Ancient and modern - 19 July

Up at 6.30 am, and packed up by 7am. Reason for the early start was that low tide is at 7.20 am, and this exposes dinosaur footprints at Gantheaume Point, about 5km from Broome.

There are plenty of them - different species, although some of the footprints take a leap of faith to believe they are footprints and not just coastal erosion!

After an hour or so searching for footprints, we relocated to the Broome port. We had heard that a cruise liner was due in, but on arrival it was not there as yet. The Shawcross boys are mad keen fishermen (their dad has a boat for this purpose). They had no luck, but from the pier we saw huge milkfish (1 metre long) and Queen fish. Someone caught a porcupine fish (puffer fish) - which puffed itself up - they threw it back as it was not good for eating. Another fisherman landed a snook, - a slim long fish with razor sharp teeth, In the water we also saw a sea snake, probably 2 meters long, which surfaced several times.

After that cable beach called. This time we splashed out and hired a parasol (blazing hot) and hired the kids boogie boards to surf the waves which they all enjoyed. Yesterday Joesph was pretty nervous of the water  due to the ferocity of the waves, but today was more confident splashing around in the surf and having a bit of a swim.

While at Cable Beach we phoned our next intended location (Coral Bay) which we hope to get to after 2 nights on the road. Unfortunately all completely full and advising us not to bother. So instead we tried Exmouth a bit further up the coast, but still on the Ningaloo reef, so we will be going there instead.

On leaving the beach, we returned to the port to see the cruise ship which had docked at the pier (Sun Princess, 2000 passengers), and then had a drive around Broome to remind ourselves of our last visit there - but to be honest very little was familiar from our last stay.

Finally a good Aussie BBQ with the Shawcross family - with some added salads donated by grey nomads who were having a party with leftovers.

Just time for a couple of gins (to reduce waste and fuel consumption) before bed......

We may not be in network coverage for the next couple of days = so not sure when the blog will be updated next!

Dinosaur Footprints

Barnaby Bear gets up close with dinosaur footprints!

Barnaby Bear finds dinosaur footprints comfortable

In a rockpool

Iconic Australian photo 1

Iconic Australian photo 2

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Liz and Jim like to boogie!

Joe and Harry bury their differences on Cable Beach

Broome's population of 6000 increases by 2000 for the day....