OMG 26!

26! Even saying that age gives me the he be gee bees. The years are melting away fast. People have told me this year travelling that between the age of 25-30 the years go in an instant. One minute your 25, you blink and boom your 30. Gonna have to make sure that doesn't happen or adleast not that quickly.

Compared to last years birthday in Los Angelas when I was on my todd this past October 13th was a hundred times better. The sole reason was down to Lauren who went the whole nine yards and more to make my birthday a brilliant day.

Waking up that morning I emerged out of the tent to find balloons tied to the tent porch. A little stunned I walked over to our table to a lovely "Happy Birthday" banner tied to the fence with more balloons. Lauren was there and congratulated me along with a card. At that moment I was thinking why all the fuss? But it's nice all the same. We had breaky and organised the gear we needed for the day.

Just to do something special that day we decided to rent a proper 4x4 and drive up the Cape Leveque road to Beagle Bay and Middle Lagoon. The area is called the Dampier Peninsula and is mainly off road. We heard allot of positive feedback about the area and were well up for the outback experience in the beast of a Nissan Patrol.

The driving was fun and Lauren got well stuck in. I waited till we were well off the beatin track and had a go myself. 4x4 driving is some fun experience and putting the foot down and sliding around in the sand gets the heart racing. During the day we stopped off at the remote Aboriginal community at Beagle Bay. The town is very small and is famous for the gleaming white church which was setup by a Catholic priest back in day. We pulled in had a look around and snapped away. A nice experience.

We headed off again and drove to Middle Lagoon. Getting there was a little trickier with the road being narrower with soft sand. The Lagoon is more like a bay, but looks fairly enclosed from the beach. There were only a couple of people around, so it was nice to enjoy our own company and relax. We brought along a picnic for lunch and as per usual attracted the annoying seagulls. After lunch we went hand line fishing off the rocks. This turned out to be a bit of disaster. With no bites, the sea pounding us and the lines getting caught amongst the rocks we didn't last long. I popped in for a snorkel to retrieve the snagged lines. I managed to free the lines, but in the process cut both my hands and feet on the dagger like rocks. After that it was time to give up.

Back on the beach we collected some cool shells. The competition was on to find the best one. Lauren took gold with a weird and funky looking brown and white spikey spiral shell. We collected 25 others to make the magic 26 for my birthday.

Getting late we packed up and drove back to Broome experiencing an amazing deep red sunset. Back at the campsite we splashed out and got Chinese takeaway and tucked into the Birthday cake for desert

If the rest of my Birthdays are like this I don't honestly mind getting old. Thanks for everything that day Lauren. It's something I'll never forget.

The Luxurious Three Man Tent

Whoop Whoop 26!

The Cape Leveque Road

Laur Enjoying The Beast

Check Out The 2 & 10 Position - Pro

Beagle Bay Church

Place Was Decked Out With Mother Of Pearl

Laur & Me

Nice Mother Of Pearl Inlay

Me & The Beast

Snorkeling Isn't Supposed To Be Painful

Nice Blue Swimmer Crab

Are You Naked There Lauren?

Lauren With The Winning Shell

Some Of The Shells We Collected

It's A Beauty!

Sipping Back On The Birthday Bubbly

Hmmm...It's Aint So Bad Being 26

Another Outback Pose

Vibrant Sunset

Rounding Off A Brill Day With The Birthday Cake

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Broome Broome Baby!

Like writing all posts it's hard to quiet capture the experience and relive it in words, pictures and videos. My four months in Broome were a definite case in point. Broome was a place where I met amazing people, lived like Ray Mears (bushcraft wizard), worked at a breathtaking location and partied most nights away with stubby in hand (usually Amsterdam).

Over the the four months in Broome I spent the majority of my time in a tent (the last two weeks I upgraded to a bed in an air conditioned hostel). Starting off in a blue two man tent for two months (which also slept my suitcase, guitar and very understanding girlfriend Lauren) I was given a random packed up tent in a bag from a campsite neighbour, which turned out to be a grey three man dome tent with porch. This was the height of luxury compared to the last tent with an abundance of head room and width. The tent did need some general repairs, but a little duct tape here, there and everywhere gave the tent some real character.

