Broome

Ah – beautiful Broome …

We booked our flights from Broome back to Sydney almost 12 months ago, and after being on the road for 4 months, we’re pretty pleased with our timing, arriving in Broome only 2 days earlier than expected.  We’d booked Palm Grove Caravan Park at Cable Beach at the same time and thankfully they were able to accommodate us a couple of days earlier. 

June 1 is the start of high season, and on that day we watched as 8 vans arrived before 8:30 am to take up their sites.  The park is now fully booked and will be for months.  Check out is 10:00 am, and check in is 10:30 am so there’s no dilly-dallying when it’s time to leave in the morning.

Lunch on the balcony at Matso’s with Marg and Roy was a lovely long afternoon.  Matso’s beer is delicious, and while I downed the mango beer, Alan and Roy drank theirs by the jug, and then we all had a glass of the alcoholic ginger beer.  While 3 of us devoured our meals, Roy waited patiently for his to arrive, but discovered he hadn’t ordered anything.  By the time he and Alan were onto the chilli beer Roy was as high as a kite.  We’ve made plans to meet up the track in 3-4 weeks’ time, somewhere on the way to Darwin. 

Broome has changed over the years and has gone from a quaint multicultural outpost to a thriving community with very expensive real estate.  The indigenous folk seem to have been moved on from lolling around in the beautiful park, and if you drink your wine by the cask, you would have to buy it long before arriving in Broome. 

Although Broome Township is getting bigger and more expensive every year, one thing’s for certain – there is nothing more beautiful than the continuous white expanse of Cable Beach.  You can drive for kilometres until you find a spot you like, then settle in and watch the sunset over the ocean with some snacks and few champagnes or beer.  The locals bring the kids and dogs down in the 4x4 and play footy or Frisbee.  The 3 camel trains each afternoon are laden with happy tourists, but some tell us they’re envious watching us sitting in our chairs watching them.  The tourists with no car have to be content with a walk from their fancy hotels and throwing a towel down on the grass.  It doesn’t matter how you get there, everyone is there to watch the sunset. 

Saturday was the first race meeting at the Broome Turf Club so we caught the bus and paid $30 each to become members for the day.  We shared a table in the shade with a very strange young couple from Victoria.  So strange in fact, that when they scoffed off their first bottle of champagne, he asked if he could have a glass of ours while waiting for the girlfriend to buy another bottle.  I gave him a glass, but splashed it in so he ended up with all bubbles.  After their second bottle he fell asleep and missed the whole afternoon.

We didn’t make any money on the horses, but we’re pretty stingy gamblers, so no great losses at our table! 

After the horse races finished, out came the gambling tables and Broome Turf Club transformed into the Broome Outdoor Casino.  I had a great time playing “Beat the Banker” and walked away with enough money to buy a dodgy takeaway Thai dinner – 2 spring rolls, 2 curry puffs and a very questionable chicken noodle thing.

Cable Beach is about 7 kms into town, so we rode our bikes in for some yummy Barrumundi and chips, then onto beautiful Roebuck Bay for an ice cream. 

Broome has the best camping shop ever, so we’ve spent quite a bit of time (and money) buying stuff we didn’t really need, but had to have anyway.

For example - my fishing rod wasn’t any good – I couldn’t catch anything - and I’m sure it was the equipment I was using.  So I spoke to a very nice young guy at Kimberley Camping who put together a sure fire outfit of rod and reel for a very good price.

The only problem now is that the Barramundi I was planning on catching with my new rod was going to be from our little boat.  But the Barra are in the same rivers as the saltwater crocodile.   So we probably won’t be doing any fishing in croc infested waters and if I did catch a Barra I’d have a fight on my hands to try and get it into the boat before a croc ate it first.

Today is our last day before we fly home to Sydney for 2 weeks tomorrow.  We’re looking forward to seeing our kids, mothers and friends, and of course to do a little bit of Wunda work.

For our last day we decided on a sausage sizzle on the white sands of beautiful Cable Beach so we packed up the Esky, and while we may not have had enough ice, we had enough frozen lamb shanks to keep the beer cold.  The car boot was loaded up with chairs, table, gas cooker and snags and we made our way past the naked sunbathers, and settled in about 4 kms up the beach.  There was an 8 metre tide today, so we kept moving the car further and further towards the ever disappearing ocean and no sooner had we downed a few beers and wine, the tide had started to race back in.  As the pearl lugger cruised past and sun was setting over the ocean in a bright red sky, the full moon was coming up over the sand dune behind us. 

A few hours had passed and it was time to drive back down the beach to the caravan park.  Alan has cooked the last of our donated fish, and we‘re heading back to old Sydney town tomorrow arvo.