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Prison Boab tree
Its locked away from the idiots of the world who'd like to carve their name into it!Well finally we have arrived at the Indian Ocean! We both have always wanted to see Broome so it's a big tick on the bucket list!
It was a leisurely 220k drive here today so pretty easy. The sun was up nice and early and its pretty hot again! We headed off early enough because, to be honest, there's not much happening in Derby. The tide was out again, so not a drop of water in sight. The jetty goes for miles, can't imagine how you'd launch a boat! We did visit the Prison Boab tree on the way out though. Its massive, at least 1500 years old (still growing) and 14 metres around! It has a story that represents some of the 'not so good times' in Australia's history. It was used as a lockup for Aboriginal prisoners. Pictures there show them chained together and to the tree. Indigenous people believe it has spiritual significance. Its pretty breathtaking.
We noticed a lot more traffic on the roads today, pretty sure the grey nomads are flowing up the highways in full force now! And apparently June 1 is when the prices hit peak season here in the west! Oh
Prison Boab tree
Aboriginals believe that the boab was turned upside down by the Gods well, hopefully we can get a few free camping days in before we get back to Vic!
So here we are in Broome. I did a fair bit of research on Wikicamps to work out where to stay. It seems most of the caravan parks here get a pretty poor rap. Mainly about customer service and theft from parks. One person recently posted that their van was shot at with a slug gun that put a hole in their door!
So we've chosen the only place that was considered okay. Its close to Cable beach and has a brilliant pool! Not a bad place I guess but the most we've paid to date at $52 per night! Its a massive place, over 400 sites so the takings must be HUGE!
We haven't seen a lot of Broome itself as yet. We did walk over to Cable beach this evening. You can see what the fuss is about, its a pretty amazing beach. The sun was setting and there were people everywhere. There's a couple of nice pubs on the foreshore and an area where vehicles can access the beach and ocean directly to drive around or launch
Prison Boab tree
The branches look like the root system boats. Then of course there's the camels! We saw them all lining up and getting ready for their sunset walks. We have booked a sunset walk for tomorrow night ourselves. It's just one of those things I think you have to do when you're in Broome. Thought we were lucky to get in too, they book out quickly!
We have also struck it lucky because the phenomena of the 'stairway to the moon' only happens 3 days each month. And we will be able to see this on Wednesday night! Lucky! If you haven't heard about it, its when the tides and the full moon match perfectly with the setting sun, creating a light effect on the water that looks like a stairway to the moon. Hopefully our photos will be great!
And Thursday we have booked a magnificent tour! We are going to Cape Levique and,,,,, the Horizontal Falls!!!! It will be absolutley amazing day! Starts at 5.45 am and you get back around 6 pm. We will be going in a 4 wd bus, a sea plane AND the fastest jet boat in the Kimberley region, rushing through the horizontal falls! And swimming with sharks and
Prison Boab tree
Some of the info near the tree. Think the mention of snakes helps keep idiots out of the tree snorkelling plus swimming in beautiful water holes. Going to be a brilliant day!
So a great week planned. I think from there on though, austerity will be the order of the day. The bucket list budget is pretty much blown! But never fear there will be many many free and cheapy things to do all the way down the west coast!
Stay warm everyone!
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Sue
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Broome
I'm interested in your trip to Broome Lynn. Love the photos of Cable Beach etc. Yes it sounds like you have some great tours lined up. Fantastic!!!!