19 Aug 2016

Broometime

So! Back in Broome. Angie and I are back in Broome, and hopefully back to writing more regularly.

Lots has happened since April when I think we last wrote a decent post. At that point we were in Kalgoorlie just finishing up with working at the assay lab. That is where we did the work that earned us a chance at a second one year working holiday visa. It was not a fun job, but in the end we had met some neat people and while we were not sad to go, we left behind some friends.

From there we felt a pull from the north. We headed out of town on our way to Broome. It was a bit of a rainy day surprisingly, and we were making good progress. For about two and a half hours. Then the radiator of the van went boom...That was disappointing to be sure. Even more disapointing was the cost of a tow back to Kalgoorlie, the nearest place with a tow truck. It was going to be $1100..... We said no way to that and ended up limping into the next little town, only about 30kms up the road.

We got to know Leonora pretty well. It is a little town of about a thousand.... It ended up working out alright. We were only stranded for a few days, all of which we were able to stay in the van and test out our new dual battery and fridge setup, running on solar. We got out of there and had a long few days of driving to Broome. I wont go to much into it, but it was actually quite a nice drive for most of it. Lots of boring stretches, but some really beautiful bits as well.

Rolling into Broome was hot! The past few days had been getting warmer every hour. It was about 45 degrees with high humidity when we arrived, the last dregs of the wet season. Luckily it cooled off and dried out over the next week or two to bearable but still hot. The ocean was over 32 degrees which I have to say is almost too hot to be refreshing.


I walked right back into the job with the tour company I had been doing before, but this time setting up camps for the extended tours. It was a lot of fun, but was stinking hot work. One of the camps, at Cygnet Bay on the Dampier Peninsula is just spectacular. Set on the beach, not another human structure in sight, it is a pretty special place. Angie was working at the hotel again, but I managed to get her out with me a few times, including out to Cygnet Bay.

We were in Broome for about a Month. We left on the 4th of May and flew down to Perth. There we had two cold days enjoying the sights, and just before midnight on the 5th we got on the plane. What would follow was a flight to Sydney overnight, about a five hour flight. We had a couple hours there, then got on the long flight across the Pacific to Los Angeles. That was a long flight, but we landed in the morning and actually felt alright.

We had a heck of a time trying to figure out how to leave the airport terminal. We eventually figured it out and met up with Angie's friend who lives in LA. We had a nice little tour around. We walked up and down Hollywood Boulevard and had a bit of a drive around before heading back to LAX. We got back on the plane again in the late afternoon for the flight up to Seattle. We had a few hours in the beautiful Sea-Tac airport relaxing and having a little nap. We then took the last flight up to Kelowna. We landed just a few mins after midnight on the 7th. That whole time of travelling all the way from Perth to Kelowna had been on May the 6th....It was a long day. Somewhat ironically, and completely coincidentally, on our way to New Zealand the year before we took off on May 5th, and landed on May 7th, completely missing the sixth as we crossed the international date line. Time zones are wierd...



We spent the next month or so up in the Okanagan and on Vancouver Island visiting with Angie and my parents and relatives. It was really nice. Perfect late spring weather, nice and green hills. It was a very nice break. Also amazing to see all the people we had missed over the past year.

Also, we got engaged!!

We were not there for two long though as on the 8th of June we hopped on a plane again, this time headed towards Rome. We were to spend the next five weeks in Europe. Italy, France, Monaco, Germany, Czeck Republic, Austria, Slovenia, and back to Italy. It was amazing.

We met up with a couple of people we knew from Australia and from Canada. One of the highlights for me was going to the Austrian Grand Prix. I am a bit of a Formula One nut and it was amazing to go to a race weekend in person and see the cars and the drivers in action.

We did part of our travelling around Europe by plane and when it came time to get on another plane to head home we were pretty tired of staring at airplane seats. It was nice though as it took us home to relatives and friends again. We had another lovely month or so visiting with family and friends on the island and up in the Okanagan.

August 6th rolled around though after what felt like no time at all, and it was time to start the long trip back down under. It was a bit of a long haul going Kelowna-Vancouver-Los Angeles-Sydney-Perth but we ended up feeling alright when we landed again. I think we have learned how to sleep on planes....

We had supper with Angie's cousins from Kalgoorlie who were in Perth for a few days. That day in Perth was the coldest we had been in since before we left Canada in early 2015. It was 7 degrees and rainy and windy. Anyhow, it was not too much of a hardship to get on the plane for the "short" three hour flight up into the tropics and Broome.

Seeing the red dirt, white sand, turquoise waters and green mangroves which surround the town and then stepping off the plane into about 35 degrees was a nice feeling. It felt a bit like coming home. We went to the staff house where we had our cars, went to the beach, settled back into Broometime.

We had a bit of a lazy and kinda boring week trying to sort out what we are about, but as it stands now Angie is back at Mercure doing housekeeping again and I am working for Kimberley Wild training to be a tour guide. We were hoping that Angie could get on as a tour host, but as the season is winding down there is not really anything for her at the moment.

Anyhow, that is the state of affairs as they stand this morning. I hope to write a lot more frequently from now on. Cheers!

7 Aug 2016

Back Down Under



Exciting times! We are back in the southern hemisphere! Many of you will know what we have been up to the past few months, but here is a brief recap: We went back to broome to work, then back to Canada for a visit. We got engaged, then went to Europe for 5 weeks. We then went back to Canada for another visit and are currently in transit to Broome to start another year in Australia. Exciting times!