Broome

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Tuesday 6th June and we head out of Barn Hill along the 9 k’s of red dirt and 3 gates to open and close and drive the final 180 odd k’s to Broome. Headed straight to Cable Beach CP and got a fairly good site on gravel. No grass here except in the old part of the park populated by mainly, you guessed it, retirees from Perth set up semi permanently for the winter. It seems to me that if you arrive in Perth in winter you would think noone over 60 lived there. This CP has over 480 sites so it’s pretty big and you are very close to your neighbours. There are a number of parks in Broome and some a lot smaller and grassed. Would stay at one of them next time as you can’t see the beach from any of them and Cable Beach is a long way out of town. At first glance we were disappointed with Broome. We expected a more upmarket place like Noosa or the like. It is quite spread out and the main shopping area is China Town with lots of Jewellers and cheap souvenir shops. We did a town tour for 4 hours the first morning and were open to changing our original thoughts. This really is the best way to find out about a town when you first arrive - we got so much info from the beginnings of Broome to the Pearling industry and the Japanese bombing in WW2. It also gave us an insight into what tours we wanted to do and places we wanted to see etc.
We ended up staying in Broome for 10 days so I won’t bore you with day by day happenings but just touch on the interesting bits. The pearling industry is the biggest thing up here and the history is fascinating. The money made had been and still is enormous. We toured Willie Creek Pearl Farm and found out how the cultured pearl is grown over 2 years. Saw some beautiful pearls from just about perfect round lustrous balls to irregular but still gorgeous gold, grey and champagne coloured ones. The oyster shells are now specially grown and are about the size of a small dinner plate. If a shell produces a good pearl first time round, the shell can be used up to 3 times before being thrown aside. Even then the shell can be polished and used for all sorts of purposes. Original use was of course for Mother of Pearl buttons, cutlery handles, combs and all sorts of frippery, but the bottom fell out of that market with the invention of the plastic button. Mr. Mikimoto in Japan then discovered how to actually cultivate a pearl and the cultured pearl industry was born. Broome produces bigger saltwater pearls than anywhere else in the world and the industry is sustainable and as long as we want to wear these beautiful gems someone is going to continue getting very rich.

Another day we went on a trip to the Horizontal Waterfalls a one hour flight north of Broome in the Buccaneer Archipelago. This tour involved a 5.45 a.m. start and it was damn freezing as we set off to the airport. The Horizontal Waterfalls are a natural phenomenon as tides of up to 10 metres are forced through an opening of about 20 metres. You transfer straight from the plane on the water to a wave rider boat that takes you through the gap. The ride through this opening can be very exciting but we arrived as the tide was turning and the falls were more like a millpond. Nevertheless, we transferred to the houseboat, breakfasted on ham and cheese croissants until the tide had properly turned. The next ride on the waverider was a bit more exciting and the ride through the surrounding bays and gorges was fantastic. Richard, our tour guide, obviously saw himself as a bit of a Crocodile Dundee/Steve Irwin character and was lucky enough to be based out there in the middle of nowhere on the houseboat taking people through the falls day in and day out. Having said that even though it was isolated there were a number of big boats in the bay, one had a helicopter on the top deck and flew passengers over the falls. We flew back to Broome west to Cape Leveque then southwest over Beagle Bay. It was great seeing all this from the air as the next day we went overland to Cape Leveque.

