19.. Broome Port

Ohhhhh what a weekend !!!!
We were so happy to arrive in Broome, on Saturday morning and looking back there was such a comedy of errors.. which is funny now of course..
11am ish we toot into Broome, keith looks at a very similar but newer version of us come toward him thinking, I hope you know which way to go and he did, so they passed nicely..
Us little novices, only having delt with a friend in Darwin harbour, knew nothing of what was to happen or come. We knew we would have to get a covid19 good to go pass. So when we first got the internet semi stable, I got onto the net to find out what we had to do. We thought they would come to us or call us up. That didn’t happen, so when we got the G2G pass and app on phone we thought we were good to go!! Nah uhhh … lol
So we parked up near the other boats making sure we were not in their way, I got off the boat much better this time. No new bruises.. and halfway there hubby says we’ll put you in a motel overnight.. (I have only what I have on and bag , fast getting very wet from the ocean spray) .. tides are a big thing up here … you have to watch them.. so he dropped me off and came back to get wheel chair and graham..
All done we call a cab and hope for the best for the dinghy!!..
Welcome to Broome, Saturday afternoon where everything is just about shut, we needed a chemist and food, food first , then we went wandering around for a chemist, it was a bit far as was somewhere to get a freezer. Hot hot …did I mention it was hot… so we call a cab …I’m saying we are outside mcdonalds, he says on other end of phone which one, I said isn’t there only one its not that big … I’m near Bathurst and George … hits me like a bomb.. -S Y D N E Y-……yup I had got put through to Sydney… ack!!!!
So this taxi van comes along and (enter Jafar) we hail him down.
He takes us to Harvey norman’s and gives us his number to call him direct again… so we did… we found me a motel for the night.
Soooooo soooooft bed when you sat on it … horrible thing inside it.. like a band around the middle of the bed went screwy.. so I had the telly on , (see commercials about bunbury) lol and have a couple of bourbon and cola to relax me … ty to my hunny bunny …
The next Day is Sunday and we had got Jafar to meet keith at the slipway… tide was OUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTT way out.. so they had to park half way and walk in … left the dinghy out there…
I get picked up , keith has brought in all the washing, we go to the mall with woollies in it , early and nothing open, and when it does start to open there are no food stores .. fuel stn only had mangy , dried up looking pies and eeewww.. woollies where we are actually has some nice stuff but not this one … so I have a salad for breaky and hubby got some chicken slices and bacon n cheese rolls that normally are nice… nup not these …guess Broomites like different stuff than us southerners…
As we are walking out waiting for Jafar to take us to the laundromat.. I call the police to see who I call for fuel for our boat … begin the 2nd comedy of errors…*feel like I’m writing a play, or stand up for Celeste Barber*.. the cops answer and say they are pretty busy shutting the beaches down as they have had an incident and I should try the port authority , they will be open. Ok
Get to the laundry and get it all going, when I call the port authority. Mark, lets me know I’m in all sorts of big trouble but since he was on and didn’t see us arrive he’d deal with it instead of the harbour master dave. All we want is some fuel ..
So here it is girls and guys..
1.. remember that ship keith passed… that’s who mark thought we were. Error 1..
2.. we did call them, but due to intermittent internet, phones wouldn’t answer, I had a heck of a time calling keith on board let alone anyone at shore. So they didn’t receive our calls and we got blank here.
3.. filled out all the G2G forms and it said good to go.. so we did..
Of course calling from shore was much better for getting them.
3.. told them we were in town, he nearly dropped the phone…lol I think, I told him we were all ok with covid thing.. with lots of calls to here there and the other.. the cops(mike), the harbour master (dave) all while we were washing our clothes. We were told we had to stay put while the cops came to us to check us out. They had a plane coming in soon.. they had to check off. So they scan my phone with the covid app, all done, keith’s is *pending* oh crap …so I got the email up and thank goodness it was there … all scanned and done …free to roam Broome once again.. time getting away Harvey norman closed, we had been at the hot laundromat 3 hours waiting.. call Jafar (he is busy).. call another mob for someone that has a port pass .. got one ..yayyyy…
4.. enter Mark.. a bit of a panicker.. all well and good , the taxi driver knows the wharf well and the guys , takes me to the humpy with water shade and ICE galore (nitro you’d have loved it) so much ice … I loved it… anyway sitting there waiting for keith to arrive… he had called up the harbour bloke on the radio .. mark.. and got a berth and such… a bit of a wrong one… another boat in the way… so hubby did his best …and there was just a few steps on the ladder to the boat , this is what we were doing here trying to avoid me and ladders… so mark said to back up to the other one no ladder .. hubby tries but sea and air against him … off shore wind blowing him onto dock, and current doing the same… so he couldn’t turn out and got STUCK!!! Holy shit .. mark hits the panic button… I can hear graham crying lots, I wanna go home..
Amidst all he is texting me the same thing… I’m trying to calm him down … told him to get to and help dad … they try to call over a couple of fellas with dinghys that were just fishing and one just got back from shopping … after he unloaded everything he helped ..but JUST before it was gonna cost me a fortune… big hero of the day… guy in his 20’s, cool sunnys, a little too snug trousers, shit don’t stink type of bloke… says g’day mate, I’m gonna get that boat over there and pull you out to keith…
Keith shouts back no can do mate, the back has to come out first … while panicked mark and cool dude mull that over… along comes dave … slow walkin dave, well , he says, you know how to make an entrance Maria.. yup sure do ..
The takes me for a wheelchair ride right to the end of the dock where keith can get in easy around that other boat waiting for passengers…
And we all help me onto the boat .. Mr. Cool, Dave, Mark is somewhere and my hubby … we got pulled out backwards by the bloke that had finished off loading his shopping…thank goodness 10 mins tops…
After Mr. cool telling me he charges $650. Per hour, min 2 hours, but I can get it done in one, he confidently says…well mr. cool , mr. groceries got it done in ten mins…
Then the lecture , dave kept saying it must have been my hubbys fault … nah huh no way… it was mr. ( I didn’t see you come in) mark. And put him in the wrong berth .. and told him to move out and back to which we got stuck… anyway , can’t argue with them.. I got let off the 10 thousand buck fine for not calling in before going ashore, the 650. For the unstuck bloke coming out.. and all the rest … so I shut it .. the next thing is fuel (our original call) oh you’ll have to organise that online … arrggghhhh .. where.. not a quick fix … back to the boat with you missy and fill out those forms. The day ends with a couple bourbons, (we can’t get our wine for the life of us) and a game of cribbage or 9..
P.s the incident the police told of was a shark attack. First one in 27 years. An RIP for the bloke that got taken by the shark, and condolences to his family. So sad.
In the big picture, we had a very good day as keith had seen a shadow under the dingy going into the slipway.