Boab Tree

Geikie Gorge

Staircase to the Moon

The Sculpture

Cable Beach (Recently named No. 1 in the World)

Young Surfers waiting for the waves

Where has all the sand gone?

Cable Beach in the wet season

May Diary 2011

May is the beginning of the dry season and the tourist season so things are starting to get a little busier and traffic a little more difficult to manage. Good bye to the wettest season on record. There are still some outback towns and settlements struggling to get things back to normal. I am thinking of Gibb River and Warmun in particular. The Gas project at James Price Point looks like it will be going ahead as a recent meeting of the Aboriginal owners have voted for the project. However I can inform you that there are still a substantial number of local people working to prevent it.

I have visited Curtin again since I last wrote and conditions are much the same though the population has doubled and they have had a death in the camp so things are a little tense. I am trying to organise some computer classes for the detainees but it will take time to put this in place as this is not a priority. I have just delivered 10 desktop computers to Curtin so that is a good start. Now we have to find a home for them which won’t be easy as space is at a premium.

Life at Centacare has become quite busy as many indigenous people seek assistance to return home to their own country. We have sent home over 200 clients in the last 12 months so the tension around town has eased somewhat. Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing are the most popular destinations though we have sent people as far away as Darwin to the North and Perth to the South. Emergency relief has not slackened and our free breakfast three mornings a week is as popular as ever. The New Outreach Centre is complete but we can't move in until the adjoining building has been renovated. August or September will see the great opening I suspect. We are looking for a name for the new Centre. I thought of the ‘McNabe Centre’ after the first missionary Catholic Priest to the area in the 1883 - A most extraordinary man indeed.

Cable beach is still my favoured spot and the cars are now able to access the beach again after some particularly heavy erosion of the beach during the wet season. The International Polo game on the beach was a big attraction again this year though we did have one demonstrator drive his car through the playing area and into the Marque just missing horses and spectators. Fortunately there were no casualties. The camels are back on their daily trip to the beach satisfying many a happy camera clicking tourists. Town Beach was closed for a couple of days due to the sighting of a three foot salt water crocodile. I decided to delay my morning walk, which takes me to Town Beach, untill the all clear is given.

22nd May, was my birthday and there was little fanfare which seems to be the way as we get older. We did go out for tea in the evening which was nice. A recent trip to Perth to visit Doctors resulted in me been given the OK to go to England in July to visit my family. It has been six years since my last visit so there will be many new faces to greet from what I have heard. I am looking forward to the trip. I hope to spend a few days in Fatima during the four weeks away.

We welcomed Pat Kelly and Donella Brown to Broome on the 25th May. It was nice to have them with us for the couple of days. Other visitors expected in the next few days are John Rae, John webb and Brry Buckley. Needless to say we love having visitors and are pleased to show them the sites and make them feel most welcome. All it takes is a phone call.

Till next time take care.

Peter T