Halloween in the Caravan
There’s that hair chalk. Much easier to apply when they’ve had a haircut! We were all in a rush as we thought the trick-or-treating was going to start at a certain time so we went for a quick swim, then discovered everyone was starting while we were in the pool!
TurboBug had to have hair chalk too. Because he has to keep up with his siblings. See the freckles? That’s because of LadyBug.
LadyBug (6) was the only one with a proper costume since she has her Elsa costume along on our trip. She wanted freckles on her cheeks and we printed out a crown for her to wear. She was Elsa last year too, I’ll have to find a picture and see how long this costume was on her back then. Her hair is wet because of that quick swim we’d had to cool down after our camel ride.
My camera lens fogged up when I took it outside. JitterBug (8) is wearing the Boba Fett mask, or maybe it’s Jango Fett, I can never remember. He’s got nerf guns tucked in his pants for weapons. TurboBug (2) was supposed to be Sven, the reindeer from Frozen, but he ended up a combination of everyone else’s. He’s got his reindeer ears, freckles, orange stripes in his hair, and fake blood on his arms and legs. So he’s a reindeer/zombie/princess/bounty hunter. Who had no clue what was going on. 🙂
I tried to get some better pictures of them after all was said and done. Here’s my zombie.
My princess, with freckles. She already has adorable freckles but wanted more.
My bounty hunter, sans mask. So basically just with blood and stripes in his hair.
And my reindeer. The older kids were horrified when I let TurboBug colour his reindeer ears because he was scribbling all over them. They’re his ears, aren’t they? I coloured proper colours right over the top of it but made sure his scribbles still showed through. He still had no idea what was going on, but people were giving him lollies so what’s there to complain about?
Trick or treating is not something I’d do in a neighbourhood here in Australia unless it was all arranged with the neighbours before hand. Otherwise you’d end up knocking on people’s doors who wouldn’t want anything to do with Halloween. They don’t know that trick of leaving the porch light on if you want to participate. 🙂
Blogging Frustratations!
My blogs have always been Blogger blogs and because their user interface is not the best, I’ve always used Windows Live Writer for creating blog posts. Unfortunately WLW no longer works with Blogger blogs and there are no plans for updates. I’d already planned to move my blogs over to WordPress, I’ve purchased the hosting and will be working on it after the new year. In the mean time I’ve downloaded Open Live Writer, which is wonderful, but there are a few things different which makes my blogging process harder. That also means it takes longer, and it was already taking a lot of time. So I’m going to skip forward again and come back to the things I’ve missed at some point in the future. We are in Perth for the holidays. We saw so many beautiful things in northern WA and it’s been such a lovely journey.
This is a roadsign we saw in Geraldton. I don’t remember seeing an echidna crossing sign before, so I was happy. 🙂
Anyway, I just wanted to say I haven’t stopped blogging, I am determined to keep this going as a journal of our trip. More to come!
Staircase to the Moon
Or maybe this post should be called ‘Our Attempts to See the Staircase to the Moon in Broome’. There are actually several places along the west coast where you can see the staircase to the moon, but the best known is Broome. There would only be three nights while we were in Broome that we would have a chance to see it. The first night we grabbed some fish ‘n chips and headed to a hotel that has a prime viewing location. It was quite busy, I can only imagine what it would be like during peak season. Unfortunately it was way too cloudy to see the moon rise. There was a fire glowing in the distance that rather looked like it could be the moon rising over the horizon and had some people happily snapping pictures of it, not realising it was a fire. When it came time for the moon to come up the hotel turned off all the outside lights but there was no moon to be seen. Other families we’d met in our travels were also there that night so the kids had fun running around with them and playing hide and seek.
Our next attempt had us at the beach hoping for a good view. We watched the time and hoped the moon would make an appearance, but we were again foiled by clouds. By the time the moon broke through the clouds the tide was in too far to get the staircase effect.
It was quite pretty, but yeah, not really a staircase. Just a nice reflection of that full moon.
If you do a search for images on the web you’ll see what it’s meant to look like. I don’t think the timing will be right for us to see it as we move down the coast so it looks like we won’t be lucky enough to see it, but we tried. 🙂
Sunset at Cable Beach
Cable Beach is one of those famous beaches in Australia. White sand for ages, warm water…it’s too perfect. 
We hadn’t been to the beach in ages. We’d had a nice sunset in Darwin, but no beach play because, well, it was Darwin. Croc country. So we hadn’t had a proper beach day since…somewhere on the east coast. Months. (Do you feel sorry for us yet?) Our first visit to Cable Beach had little TurboBug (2) sooooo excited. There are steps leading down to the sand, then a long walk to the water. I was lagging behind with him and he didn’t make it past the bottom of those steps. He immediately had his shovel in the sand and was filling up his bucket. He needed lots of convincing to go any further. 
