BROOME

The kids looking at sea creatures in the rockpools at Gantheaume Point

Will have to start pureeing food at this rate!!

One of the 120 million year old dinosaur footprints

A dinosaur footprint - oh and the one on the right is a dinosaur footprint too!

All of us at Guntheaume Point at sunset

The most beautiful sunset in the world!

Father and son contemplating the universe

Husband and wife contemplating ....

The lighthouse at Gantheaume Point with the Osprey nest on the second landing - you may be able to see some of the birds perched on the lighthouse.

DAY 58 – BROOME                                                                 Monday, 29^th August

This morning was Beth and Mummy time so we did some jobs around town, went shopping and Bethie bought a toe-ring!  I have always wanted one of these so am very jealous.  She, too, is now looking very “Broome-like”!  It is so nice to have some one on one time together – it happens so rarely in a big family.  She is growing up so quickly now.  It seems every time I turn around, she has a new look or expression that I have not seen before.  It is such a beautiful age – she loves having a joke with Dad, or being complicit in the workings of the Tooth Fairy.  She is the perfect big sister, thinking up better excuses than me as to why the Tooth Fairy might have forgotten to collect Bridget’s tooth one night.

Off to the beach again this afternoon for more boogie boarding (pretty non-existent surf this afternoon), and more sandcastle building (getting more impressive with each session).  No dinner on the beach tonight because we went searching for the dinosaur footprints which are visible off Gantheaume Point only at very low tides.  So we all met out there at 4:30pm and gingerly climbed down the rocks which are very slippery with sand and sea creatures (as they are normally covered in water). 

We managed to find the first set of prints easily (OK, let’s face it, there was no “we”.  The kids found the print while I was still negotiating my way down the rocks and peering at interesting sea coral in the rockpools!).  The second foot print was obviously of an entirely different type of dinosaur.  In some ways the kids were fairly blasé about it all.  I suppose that happens when SO MANY amazing things happen in your lifetime.  But I was very moved by the fact that these prints had lasted about 120 million years, and enjoyed listening to my “frustrated geologist husband” telling me how these prints were preserved and others were not.  We saw Anastasia’s Pool also, built by a lighthouse keeper for his arthritic wife amongst the rocks

The sunset from Gatheaume Point was, AGAIN, absolutely stunning.  We also got a good view of the Osprey nest up on the lighthouse landing.  Weighing half a tonne and carrying, I think, two chicks, it is a most impressive site, and you will have to forgive me for sending photos of it.