Jan. 24-25: Broome, Western Australia, Australia!

We made it to Broome! As I understand it, I went to Perth as a baby, but have no memory of it. So this is my first time (that I remember) in the state of Western Australia and my first time ever ever ever heading north from Perth!

The flight to Perth was rather uneventful. After the long flights we took to get to Australia, 4 hours seems short! We landed in Perth and had about an hour before our flight to Broome. The two gates were right next to each other so we had time to stretch our legs and get some bean burritos for dinner. The flight to Broome was just under 2.5 hours and was rather uneventful, too. We landed at 6pm Broome time (which was 9pm Melbourne time) and the girls were definitely feeling it. Broome is much like Gladstone's airport, of which I have fond memories of visiting Oma over the decades. It's small, there are no gangways and there is only one baggage claim carousel. That said, it took FOREVER to get the luggage off the plane! G headed to get the rental car (which is it's own story!) while the girls and I waited for all the luggage. I pushed two luggage carts out to find G with the rental car and off we went. We got to the "Broome Beach Resort" (a family-friendly cluster of individual cabins with a communal swimming pool) by 10pm Melbourne time and immediately got the bedroom ready for the girls (which entailed bringing a single bed down from the loft-bedroom upstairs and putting it in with the 2 single beds in the bedroom downstairs). Ii was yelling about needing dinner, while simultaneously rubbing her eyes and yawning. G read them one book and they passed out instantly.

Then the morning came. Much like when we landed in Melbourne, the girls were jet lagged! They slept until 7am ... Melbourne time! HA! Another 4am wake-up was upon us. But it felt ok as G and I were asleep by 11pm Melbourne time (which was, remember, only 8pm Broome time). We all had a/c on while we slept due to it being 95 degrees and 98% humidity outside! We slept like rocks.

Jan. 25: our first full day in Broome. After the 4am wake-up and a small amount of food in our cabin, we headed to "The Good Cartel" for a real breakfast. We learned that the partner of the woman who owns the place is from Oregon! Small world, given we probably could not be (much) further from Portland right now! The soy latte I got was fantastic. Australia has won over this self-proclaimed coffee snob! I love the lattes here!

Long story short: we took the first rental car back, got a second one, and ended up returning the second one at 5:45pm and getting the first one back. Seriously, ask me in person one day about this story. It may be funny by then! HA!

Knowing it was meant to be very rainy today, we headed to Target in Broome to get some games. The girls chose "Hungry, Hungry Hippos" and "Connect 4" and "Toilet Trouble" (a hilarious game where two people race to turn the toilet paper roll faster than the other so as to avoid being the one who gets sprayed by water from the toilet bowl - Ii chose that one). On our way back to the cabin, we stopped at the famous Cable Beach to check it out. Breathtaking. We got back to the cabin after intense rains to a sun break - and headed to the pool! We had such fun playing in the pool for ages before heading back to the cabin for some lunch. Then more and more and more rain came. SO. MUCH. RAIN! It was still hot hot hot outside but not as humid. We enjoyed blowing bubbles (we also got some bubble wands at Target) on our verandah while the rain fell.

After more rain, we got another sun break, and at 5pm, we headed to Cable Beach again. We have heard that turtle hatchlings can be seen at dusk and dawn so we may head there - it's a quick walk to one beach entrance and a short drive to another - tomorrow morning if the girls are up early again. G and Ii put their feet in the water (it was low low low tide so a long way away) while S and C and I played in the sand. We then headed back to the cabin to more rain, dinner, a shower and an early bedtime.

Internet at the cabin isn't working and only accessible while sitting at the pool. I'll add pictures later. For now, over and out from Broome, Western Australia, Australia! (for those who don't know, Western Australia, aka WA, is the state that Broome is in)