Christel’s Crazy activity’s

The very next day is our last full day with each other. In the morning we go to the Mango Place, to see the mangos and have a mango smoothie. 

Then we head towards Cable Beach. I have a bit of a surprise lined up, however I managed to mess it up. I forgot to load the picnic lunch into the car, so it’s still at the Samaritan’s in the bus. Jolmer goes to get it, and it’s lovely but we have no time to eat it. A caravan of camels have passed our picnic site and made their way to the beach and we have a date to get on them. The sun is burning brightly so we need a quick scoff down of the lunch, a round to the loos and a big slop of sunscreen followed by a fast paced walk to the North end of Cable beach.

There they are, plenty of camels lying in the sand in a neat row, joined together by nose piercings –don’t even think about running off, ripping out that nose ring will definitely hurt. Sure is one way to keep the camels in line.

 Laura is feeling apprehensive. She doesn’t like heights. Luckily all the chatting with Oma Els is paying off, because once they rise to full heights, Els is talking Laura right out of it. Hugo is also not impressed. He runs and screams when dogs are coming up to him, and these camels are a lot, a LOT bigger than the dogs he doesn’t like. Fortunately the crew is happy to put him on my lap and he too comes around quite quickly once we take off. Peter and Jaap share one camel and Tim -‘I’m-scared-of-nothing’ shares a ride with Opa Pieter.

Now people might not agree with me, but to me, I find the walk on the camel’s back much more comfortable than the walk of a horse. It’s a gentle sway from left to right. Mind you, walking is all we did. Gently is all how we did it. And it didn’t take too long either before the guide turned the camel train around. Let’s say I enjoyed it even more than I expected and have to pay credit again to Pieter and Els who have accepted my slightly weird let’s-do-something-different-on-your-last-day plan with an open mind and can-do attitude. The burning sun is not as bad up in the air, catching a little breeze, compared to ground level. So to anyone ever considering if it would be fun to go on a camel ride: I would recommend it!

The next day we take the grandparents to Broome International Airport. It must be Australia’s smallest international airport, or close. The common waiting area is outside, with a roofed area and a fountain in the middle. Doesn’t get more tropical than that. I am not a big fan of airport farewell scenes. The plane has a slight delay, and we just sit there, nothing much more to say, staring at our watches and the clock, looking at sad faces and waiting for the inevitable. I don’t like it. I guess nobody really does.

Finally the flight is being called for boarding. We wish them a safe flight, we dry some tears and throw in one final wave as Pieter and Els make their way to the plane over the tar mac.

Time for us to get rid of the Apollo camper. The black water needs to be dumped and the fuel tank needs filling. As we pull into the fuel station we witness the plane with Pieter and Els take off and fly overhead to the North. Godspeed.