Today we worked through all the events we booked yesterday, well to be honest, it was more fun than work . First of all we went to Willie Creek Pearl Farm. We learned a lot about the breeding and fostering of oysters. The guys aver there at Willie Creek are really competent and explained with humor and expert knowledge. We have actually gone out to the farm on a small boat and were shown some of the oysters and what has to be done so that they feel well and produce good pearls. We were told that a big saltie was living in the mangroves at the farm area and that you could often seee him. But although everyone on the boat was really trying to spot him, we saw… nothing.

But nevertheless the Trip to the cultured pearls Farm that is one of the best in Australia and a real attraction in the Broome area was worth it and contentedly we drove back to the campsite in Broome.

After some shopping in Broome, having filled up the gas tanks of our LandCruiser and the cappuccino tanks of ourselves, we headed over to the next australian attraction: Malcolm Douglas’ Crocodile Park. Of course we could not miss the three o’clock feeding of the crocodiles. I was really impressive how these perfect killer machines that have not changed since the dinosaur ages captures their prey and slide back into the water like nothing had happened! They can see their prey on land even from under water and even when the surface is full of duckweed. It is not hard to imagine that people just disappered in the outback. Cleaning dishes in the creek in one moment, being crocodile chow the next moment… can definitly spoil the party. You should take the warning signs very serious, this much is clear. Malcolm himself had been there in the morning for a guided tour, too bad that we did not meet him personally. Especially in Germany he is very well knows and his “Walkabout with Malcolm Douglas” series is still running on german TV. He is 67 now and still very active for his Park. They still capture “problem crocs and bring them to the park, where you can see not only crocs but quite a few other rare and interesting animals.

The last attraction of the day was Greg’s Astro Show. We came there a little early and so we could watch Greg preparing for the show and assembling all the telescopes and stuff. We had followed his driving instructions and had seen a really huge building pit. His answer to the question what they were doing there was a very typical australian one: “They’re digging a hole” How funny… Later on we learned that the dirt for the dirt roads is dug out here…more or less what we expected. A little while later the show began and Greg started narrating. His soft voice was a perfect match to the starry sky above us and while he told us about the movements you can observe on the sky and how it all relates we began to grasp the bigger picture of it all. And suddenly all the astronomy stuff that we did not really understand before or were too lazy to think about became clear. Why are the zodiac signs moving how is the earth moving through the solar system and what does this mean in combinationwith the rotation of the earth…why does it make the stars move like they do. We play little bit with light years, the intensity of the light of the stars, the unimagable bigness and dimensions of the stars and the universe. And although quite a few clouds have appeared we can even see the rings of saturn in Greg’s telescope. Time flies and after what seemed to be only a short while we leave the scene with a content smile and not after having had a little chat with Greg about his website (www.astrotours.net) and the little astro website that I am running (www.lookatstars.com).

After a day full of attractions one better than the other we fall asleep.