Gypsy Soul Tour Diary - Top end and Broome WA

23 August 2010
Stew spent pretty much the whole day working and I spent the whole day at the pool and writing a new song presently called '8 lives'. ' We have a sunset 4WD tour booked in the afternoon and we decided that because we were under the shade we could leave freddy in the van with all the doors open - safe and sound.

Scott, the owner of the station took us in his 4WD over his 20,000 acre property. Stew asked a lot of questions as he usually does and I just listened and took in the scenery and asked an occasional question - when I could squeeze it in when stew took a breathe. We saw a deadly Northern Black snake on our path slither to the bushes. Mt Bundy station used to be a buffalo farm and went broke about 30 years ago and now it's a cattle farm. Scott originally came from Albany in WA and moved here 3 years ago with his wife and kids. He can see tourism becoming a big part of cattle stations - the beef insudtry is a bit tough these days apparently.


Black cockatoo's

On his farm there are many WW2 relics. There were about 150, 000 soldiers stationed around there during WW2. He showed us places where they've still got deadly mustard gas stored still. Scott mentioned a story about a Polish stockman who found some mustard gas years ago and thought it was great insect repellant! .... he didn't last too long : )


Walking up the steep hill - no one said we'd be doing excercise

He finished up the tour by driving the 4WD straight up the steep side of the mountain (woah) to the highest point of the station where we had some wine and cheese and pistachios while he told us more yarns about station life and we took in the beautiful view. When we left the next day I gave scott and his wife a free CD and apologised for us eating every bit of cheese, pistachios and crackers on that plate. (we're pigs)


Snez the drunkard


Stew and Scott having a yarn on the top of the hill


24th August 2010
Today we're trying to get half way to Wyndham in WA where our next show is. It's a pretty long drive and we won't really be doing much sightseeing. Just listening to a lot of music. We found a lovely spot on the banks of Victoria River just outside of Timber Creek.
We didn't park too close to the water for fear of crocodiles. I had my binoculars out ready to see some action ... no luck.


Victoria River - nice



25th August
Left the beautiful spot near Timber Creek. As we passed through Timber Creek we had a quick look at the Timber Creek Hotel where we'll be playing on the way back through, in the middle of September. We'll be heading through Kununurra today - leaving NT behind and into WA.



We met a lady who reccommended us to go to Parry Creek Farm to camp. This was not too far away from Wyndham, so we decided to stay there. When we got there, there were bushfires all around - but not too close to be a threat to us - I hoped. The lady at reception said that there is a man who is throwing matches into the grass and creating fires and they know who it is, but until the police see him do it, they can't do anything. They even know his car and he's from Tasmania - typical :) At night we could see the glow of fires in the distance all around us.

 We headed in to town to check out the hotel for the gig tomorrow. Wyndham is where the Ord River meets the sea and is very beautiful in an 'old' way. It reminded me of Sofala (near Bathurst): an old township that hasn't been spoilt by re-development.  The water was brown and the current very strong. A lot of people catch their fish from here. We went out on the boat ramp and took a pic and to get a closer look at the water. On our way back to the car Stew got talking to a local, who asked "Did you see the two crocs that live at the water's edge here?" - ahhh! The two crocodiles normally hang around the boat ramp. He said the fisherman get in and out of their boats real quick to avoid them : ) Lucky us.



 The ord River in Wyndham WA

26th August 2010

Stew spent the day working on some guitar parts he had to record for a guy. I spent the whole day at the pool and reading. Currently reading 'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Bronte. I'm really enjoying catching up on reading.

Evening -
Tonights show is a door deal and Stew and I are a bit sceptical about a door deal in the middle of no-where and whether anyone is going to pay to come and see an act they've never heard of. As we arrived to set up there were only about 5 people at a table having dinner. I asked for Suzanne who booked the gig for us and the guy at the bar said "She's gone on holidays and I'm over-seeing the pub for a while". He said that he didn't think anyone would come tonight because there was a funeral that day and another funeral tomorrow in Hayes Creek. Bloody hell! We actually saw the funeral that day when we drove in.

We decided to wait around and see if anyone was going to turn up. The show was supposed to start at 8.30pm. By 9.30 it was clear there was no-one coming - so, we had some dessert and decided to call it a night ... mmm ... crepes with caramel and strawberry jam.


Wyndham Hotel - cute

We headed back to Parry Creek Farm for the night. I wasn't really too dissapointed about the show. I'm starting to learn that in these country towns you can't control certain things and entertainment is low on the agenda.

27th August 2010
Will be spending all of today and half of tomorrow trying to get from Wyndham to Broome. It's going to be a long drive it's over 1000 k's in 2 days. We won't be stopping much, although on the way back home we'll be passing back through the top end so we'll get to see more things then.

At Halls Creek we stopped for some veggies and Stew met some Aboriginal kids - cheeky. The said they had heard of Sydney - Stew said "It's the place with the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge". We ended up giving them a little concert and I gave them some postcards and badges.



We made it just past Fitzroy Crossing. We found a small rest area, we got there in the dark and had to cook in the dark which is very hard. The insects were all over us. We still have another 300 k's left on our trip tomorrow. Wolf Creek is somewhere around Fitzroy Crossing, we may stop in and have a look on the way back : )

28th August 2010
We got to Broome about 3 PM. We felt really excited. I think because it was only a few months ago we were talking about going, and I was booking gigs and now it was a reality. We were here! We passed so many travellers on our way up here and they said Broome was a hole! I can tell you now that Stew and I absolutely love it. The beach is gorgeous, the water is so blue. Apparently there are stingers in the water but they're not dangerous, they're kind of like blue bottles. They'll sting but you just put vinegar on it. The weather is not too hot here and it actually gets a little bit nippy in the night time. It's so fantastic that we're here.


Cable Beach Broome



Camel rides on the beach

We have a gig tonight at Divers Tavern in Broome. This venue is an original artists venue, so I'll feel quite at home. When I booked the gig, Mark the booker said that they normally get backpackers and a younger crowd at the Divers Tavern. We were meant to do a 3 hour show, but they asked if we could do an hour and a half show so they could squeeze another artist in after us. That was fine by us - we still got the same money.

Evening
We got some free fish and chips for dinner at the tavern, which was very nice indeed and set up to play. There was a PA set up already, but there was no sound person. Luckily we got there early because the sound desk was a mess and Stew had to find where all the leads went to and what power amps did what. Eventually a sound guy named Ji turned up to do the sound at the last minute.

We did two 45 minute sets. The first set I totally stuffed up because of nerves and because normally my audience is an older crowd and I wasn't sure how to deal with that. I felt a bit strange. I mumbled my way through, making stupid mistakes having difficulty talking to the people.

Second set I 'hit them over the head' with it - as stew says. My confidence came back, I interacted, cracked some jokes and even got some people up to play an air-guitar comp. Lots of noise and lots of fun. Phew! I didn't totally screw up the night : ) Although when we finished I was heavily dissapointed in myself.