The other half..

Last night we slept in our caravan beds for the first time in a week. Today we are back sharing a bathroom and outdoor space and living our lives in public in the caravan park again.

A week ago Farmer Bren's parents flew up to Broome for a visit and we moved across the road to a resort to spend time with them. We parked Frankie Blue in the resort car park and enjoyed a holiday from our holiday.

On the very first day there I looked around at the other guests and wondered what we looked like in our mismatched bathers and straggly hair. I wondered if it was obvious we were from across the road and I sort of waited for someone to tap me on the shoulder and politely ask me to leave.

It took one really long, hard scrubbing, loads of teeny weeny bottles of soap and shampoo using, shower to realise that my suntanned feet had actually only been incredibly dirty.

And it took a comb and lots of conditioner and a few loads of washing for our kidlets to look just like all the others.

We spent the most wonderful week enjoying Bren's parents. We ate gorgeous food, drank fancy drinks, swam, shopped, explored the landscaped grounds, played scrabble, walked on the beach, rode camels, chatted, and relaxed by the pool and in our air conditioned rooms.

We had a ball!

Thank you so much for the most wonderful week R and J. xx

When we arrived back at the caravan park yesterday I wondered the very same thoughts but backwards as I'd had at the resort one week before. Did we look different, a bit resortish, with our shiny hair and the girls in their brand new sun dresses?

For a few hours I felt a bit unsettled. Like I couldn't remember what we were doing and where I belonged. I thought perhaps we should have driven south to a new town or at least moved into a different caravan park than before.

But it didn't take long for the girls to find friends in the playground, for old caravan neighbours to pop in to ask about our week and for us to remember our camping rhythms.

We had a fabulous week and it's great to be back.

Frankie Blue - we heart you!!

We think we'll stay in Broome for a couple more days so we can see the Staircase to the Moon on Wednesday night and then we might pack up and head south to discover a new beach. We'll see.

Happy travels...

Sunset.

The end of another beautiful day in the west.

Another spectacular sun set.

A few drinks at a bar by the beach.

Incredible colours.

A little bit of magic.

A heart overflowing with happiness and love.

A sun...a ball...a muffin...a bed...a couch...a face...a piano...a shepherd's pie...a cupcake...a pyramid...a squished tomato...a lump...a speck...gone.

I told my girls this week that for the rest of their lives wherever they are when they watch the sunset I want them to remember in their hearts how much their Mum and Dad adore them. How precious they are.

I appreciate the luxury of being able to stop and watch the sunset each evening. To reflect on the day gone by and feel grateful for where we are and what we are doing.

I love watching the sky darken and trying to pick the exact moment that day becomes night.

I hope your weekend is all kinds of wonderful.

Happy travels. xx

Crafting by the pool.

It all started with this guy.

He was made one sunny day while sitting by the pool in Broome. He was made after a long search on Ravelry for patterns to make with only small scraps of yarn. He was perfect for this. He was also a perfect pattern to knit on a hot day. He is little and was quick to knit and made me feel happy.

But he wasn't happy. He was lonely and needed a friend.

I tell my girls to smile at kids they want to be friends with and chat with them, but this didn't work out for him.

So I knitted him a friend instead.

He is so much happier and nicer to be around now.

And then came the ball.

Some thought it was going to be a sand ball like the ones the crabs at the beach dig out to make their holes. Some thought it was going to be a jelly fish or a ghost.

But then it got some hair and became a she.

And then some arms and legs and a red dress. La-di-da.

Dolly in a red dress was another great hot day, by the pool in Broome project. She came out of a kit sent to Miss Indi from her new pen pal Eva.

A craft kit with all the ingredients needed for a project is the best prezzie for a traveling crafter. This kit had a hook, cotton, needle, thread, safety eyes and even the stuffing. Too easy!

Caravan critters are Raveled here.

Red dress dolly is Raveled here.

Speaking of prezzies, I have been so blessed to receive some wonderful packages in the mail lately. Enormous thanks to Miss Jess for Tim Turtle, Miss Abby for the huge bundle of goodies, gorgeous Fiona for the delicious bikkies, Jennie and Eva for the treats and my Mum for your new book. I am the luckiest duck!

