Broome and the continuing saga of the gearbox.

We decided that as we were stuck in Broome we would do the trips from there that we were going to do from Kununurra in case we didn’t get there in time. So off we trots to the visitor centre to book a trip into the Bungle Bungles only to be told that they weren’t running anymore as it was too hot. So we decided to do a trip to the Horizontal Falls. These are like a waterfall but the water surges through gaps in the cliffs rather than over the edge. The trip consisted of a seaplane to Talbot Bay and RIB boat ride through the falls and then a scenic flight back. It was great fun, the guy driving the boat certainly knew how to get the most out of it!! Great morning out.

The following day was gearbox day. They promised that they would phone as soon as the box arrived but by 10.00am Graham was getting so impatient that he phoned them. It wasn’t on the lorry apparently it was too late to put it on when they ordered it on Monday and it would now be Friday. I will leave it to your imagination what Graham said but it wasn’t pretty.
Still as I have said Broome is a lovely place to be stuck. We had cable beach just across the road which is 22km of sandy beach with hardly a soul to be seen, The only draw back was that there was next to no shade which was a shame as we would have gone there a bit more. The town it’s self is small with lots of small shops to wander around and a couple of places doing tours about the pearling industry and exhibitions about how it all started and what is happening now. It started off that they were not so much after pearls themselves as the mother of pearl from the shells for buttons, cutlery handles etc. After the invention of plastics they at but lost their lively hoods. However they were saved after the war by the Japanese who invested in the area raising cultured pearls which in a way was paying something back considering they bombed the hell out of them during the war. We also met some lovely people including three Australian girls who happened to be going to Port Hedland where we got the wrong box from and took it back for us. We also were given some lovely fish one night that a guy had caught but couldn’t eat so every one in the camp kitchen that night got a nice big piece. The campsite had a nice pool and there was Internet access in the shop next door although we did have to pay!

Friday came and the gearbox arrived as promised but not till after mid-day. We took the van over to the repairers and it turns out that the box is not a reconditioned box at all but just a second hand one. By now I had Graham on a lead as I couldn’t trust him to behave! And to make matters even worse as if they could they wouldn’t fit it till Saturday which they did. We spent the morning wandering round the market and shops while they fixed it. In our rush to leave we forgot to do the shopping and stock up on beer but never mind we were moving again.