as çamping overflow'during the busy season. people came from everywhere to see the staircase to the moon. One night I walked at to the sea at low tide to meet the light of the moon reaching my feet.
Greg runs Astrotours; if you want to know about what's going on in the sky, go on his tour.you will learn a lot and be entertained as well.he also owns 2 old Harleys and a Triumph Rocket

Broome

I got to Broome a few days before staircase to the moon and stayed at Greg's block; camping amongst the vegie patches, they called me the 'garden gnome'. Bumped into Carl who is travelling around Australia on his own. he invites me to go on his 4x4 to Cape LÉveque. we went camping for 3 days. This is the second time I get invited on a 4x4 trip and each time we have bogged the car in sand(Darwin with Isabelle). we tried to get to a beach for sunset and the heavy Toyota loaded with a dingy on the roof was struggling....enough vegetation under the wheels and we managed to get back to camp before dark for a cold beer! It was so windy that we could not go fishing. we visited every community on the beach and camped by the water on the East Coast of the cape. The moon came up with a stair, it was lovely. The next day we visited Bully's camp and talked to jeff, I recommend this camp particularly for fishing.
Sorry I cannot take photo of the moon with my camera...but if you check a website: Broome staircase to the moon'you will see some top shots.

Turkey Creek Road House had ran out of fuel as I was to continue my journey. Fortunatley the local Aboriginal community was kind to sell me some. saved me for waiting days or may be weeks for fuel. In June, Halls Creek had no fuel for 3 weeks!
I travelled to Fitzroy Crossing and stayed at the small caravan park in town. Friendly managers who gave me some lemons and turned the fridge on in the camp kitchen. On the way I happened to see a burning road train, 3mths old truck with a sign warning 'dangerous goods'it was loaded with pumpkins!
Walked along Geikie Gorge, had a beer with Red and made my way to Derby where I stayed with Wendy. We went to Winjana gorge, intended to swim but the hundreds of fresh water crocs were not very inviting...we had a great walk. This is the country of large boababs.

One place I had not seen in my travels was the Bungle Bungle. These amazing formations have been listed a National Park only in the 80's. I stopped at Turkey Creek and booked myself on a 4x4 tour. We were to depart at 5.30am but no vehicle on sight at 6am, I saw the bus in a field near the roadhouse and went over to look for the driver, he was fast asleep on the ground. Had to help him to prepare the bus to get going. there as rubbish and the steering wheel was in pieces, tools all over the ground....he had lost the key so he dismantled everything to connect wires to start the bus. Where was the key? in the lock of the bus side door!!!
we departed with a 2 hrs delay...the driver had a hard night and there was no commentary...fortunately the landscape was so beautiful ....

Back to Katherine for a night and then heading off West. The scenery was nice particularly around Victoria River. Camped at Timber Creek, lots of shade. Before getting to the border I had my last good run of speed on the bike without having to look for any boys in blue behind the bushes ....my kitchen bag was checked for fruit and vegies. I had been aware of the check point and only had muesli. Had to go without honey for a few days as this is a no no to enter WA. Changed the clock, 2 hrs behind....don't know why it gets dark at 5pm!
At kunnunarra I chose the Hidden Valley caravan park. friendly, shady, camp kitchen with fridges. lots of young people working in the fields, picking melons or planting succhinis. I bumped into Peter the cyclist who was hoping to work but disapointed to see the work going to backpackers. I walked to the top of the hill for super views, bought fresh vegies at a farm and flew over the Kimberleys!