Tent life was something that I found easy to do and enjoyable. The heat at times was annoying and the fact that you had to get out of bed no later than 8:00am, hangover or not due to the soaring heat and humidity. Everything is just back to basics, which really hits home what little you need to survive. Cooking was simple with everyone chipping in and sharing. Nightlife was a brilliant time to chill, chat and listen to music. The other great appeal to camping is the cost, which works out really cheap compared to hostels or renting making saving easier.

I stayed in the Town Beach area of Broome for two months before moving over to Cable Beach to be close to work. I worked for three months in Zanders. A bar and restaurant situated perfectly over looking Cable beach with stunning views of the sunset. Working at Zanders was heaps of fun. All the staff were mainly backpackers and we had a blast. The annoying thing with working there was the average wage we received along with the "no tips" policy which was very frustrating when you work hard and give service with a smile. I did though gain some great experience in the hospitality industry, which might prove useful in the future.

Living at Cable Beach was cool. Most days we spent down the beach doing a variety of activities to keep us busy. I started to surf (well sort of) at cable. I got given a board which was a little to short and thin for a first timer like myself. I did enjoy though paddled around, wiping out and catching the odd wave. I tried to stay in shape with cycling, running and a few boot camps on the beach. With the constant heat though any tiny bit of exercise was a work out.

At night is really where the campsite wins over. In all the campsites especially at peak season everyone is in party mode and lives it up till the early hours of the morning. There were a number of beach parties I went along to on Cable. They were all free and BYO and usually had a proper DJ with decks, speakers and lights. Everyone went along with a couple of hundred backpackers there easily enjoying till the sun came up! Other big nights out in Broome were the famous "Wet T-Shirt" competition in Oasis every Thursday night and Bungalow. Broome's only nightclub was a dive, but was the only place open after 12. Stupidly difficult to get into and filled with drunk aboriginals, this place was a joke.

Other notable things that happened in Broome were working at the Broome Cup, the Miss Cable Beach Contest, the Staircase To The Moon, Dragon Boat Racing, the Malcom Douglas Croc Farm, Willie Creak Pearl Farm and my Birthday at Middle Lagoon (post to come on this soon).

Thought it would be cool to mention a good handful of people I met and worked with in Broome. These people made Broome the experience it was. Cheers guys and gals: Lauren, Jona, Simone, Brandon, Mel, Andy, Kev, Sarah, Dan, Anna, Laurent, Oli, Daan, Ben, Dave, Bean, Chris, Vinny, Vincent, Sandra, Jaye, Svenja, Niall, Donie, Rob, Yahn, Harold, Kenny, Alexus, Cedric, Jas, Jenni, Emilie, Siobhan, Vicky, Fred, Maz, Else and Eitje.

Cable Beach Sunset

From The Sunset Bar

With A Local In The Roey

Some Wet T-Shirt Action At Oasis

With Some Help, Setting Up At The P.C.Y.C.

Jamming Time!

Simone And The Drunken Clam

Beach Party Time!

Jona Showing How It's Done

Miss Cable Beach

Playing Feck The Dealer

This Guy Wasn't So Friendly, He Nearly Took My Hand Off After!

The Drunken Clam Got Very Popular

Down At Town Beach Before The Staircase

Staircase To The Moon

Another Milestone Off The List - The Broome Cup

Down Cable Beach

Looking Like Complete Tools

Out At Matso's

Saying Goodbye To Betsy And Jona

Dragon Boat Racing

Numbered Up And Ready For Action

Cable Beach With A Cool 28*C Water Temperature

Beach Party

The DJ's Setup

A Friendly Neighbour At The Palm Grove Campsite

A View From Work

Heading To Oasis

Bungalow Brandon

Lauren & Ray

Our Setup At Palm Grove

Another Beach Party

Ello There Mr. Croc

I'm Glad That Fence Is There

Ray With A Little Lad

Outside Divers - Our Local Across The Road

Out With Some Of The Zanders Crew

Lauren Mixing With The Locals

Willie Creek Pearl Farm

The Open Red Outback Road & Me Posing

Lauren Leaving :-(

Wild Parties At The Staff House

Everyone In!

Making The Dollar The Hard Way In Zanders

Where I Worked For Three Months

Drinking With The French -Cheaters At Every Game They Play, Lol!

Saying Goodbye To Mates

Outiside On My Last Day At work

The Aftermath Of Me Being Floured At Work

Bye Bye Guys N Gals, Zanders & Broome

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