Day 46 – Tue, 24 Aug at Broome

I stayed another day to see the town, so it was a sleep in and I even had a bit of a read before rising – one of those decadent moments.

I caught the bus into the town centre – they run every 1/2 hour in season and every hour at other times between Cable Beach and the Town Centre. A good service actually with a fixed fare and various discount methods, where you can buy multi fares if you were here for a longer stay.

I saw a bit more of the surrounding area – the newer areas – and there is quite a lot of development.  I was told that there was something like 60,000 beds and about 7 caravan parks available, and in season this is still not enough. I understand things are starting to slow, as the temperatures rise the southerners start to head S.

It would appear that the town centre has been maintained in the low rise, corrugated metal structures to maintain a feel for the place.  I had  a hair cut, walked around, had a coffee and fantastic apple pie & ice cream (the day’s special) at one of the many cafes – no Zantac required.

Broome was and is the hub of the pearling industry, so there are lots of quality pearl dealers, nice prices too. I checked out an interesting display of the old pearl luggers (there were once 100’s operating) that plied the area from the 1890’s through to the mid- 20th century. Displays of the old diving equipment, the round copper bell helmet and rubber suits – the Japanese were key divers in the area.

Dampier Creek is behind the display on the edge of China Town. The Roebuck Bay Hotel is across the road and this is shown in the story board at the lugger display – water can still come through the mangroves to the doorstep of the display at high tide.  The hotel, locally know as the Roey is still operating just across the road from the luggers.

The coast is just behind those mangroves and I am standing on the lugger display on the edge of China Town.

Cyclones would occasionally destroy the fleet, in the worst case something like 40 odd luggers were lost along with 140 odd men, as I recall this was in the 1930’s and it was not an isolated case.

Another fabulous feature was the original Sun Cinema. This is an open air “picture show” and still operates with deck chairs, half in the open and the remainder in the shed. There is also the usual cinema complex in town. but this historic landmark is open during the day for visitors to see, and runs a number of features on selected nights - some marvellous memorabilia.

So all in all it was a relaxing and gastronomically pleasing time. I then headed back to the beach where I read underneath a palm tree in the shade on the grass. Spoke to Robyn and my daughter Katie, nice to catch up with Kate as she phoned on her way home from work.  

I headed back to camp, got the bike out and headed into town to fuel up and restock the pantry – oh the pressures of all these housekeeping duties. I find it a bit disconcerting putting on all my bike gear and protective clothing, as I must be a real pussy..lol..

You see up here (as is probably the case in a lot of holiday areas around the country) there are those that obviously have far tougher skin and bones than I. They are riding around on these hire scooters with the standard safety equipment – which usually comprise board shorts, t-shirt (or singlet) and thongs. Oh they do have their helmets on but I sometimes wonder why given the other safety equipment that they are wearing – a baseball cap would be more in keeping with the overall attire.