.: Cath’s Blog:.

I wolk up at about 4am to hear a guy snoring so loud the room was vibrating…God knows how my Mother puts up with my Father’s snoring…I would be divorced in a month for sure…I have no patience at all! I tried coughing (loudly), which quieted him down for 10 seconds or so, moving around (bouncing, in fact) on my very uncomfortable mattress so it squeaked very loud and then I decided that it might be an idea to sleep somewhere else. You know, for $20 I cannot really complain…it’s only about 8 pounds, but still it was very frustrating. I went out to the car, picked up my blanket and went to the back of the garden to the beer garden and found a nice Hammock to sleep in.

There was a slight chill, but overall it was quite a pleasant night to sleep outside. People started to get up early and were kind of staring at me, who made me very paranoid, so I got up, showered, had my free breakfast and then I went for a little drive. The downtown area in Broome was very sweet…it had a nice quaint shopping area, only a few streets with surf shops, café’s and general stores.

I headed on back to the Last Resort to get Hannah and spent a few minutes on the web looking at the pictures of the celebrities at Glastonbury and the floods in the fields…I head the Coldplay sang Can’t Get You Out Of My Head…I would love to have heard that.

The weather turned a little chilly, so Hannah and I decided that we might head to Derby. I pulled up into the Shell Petrol Station behind a (4WD) Nissan Pathfinder and waited for my turn to get petrol. Before I could do anything I saw the 4WD put it’s reverse lights on and saw the driver glance out of the side mirror to see what was behind him (looking up instead of down at my wee car) and reversed into me. I didn’t even have time to take the handbrake off and reverse. I was shouting out the car (obscenities…and for him to stop) and he drove foreword and got out the car. I got out the car and looked at the front of the car…there was a semi circle cut into my bumper from his exhaust and scratches on the bumper from him driving his beastly machine onto mine. He apologized and then questioned that he did the damage!! I showed him what happened and then he suggested since he was from NSW he could just give me $100 for the repairs. I politely (nearly telling him to go fuck off) told him I would call the RAC to find out what I needed to do, since I had never been in this situation before). I called the RAC and they told me what information I needed to get from him.

He pulled his 4WD over to the side of the Petrol station, I did the same, got my details and went over to speak to him. He said that it was his fault BLAH BLAH BLAH and seemed ok…until…I asked him for his drivers license. He told me he would not give me his details without me giving him mine. I gave him mine and wrote all his details down.

I wasn’t upset, but I was really pissed off that my car had been damaged. I try and look after my things and things like this really make me angry. I wasn’t in the best of moods, so we decided to give Derby a miss until tomorrow and we headed down to Cable Beach. The beach was pretty, we watched the surfers for a little while and then went downtown to do a little shopping.

We went back to the Last Resort and I sat and relaxed with my book (laughing at Bill Bryson describing the British convicts being transported to Australia. Apparently by the late eighteenth century Britain’s statute books were weighty with capital offences; you could be hanged for any of two hundred acts, including, notably, “impersonating an Egyptian.” These Egyptian impersonators found the transportation a merciful alternative. I then read that these clever buggers sold newly arrived convicts maps showing them how to walk to China. Up to sixty at a time fled their captivity in the belief that that magically accommodating land lay just the other side of a vaguely distant river…too funny!

What a drama…I knew that today things would kick off with Patrick…and they did!

We had told Patrick last night that we all needed to get up early this morning, but when the alarm clock went off at 7am he decided to leave his lazy ass in bed.

I didn’t want to nag him like a mother, so when he got up I told him that we were wanting to leave as soon as possible. He took his sweet old time and me and Hannah got our gear together and loaded up the car.

Patrick finally got into the car around 8:20am and we went to the Petrol Station. I filled the car and when I got back in I said to both him and Hannah how much they owed me for petrol, shopping and the room I paid for the previous day. Hannah, as usual gave me the money immediately, Patrick however just sat there and I said to him “Can I have it now please Patrick!”.

He gave me the money but he looked pissed off while doing so and also didn’t have enough. I told him that I was really embarrased begging him for the money every time and didn’t want to nag him about it again. He said that maybe we should go our own way from here…THANK GOD! I know me and Hannah had spoken about this previously and were both quite happy about him going. I feel bad about it in a way but in a way I don’t as I shouldn’t have to beg him for money that he owes me.

We dropped him back at the backpackers and headed out on the open road. We had planned to try and make it to Port Headland or Karattha, but we were making really good time, so we decided to go straight to Broome. It was a long long long drive (over 12 hours) and by the time we got to Broome we were both exhausted and happy to find the Last Resort Backpackers could accomodate us for the next few night.

Hopefully my package will be waiting for me at the Post Office on Monday morning and we can head throught the Kimberleys to Kunnanura.