2nd - 9th September 2012 (Broome)

---

Days on the Road = 71 Days (10 Weeks & 1 Day)

Sunday 2nd September 2012

Today is another celebration of the Shinju Matsuri Festival with a street parade followed by a concert.

The street parade was held in the latter half of the afternoon where many people lined the streets coming into Chinatown and we waited for the arrival of the floats which are in celebration of multiculturalism, organisations and entertainers in Broome. The Carnival of Nations and Float Parade is an opportunity to encourage tolerance, understanding and mutual respect between locals, new arrivals and the ethnic and cultural communities in Broome.

It reminded me of the Christmas Pageant in Perth, minus Santa of course but none the less it was very entertaining and we saw many different designs of floats, colours, dancing, Elvis (ahubbahubba) and water bombs being thrown by both the crowd and the floats, it must be a traditional thing to do.

After the parade everyone congregated onto the main grassed area in Chinatown to enjoy a variety of local talents singing and dancing into the night.

Sunday 9th September 2012

Well we have been hit with a virus this week with firstly my eldest coming down with it, then as we are in such close confinement in the caravan it was only a matter of time until it spread to my youngest then to Charles. So we have been housed up in the van under quarantine, except for me, so far!

My eldest is now fully recovered but Charles and my other little one are still unwell and unfortunately cannot attend the closing ceremony of the festival so I've decided to take my eldest on a girl’s night out. So, we dress up to the nines and join another couple and kids we have met in the park and make our way down to Cable Beach Amphitheatre to watch the concert, saying goodbye to Sammy the Dragon and closing off with a fireworks display.

It was a great night out with my daughter and we thoroughly enjoyed the closing fireworks. You can never be too old for fireworks and the ooohhhhh and arrrrhhhhhs!!!

---