Another early start, 6.45 a.m. this time. Clive was our guide and he loaded us into the back of the Troop Carrier with thee others in the back with us - facing inwards - and 2 more in the front with him. The road was terrible and the first 120 k’s or so to our first stop at Beagle Bay seemed to go forever. Stopped here for morning tea and to see the Sacred Heart Church, which features pearl shell as decoration. Beagle Bay is an aboriginal community and our first experience of having to pay $5 per head to go into the community. The church and school are still under the auspices of the Catholic church and the ‘dry’ community is quite a tidy well run place. We did have to laugh at one of the cars though, driving around with what looked like a whole family and no bonnet on the car at all. Clive was very informative about how the community works and we were surprised to hear that this community has chosen not to work for the dole. I was unaware that there was a choice. Anyway headed on for another bone jarring 100 k’s to Cape Leveque where we found the Kooljamin wilderness camp right on the edge of the Dampier Peninsula. This whole area was just outstandingly beautiful. The resort is jointly owned by two Aboriginal communities and is really well run. If we had realised how beautiful it was and that there was accommodation, we would have stayed a few days. They have luxury, self-contained safari tents right through to palm shelters for camping. You can only fly in or 4WD so it is wonderfully isolated. The photos will explain the place more that I can. We had lunch here on the beach - Clive set it all up whilst we had a swim. What a man!! After lunch our aboriginal guide Robert Sibisado, arrived and he took us out on canoes to do some snorkeling on the reefs. We had a ball but the best part was trying to get back into the canoes after our swim. Glad there were no cameras. Robert then took us into the community (another $5 charge), where we spent some money on souvenirs at the store. We were really pleased to be able to spend some money here as the community is working really well together. Lombadina is made up of 2 communities, Lombadina and Djarindjin. They are separated by the cemetery, one is dry and the other has a wet canteen or bar. The dry community Djarindjin, does NOT work for the dole and looks like a third world country whereas Lomadina does work for the dole and is a viable little community, very neat and tidy and sprinklers going on the lawns. This community owns graders and other machinery and work all along the cape making a living. They are really working hard to build up their tourism opportunities as well and people like Clive have a great deal of respect for what they are achieving. Having access to alcohol is not a problem for them - how do you explain that? Had plenty of time to contemplate this and other weighty matters as we were jolted over 200 k’s of corrugations in the pitch black back to Broome. This was a wonderful day out and a real highlight of our trip so far. When we did get home, the cook went on strike so John hoofed it into town for Chinese takeaway. He knew not to come home empty handed so had no choice but to pay the $24 for a prawn omelette and $15 for fried rice. Don’t think Chinese will be on the menu again until we leave Broome at least.

We ended up staying in Broome for 10 nights and really did a lot. Ate out at a couple of really nice restaurants, went to the open air movies and watched ‘The World’s Fastest Indian’, watched the Wallabies flog England on telly as well as some great Socceroos’ games. Also caught up with Walter and Marlene from Coffs and had lunch with Irene and Bruno on our last day there. Tracey, Wayne and the gorgeous Bailey were also at the Cable Beach CP so I got my Nanna hugs from Bailey. Spent our last night in Broome having happy hour with Jill and Wayne who had arrived a day or so earlier, and quite a few other travellers who had gathered around their site which I think became party central from what the grapevine tells us. Had dinner with them at the ‘Old Zoo’ restaurant had far too much wine and were very slow to get up the next morning and pack up and head off to Derby.

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Photos

Cable Beach
Sunset - stating the obvious!

Horizontal Waterfalls
In the Buccaneer Archipeligo

Seaplane
Our transport to the Horizontal Waterfalls

Cape Leveque from the air
Returning from horizontal waterfalls

Beagle Bay
The famouse Sacred Heart Church

Safari Tents at Cape Leveque
The views from this balcony were fabulous

Cape Leveque
Abluting in the bush shelter accomodation.

Lunch at Cape Leveque
Clive set it all up himself

Comments

[Val]

Fantastic
Jo, you should think about writing a travel journal for a living. Really enjoyed reading about your time in Broome! Looking forward to more.

[bedwards]

What a Trip!
Hi Jo, I dropped by your site as you suggested. What a wonderful trip! Isn't blogging the coolest way to stay in touch with everyone? Take care and continue your adventures. Bambi (China Blog)

[Jan and Gene]

Hi
Love all of it, 100 plus degrees this summer, cotton dying, had 4 friends die in 4 weeks , so be careful, on 25th quilt this year, have new computer and digital camera. Want to go somewhere but Gene still on chemo. Enjoy while you are young. Luv, Jan