The next morning the kids were keen to do some more bike riding into town (except Lauren who was enjoying a sleep in). So at about 7.30, myself, Sam, Hannah and Bethany donned our bike helmets and backpacks and, with map and shopping list in pocket, we rode off towards Woolworths to do some grocery shopping. It was about a 20min ride, but all flat (and not too hot that early in the morning). We bought the groceries and loaded them into the backpacks and headed back to the van (with a stop at the playground halfway home). It felt good to get some exercise. We then packed up the van and set off.

Before leaving Derby, we drove back down to the jetty so we could see low tide (just after 10am). There was a huge difference from high tide. The water’s edge was all the way out under the far end of the jetty. There were hardly any people there at this time of day. After the jetty, our next stop was just a few kms south of Derby at the prison Boab tree – a Boab with a girth of 15m wide which was used as an overnight ‘cell’ for aboriginal prisoners in the past. In the same location was Myall’s Bore – a 120m long cattle trough (the longest castle trough in the southern hemisphere).

We then had a 2 and a half hour drive SW along the Great Northern Hwy to Broome. We checked into Cable Beach Caravan Park at about 3pm and were set up quickly. We then went to check out the pool. It was devine! One of the nicest pools we’ve come across at a caravan park. It was a lovely temperature, saltwater, a big size and nice design. There were plenty of sun loungers all around the pool. Even Michael got in the water this time, which is very rare.

That night we went to see the ‘Staircase to the Moon’, a natural phenomenon caused by the full moon’s reflection on the mud flats. It only occurs 2 or 3 nights of the month between March and October. We were lucky to be able to time it to be in Broome on the final night of the 3 nights in September when it would occur. It can be seen at a few places along the NW coast of Western Australia, but it is most well known Roebuck Bay in Broome. The moon rising was scheduled to be at 8.05 that night, so it was going to be a lateish night for Bethany. We left the van park around 6pm to go and buy fish and chips from a shop in town. We then took it to the Apex Park at Roebourne Bay and sat on a blanket near the beach to eat it. We still had a while to wait, so we played some games like ‘chinese whispers’ and did a massage train like they had done in ‘Are We There Yet?’. Eventually it got to 8.05pm and we saw something – but it took a bit longer for the moon to show through – we realised later that this was because there had been a bush fire nearby that day and the smoke was still hanging around. So the ‘staircase’ effect wasn’t as good as usual, but it was still good to see a partial staircase. Bethany fell asleep on the way home and we all went to sleep soon afterwards.