12th – 18th August - Broome

WOW !  We are back into civilisation and for the first time in a few weeks we are in a city with a few facilities.  Broome is quite an attractive city with a real tropical tourist appearance.  The tree species are quite different to what we would expect in a city which geographically aligns with Townsville approximately.  There are some palm trees and still a lot of boabs but there are quite a few trees similar in appearance to those we have seen in photographs from South Africa.  The water is really turquoise in colour.  That is when the tide is in because here they also have large tides up to eight metres.  The soil / sand is quite red but there is a lot more grass than we have seen over the last three months.

Typical street in China Town - main town area.

We arrived on Friday and booked into a camp near Cable Beach.  Cable Beach is one of the better known icons in Broome.  It faces the west, has wide white sand beaches, beautiful sunsets, and is known for the camel rides available.  There are parts open to traffic also so all the 4WDs head there.  We arrived in the middle of the winter horse racing carnival and the town is buzzing.  The normal population here is about 15000 but in peak tourist season (this week) it can swell to 50000+.  We are told it is down this year but it still looks busy to us.

Broome is one of the places many retired Perth people come to for the winter, sorry – Dry Season.  Hence in the van parks there are many set up with all the comforts of home.

First stop on Friday was a bit of orientation followed by sunset at Cable Beach.  Being Friday night the beach was quite crowded and restaurants nearby were doing a great trade.  The photos Alice took were quite spectacular and we will include some.

Sunset at Cable Beach.

Big wide Cable Beach at half tide.

Cable Beach - busier than town centre.

Majestic, even Ships Of The Desert must go home sometime, (complete with tail lights).

And then the traffic jam really begins.

Saturday and we chose to settle in a little and let the crowd do its thing on way to the races.  Then after lunch we set out again to check out China Town which is the main town area.  Alas, 90% of it was closed.  Not a lot of 7 day trading here so we moved on to visit some beaches which thankfully were not closed.  They were on Roebuck Bay which borders Broome to the south.  The tide was out a fair way so we chose to hold off on the photos until another time.

Roebuck Bay from Town Beach.

Town Beach is a fun place for families.

Broome still shows a lot of its real history.  It started life as the centre of the pearling industry and went great guns until plastic buttons were invented taking a away a significant market for the pearl oyster shell.  Then a Japanese gentleman came and showed them how to initiate artificial pearl farming and boom on again.  Hence there is a real history of Chinese and Japanese culture here.  During the second world war Broome was a flying boat base for the Australian Air Force.  Unfortunately the Japanese attacked and bombed the planes as they lay at anchor in the bay.  During very low tides some of these are still visible.  At this point the tides have not been low enough for us to see them.

Restored pearling luggers in museum.

Sunday and we went to church here.  It was a Pentecostal church and we experienced a very warm welcome.  This church was really firing and we had a great time.  It was interesting to hear of some concerns the local people have currently.  There is a proposal which has progressed significantly to build a port facility just to the north of Broome to process & export Liquid Natural Gas and if it proceeds it is estimated the population will double within a couple of years.  Obviously this is a concern as they have seen the impact on other coastal towns in WA brought about by mining.  There is also real division in the Indigenous peoples here as well as the usual environmental concerns.  Looks like the idyllic environment is at risk.

At the tip of Roebuck bay is Broome Port.  This is a single wharf port but from it are exported many commodities including minerals, live cattle and finished petroleum products.  It can also be a staging point for some mineral & oil exploration shipping as well as tourists.  Roebuck Bay does give some shelter in wild weather.

Beach near the Port Wharf.

At the point where Roebuck Bay meets the Indian Ocean is Gantheaume Point named after the French explorer who first discovered it.  Here there is a lighthouse but it is better known for some dinosaur prints that can be viewed at very low tides.  Unfortunately we did not get to see these because of the tides.

Rocks at Gantheaume Point.

Belle by the beach at Gantheaume Point.

Looking from Gantheaume Point toward Cable Beach.

We travelled a little out of town and then down a dusty track for about 15 klms to Crab Creek where there is a Bird Observatory.  At this time of year there are a lot of migratory shore birds that fly in from all around the world.  We watched from a viewing platform as high tide came and went and Alice snapped thousands of photos.  Ian praises God for digital cameras and in particular the ability to delete before print.

Migratory shore birds at Crab Creek in Roebuck Bay.

And there is more.

Our view over lunch near Crab Creek.

Looks great in the other direction too.

Our stay in Broome has been a real treat.  It is a most relaxing resort style city.  We have been able to wind down as well as stock up.  As usual we have met and made some good friends.