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Published: January 20th 2009
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We allowed ourselves a lovely lay in until 9.45am seeing as we didn‘t have to be anywhere. It’s funny as at home we’d think nothing of staying in bed late on a weekend, but while travelling we rarely get chance as we have to check out of the sites by 10am and it takes a couple of hours to get up, have breakfast and pack everything away ready for the journey.
It was Sunday but we expected everything in town to be open as even the small towns on the east coast didn’t close up until late. We arrived at the Visitors Centre around lunchtime only to see a closed sign outside. We were starting to feel frustrated - not only were the tours we wanted to do not running, and the national parks closed, but now we couldn’t even find out what was running because the one place that could tell us was closed!
To cheer ourselves up we drove into town to have a look around some galleries and shops instead. It was only a small town centre with one main street and a couple of little alley ways off it. The pavements were near-deserted apart from
some groups of people walking around. The shops and galleries were pretty much all closed. Even most of the cafes were closed.
We gave up and decided to check out Cable Beach instead. That was open but due to stinger season there was no swimming which made it an unbearably frustrating place to be in the heat. We parked at one end of the beach and had our picnic lunch sitting on a rock (the sand was too hot to sit on!) while looking longingly at the sea and some brave locals who were ignoring the stinger signs.
The wide stretch of white sand seemed to go on forever, or at least as far as the eye could see. The tide was right out and some 4x4s had driven right up the beach so that they were close to it. I didn’t fancy the long walk I’d have to undertake to have a paddle as it was just too hot. Plus knowing my luck I’d stick my toe in and get stung by something nasty.
After taking some photos we drove to the other end of the beach and had another walk. This time the water was
closer so Matt had a paddle.
The water was a lovely serene turquoise colour and even though it was hot and it was a weekend, you could count the people on the beach on one hand.
Matt was tempted to get his kite out but I pointed out that it was a bad idea in this heat. He reluctantly agreed and we decided instead to make use of the campsite pool for the afternoon.
The water was actually warm in the pool - like stepping into a lukewarm bath. Still it was cooler than the air temperature and once we got in we didn’t want to get out. We both agreed that it was the best pool we’d seen on the trip so far - salt water with a great filter system that meant there were no floating bugs plus there was a landscaped waterfall using local sandstone.
After a quick dip I realised how late it was getting so we had a shower, did some washing and got ready to go out.
The movie Australia was showing at the Sun Pictures cinema - a 90 year old movie theatre in town. It was half
under a cover of corrugated iron roof, and the other half of the deck chair seating was outdoors along with the screen. It was next door to the airport and we’d heard that when small planes come in to land they almost skim the top of the screen. Unfortunately for us we didn’t see any during the film, but we did get to see some massive bats flying across the front of the screen, and for most of the film a gecko sat in the middle of the picture. At one point a cat walked out and stole the show!
Watching the film while being in the gateway to Kimberley was fantastic. The scenery was beautiful and it just felt right to be watching it there. Especially as the cinema used in the film was a direct replica of the cinema we were sitting in! Apparently the film makers had been and taken measurements then rebuilt it for the shoot to the exact specifications.
The evening was perfect in every way and we both left the cinema feeling that we’d had one of the best nights of our trip so far.
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