Meanwhile the rest of us were fighting off seagulls! They were not afraid to explore our belongings when our backs were turned. The kids kept trying to scare them away but they’d just hover in the air nearby, not intimidated in the slightest! 
We came back another night for the sunset. We rode our bikes and stayed up on the grassy part with a good view of the beach. 
Plenty of seagulls in the evening as well. We see so many missing a foot or a leg, like this one that was hovering above us. We’d taken sandwiches with us that evening and the birds were very hopeful. 
I’m always drawn to these statues of locals. I wondered if this man, Lord McAlpine, was still alive because there was no date of death but he died just last year. He invested much money and time in the town in the 1980s, believing Broome could be a good tourist spot. He was given the honour of ‘Freeman’ by town leaders just a couple of years before his death. I wondered what it meant to be a freeman, a search reveals that the term originates with serfdom, of granting respected citizens their freedom. It’s still bestowed as a title of honour. 
Meanwhile, on the beach… 
Can you see the light from the lighthouse way out in the distance? It’s just a speck of light. That’s the lighthouse at Gantheaume Point. This beach was the beautiful white sand we could see in the distance. 
After sunset we saw the camels in blue heading back to their home. Camel rides on Cable Beach are one of those iconic Australian experiences in Broome. They walk the camels right down the sidewalk, all the tourists happily snapping pictures along the way. There are also camels who wear red, and others who wear yellow. I promise these camels aren’t on their own though it kind of looks like it from the pictures! They are all tethered together and they’ve done the route many times. There is someone at the front to clear the way and at the back to keep them in line. The camel bringing up the rear even has a light on the back to make them easier to see after sunset. I missed getting a picture of the camel roadsign in Broome but that’s okay, I got the one at Uluru. 🙂 
A camel ride was in our future, but back to that beautiful sunset for now! 
These sunsets in WA are spectacular. We are spoilt to get to see so many of them.
The Japanese Cemetery in Broome
We drove by the Japanese Cemetery a couple of times before we had the chance to stop in for a look. It would be easy to think it’s all related to WWII but that’s not the case, it all has to do with Broome’s pearling history. Many divers lost their lives here in Broome. 
Many were killed due to cyclones as well. In total there are 919 people buried here. 
The cemetery was so well arranged in perfect rows. So many of the headstones are made from coloured rock that it gives the cemetery a uniform look. There are darker, more modern looking headstones interspersed among the others. 
It was a beautiful cemetery, so different from the green grass I’ve seen at so many. The headstones were magnificent, I wish there had been translations available. 
This was the obelisk mentioned in the sign at the entrance that is dedicated to those who lost their lives in the cyclone of 1908. I have no idea how many names are on this monument but it looks to be numerous. A quick search reveals there were two cyclones that year, with many ships (luggers) and lives lost. 
We weren’t the only tourists stopping in that afternoon. I can’t say that a cemetery is high on the list of places kids want to visit, but this one was memorable. We exclaimed over all the gorgeous headstones and imagined the dangers of life as a pearl diver a hundred years ago.
Streeter’s Jetty, Broome
One very hot day in Broome we made a quick visit to Streeter’s Jetty. It’s not in use any more but it’s an important part of the history of Broome’s pearling industry. 
You really had to watch your step going out there, especially with kids around. It wouldn’t have been that far to fall but it would have been a really muddy landing! 
The jetty used to go much further out, I think it was the longest. See all the mangrove trees? We were there at a good time of day, able to see the water near the end of the jetty and the mud up closer to shore. 
As we stared at the mud we saw some mud skippers, then suddenly noticed these gorgeous crabs! They were so adorable, if crabs can be adorable. Look at that huge claw! Those are the males. These fiddler crabs live all up the northern west coast through WA to the NT. We hadn’t seen these before and their colour was so striking against the mud. 
We were all fascinated and watched them for awhile. I was glad we visited when we did or we might have missed them. 
On the way out I was taking a picture of the gorgeous rocks they used to line the path. JitterBug (8) climbed up for a picture and TurboBug (2) had to climb up with him. JitterBug squatted to be more TurboBug’s height. But of course little brother then had to squat like big brother. Mama moment, it makes me smile to see how the youngest imitates his siblings all the time. 
Then he wouldn’t leave until I’d snapped a picture of him by himself. Toddlers. 🙂 
One of the signs had a picture of the staircase to the moon which we were hoping to see while we were here in Broome. It happens when a vary low tide coincides with a full moon, the reflection in the mud flats creates the illusion of a staircase. 
Did I mention it was hot? Scorching. After this quick trip we ran for the air conditioning in the car!