This morning the 3 Clippers headed out together to park up at the southern end of Cable Beach, where vehicles are allowed to park on the very firm sand. We managed to find a spot and were able to take photos without other vehicles in the way. The tide was starting to come in, and we soon had to reposition the Clippers closer to the dunes to not be in the water. We set up an awning and I sat in the shade, with views of the azure waters and white sands, as I started to write a story up for the Clipper club newsletter, about the our grand adventure. The morning slipped away, while Brenda went for a walk and swim, David went out on his kayak, Matt and Ian spoke to all those walking or driving past that commented or asked questions about the Clippers, and Meredith did her uni work. Boats came and went, the tide rose and then started to ebb away again, families came and enjoyed the sun and water, people sun baked. There were over 50 vehicles on the beach for the day and to get a spot to enjoy the sunset, later in the day. The sand was was very soft and very fine, and we will be extracting it from the bus forever more, just as we were all day, from our clothes and toes.
After lunch, we headed back to ‘The ranch’ and left Bridget and Discovery behind and all boarded Trailways, and headed out to the Town Beach for the afternoon; to grab a prime position to later view the ‘staircase to the moon’. Matt and I took a stroll down the jetty, and spotted a small stingray, a large and busy school of small fish, turtles and more in the waters below. The tide was receding here, again quite rapidly, and the turtles were slowly heading away too, you would occasionally see their head emerge for another breath. They were too quick to get a photo of them. We set up our chairs in the shade, and sat and chatted. The nearby stalls were opening up, but they were the same market stalls that we had seen on Sunday. Quite a variety of food trucks were also setting up for the evening. Everyone went and grabbed an early dinner, as we sat and we watched the colours of the sky change as the sun set behind us. The crowds and park was slowly filling up with people sitting in chairs, on rugs in the grass or on the rocks in front of us. We did move onto the rocks, when the moon started to rise at exactly the forecast time of 5.53pm. The crowd got excited. There were over 1,000 or more people watching the golden new moon rise above the waters on the horizon, The tide had receded so far back, that the sandy mangrove beds and mud flats had been left exposed, and the moon light reflected upon the slight shallow pools of water left behind, creating the image of stairs leading up to the moon. At one point the crowd cheered the moon. We tried to capture some photos and a time lapse video of the phenomenon. It wasn’t long before the moment had passed and the moon was higher in the sky and the reflections disappeared. The crowd had already started to disperse and half disappeared, while others went to check out the market stalls and food trucks. Ian had managed to score a bus park right in front of the park, and we didn’t have far to carry our chairs and leave, and head back to the ranch. It was our last night together in Broome and on this Gibb River Road adventure. We were all wearing our new embroidered t-shirts that Ian had made up that said ‘Did the Gibb 2025’ beneath an image of a Clipper. We chatted for awhile as the night was still young, but as we were all weary and some of us have miles to travel tomorrow, we had an early night. Ian and Meredith head home via Kalgoorlie and the Nullarbor, David and Brenda stay in Broome, awaiting a new tyre, and some e bike parts and they will do an overnight flight and cruise to enjoy the Horizontal Falls, and will continue travelling for another month or so. Matt and I turn around and head east, and you can stay tuned to where we head next.
Yay that beautiful moon!
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