You might wonder what all these things have in common??
They are all really important to the Broome tourism industry!
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| The "THING" to do in Broome |
We arrived at Broome on the 19th August, and decided it might be a good spot to ‘rest up’ for a few days. That’s if we could get in to a Caravan Park!! We had hoped that a few of the Grey Nomads, and Grey “Home away from homers”, would have packed up and started to head south. Thankfully, the first park we tried (recommended by another family) had a space for us, and we joined the ‘lunchtime queue’ outside the park to check in. It makes us laugh – caravan check in time for the majority is between 10.30am and 1.00pm! (and mostly those in the queue have a full head of grey hair and have travelled their 100kms or so for the day! We must confess to doing this a few times too. Of course, for two very valid reasons: 1) we might want to stay at two close places that are nice and 2) you have to be at the gate that early if you want to get a site and haven’t booked. Oh, there is a third reason too – the days start early up here!! After struggling to get packed up to shift on by 10.00am in SA & Vic, in the early days of our trip, we can now be up and at’ em really early. By 8.30 – 9.00 without rushing and by 8.00am, like this morning if we have to be somewhere! (this was to take the car and van to the auto-electrician to get the trailer plug issue sorted out. It’s not a ‘good look’ towing a van without brakes or lights!??
Today we do plan on travelling a bit further tho’ – down to Eighty Mile Beach and we’re crossing our fingers that we’ll get a spot to camp when we get there – late afternoon!! We’re starting to hit some really straight, long stretches of road now, as we head South as there are not so many deviations required around landforms, places to stop or population.
Back to Broome… we did have a bit of ‘slower’ time here, and did a few of the ‘Touristy” things.
· Camel riding
· Willie Creek Pearl Farm – see Jed's 'take' on the day
Rack of pearl shells, that are regularly cleaned and inspected
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| Willie Creek - on boat tour |
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We had a lesson in pearl "valuing" - this strand was worth a
mere $70,000.00 (They wanted it back after the display)! |
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| Some of the 'treasures' |
On Monday the 22nd August we went to the Willie Creek Pearl Farm. We waited at the intersection of the Cape Leveque road and the Broome Rd for the bus. Then we followed the bus until we got stopped by the police at the Willie Creek Road. They told us we couldn’t go down the road because of a fire. So the bus driver got on to his boss and said we can’t get through to the pearl farm. The boss got on to the fire authority and told them we can’t get through. So we got an escort to the pearl farm. After way had done the tour we were told we had to stay until the boss came out. So the boss was on this way out then he got a flat tire so that took some time. At that point we were sitting back watching the day go bye. The boss made his way here and told us what was happening, in the end we had to wait for another tour to finish and then we would all leave in a convoy. We had to go a different way back to the main road than the first time due to the burning off. We went through a lot of bull dust and then there was a creek crossing with steep sides. The first bus got past it but the second bus got bogged. The first ute snatched him out, then the rest of us got past it fine. Not long after that we were on the main road once again. (Jed)
To get to the pearl farm we had to negotiate this corner - Police vehicles, tourist cars, protesters tents, signs ...mayhem! I think the police were there to control the traffice that wasn't allowed to enter this road due to a burning off operation. However, if you've been listening to the WA news lately this corner has been making headlines! Many locals/'greenies'/aboriginal communities/others don't want the proposed Woodside Gas Development to happen, that has been given the go-ahead (a number of years ago, evidently!). James Price Point is down this road.
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| In convoy, going the back track, to avoid the burning off operation was almost a bit much for the tourist bus that got stuck in a soft creek bed and had to be "snatched" out. |
Between all this and the fire it was a very exciting day! · China Town – window shopping!!
· Cape Gantheaume –nice colours late afternoon, with orange/red rocks
I also had a haircut and colour in Broome, which is always a good way to find out what is happening in the and about the 'real' people. (There were also 3 vacancies for hairdressers at this one salon!! So if anyone out there needs to shift to a warmer climate and does hairdressing...??)
The weather was perfect, about 13 – 32 degrees every day, at the moment and not a cloud in the sky and only a bit of a breeze on a couple of days. Jon was laughing at me the other day, driving along with the windows right down and saying, “if this was home, and it was 32, you’d be screaming at everyone to get those windows up so we can put the air conditioner on!”. I guess we’re getting acclimatised while living out in the warm weather all the time.
We’ve talked to a few people that have come to Broome for a holiday and stayed! One young couple, with two little kids, have been in a van in the CP for 15 months, while doing some work in Broome. They are actually moving on Sunday, to Perth. Short term house rentals are really hard to come by in Broome, also adding to the full Caravan Park dilemma, and the building industry is flat out building new housing developments. It seems to be a good community from all accounts, and a very laidback lifestyle. Along with being picturesque (although there are a few ‘divey’ looking spots too), nice climate and plenty of work around I guess it’s understandable why people shift there. Not for us tho’! We’ll be coming home. Too far away from the people that count, and we like the changing seasons (not just warm and, warmer and wet)! It would be nice to see the Kimberley district in the wet tho’, just the once. Next time!
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Beagle Bay Church - decorated with mother of pearl shell
and was 'lime - washed' with crushed shell mixture.
Extraordinary! |
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We made it up Cape Leveque, as far as Middle lagoon - beautiful bay!
We'll have to do the 'tip' another time. By all accounts we missed out! |
PS. Gonads are the organ of the pearl shell that are 'seeded' with some tissue that secretes "nacre" (this hardens to form the pearl). It is all a fairly delicate and technical operation according to thte lovely guide we listened to on the "Willie Creek" Pearl Farm Tour. Was really interesting.
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