Broome

The Roadhouse at the Broome turnoff is a cool refuge from the heat, everyone is hot and hungry so we pile through the door into a diner straight out of America, its walls decorated with numberplates, cheap souvenir merch, there's sports on the tv and beer swillers holding up the bar. It even smells of American food. Most of these big roadhouses have a separate area for the trucks to fill up as the road trains here are incredibly long. We pull up next to one of the biggest ones we’ve seen and he’s topping up his adblue on the right and has two diesel tanks filling on the left. My jaw drops as I see just how much fuel is going in, $1500 later - check the photo.

We bust down the road and almost miss the poorly signposted Crocodile Farm. We enter through the jaws of the crocodile where we hold baby crocodiles and watch the fully grown ones eat their lunch. The noise of the jaws as they snap the meat being lobbed at them is more terrifying than the stanky smell of their pond. As the guide finishes up he calls, ‘you may want to move back quick if you don’t want to be covered in mud’ and sure enough as soon as he picks up his bucket the crocs turn with sweeping tails splash mud over the crowd - they’re off to the refuge of the green pond. The large males have the territory of the feeding area and they allow the other crocs up there during feeding but when that’s over its all over. They keep the water murky to give the crocodiles somewhere to hide.

We stop in town to restock the supplies and due to local alcohol restrictions Ben has to register his purchase of beer with identification. There is a large population of homeless aborigines in Broome. Driving from town to Cable Bay we pass through a new subdivision, the second of the three little pigs has designed these homes as they are built entirely of tin complete with steel framing. They might not keep out the big bad wolf but will definitely keep the termites at bay. It may also be because Broome is miles from anything and trucking brick must be too expensive. 

We check in to our site in Cable Bay and enjoy three nights here schooling, working and swimming - the weather is hot, clear and calm. The beach is long and flat and popular with 4wd enthusiasts and at sunset they all come out and over 100 of them drive down to watch the sunset, it’s just unbelievable. 

One afternoon we join the red camel tour, and it’s a lesson on camels upon camels. The guide has so many interesting facts about camels and their importance in Australian history. We enjoy watching the day disappear into night at the sunset bar, while Ben, Alila and April devour the best smelling pizza. Soon the pizza is gone and the noticeable scent of camel is wafting in on the warm breeze, the last rays of sun are just a glow over the sea and the camel train passes on their 4 km trek home to enjoy their daily reward, one juicy carrot. 

Between Coral Bay and here there are millions of termite mounds of different sizes and shapes, but they’re everywhere. I go down a google rabbit hole and stay up way too late reading all about termites - very interesting.