I hope whatever it is you are making is fun and that you get some exciting stuff in the mail sometime soon.

Happy adventuring and making. xx

Bikes::Broome

After a week in Broome, we took the bikes off the roof of the car and headed to the beach. We could resist that seemingly endless expanse of sand no longer.

It was still early in the morning and relatively cool. Especially with the sea breeze.

We didn't make it very far.

The breeze was a head wind. The sand was a bit too soft. The water too inviting. The shells too interesting.

But while we lasted it was fun...and good for the bum...

I think we need to find out a bit more about tides and water content in the sand.

And I think Miss Jazzy has grown tall while we have been away and has outgrown her bike.

On the way back we met a Dalmatian called Stanley, a woman who came on a holiday to Broome many years ago and never left, a couple who told us about dinosaur footprints and a gorgeous family who are friends of friends.

And then we chucked all the bikes in a pile, stripped of our clothes and dived in...

See ya later hot potata. xx

Cable beach Broome...

When we first started talking about this trip all those years ago, it was the west coast of Australia that excited us. We had heard stories of glorious beaches with the bluest water and the whitest sand. Of turtles and dolphins, of rugged wilderness and undeveloped coastlines.

We dreamed of days spent on the beach building sandcastles, digging holes, walking, swimming, surfing the waves and learning to dive under them. Slow days with a bit of a routine. Afternoon siestas. Cocktails and salty chips overlooking the beach at sunset.

We are here!

We are in Broome in Western Australia, across the road from Cable beach.

We are falling in love.

We've been here for a week already and have no plans to leave.

Happy Father's Day to all the best Dads in the world.

And especially to Bren, the most incredible Dad of my lucky girls, and to my Dad, Bren's Dad and my grandad. Us four girls adore you all.

Happy adventuring.

xxxx

A walk & a winner...

It was late Friday afternoon in Broome. The grey nomads were sitting around on camping chairs in groups drinking, the families were gathering up their stuff and thinking about dinner, I have no idea what the couples were doing and it was time for us to pick a winner of the granny cushion giveaway. Yippeeeee!!

But how on earth would we choose a winner from such incredible, generous and funny comments??

The random generator thingy seemed too impersonal, I was waaaaaaay too hot and sticky in this Broome humidity to write out 150 names, the guy in the caravan next door looked at me funny when I asked him for a number between one and 150, so we decided on something else.

We would go for a walk around and let the Cable Beach Caravan Park decide for us. Somewhere here there had to be a number that means something to our family. Something about our time here in Broome.

So we set off to see what we could find...

It's Jeanine's 70th birthday and there's water aerobics on at eight am...

Not a lot of action in the fish cleaning area...No one to ask how many fish got caught today...

Farmer Bren tested if calling 1194, the same number he called when he was a kid, still told you the time on the next stroke...

Merv used to love site 161...

No number ones or twos in the public toilets while I was there...thank goodness...

No one swimming one, two, three, breathe at the pool...

It was taking a while and they left me to it and went home for a drink. I wandered around, got lost, called home for directions (still inside the caravan park), asked a lady for help and finally after what seemed like forever found my way back to Frankie Blue. What a sight for sore eyes.

And look what I found on the concrete right in front of our site! BBQ6, our very own site number.

Comment number six is Little Love!! Yippeeeeeeeeeee

Congratulations Natasha, email me your postal deets and I'll pop the granny cushion cover in the post next time we go into town. xx

My smiley girlies chose the postcard winners...Zippy-Zippy, Jacinta and Patrick (aged 12), Rosie and Bec. Please email me at foxslane@gmail.com with your postal details and I'll get your postcards written and sent soon.

To everyone else, thank you so much for your wonderful comments.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

We're heading to the beach tomorrow and Bren's folks are coming for a visit on Sunday.

What are you up to??

I hope whatever it is it makes you smile lots.

xx

ps. new blogger, you almost made me cry and you did make me swear!!

pp. Happy Birthday John!!