Day 58 - 62, Broome (Sunday 23rd Aug - Thur 27th Aug)

Broome

Cable Beach caravan park campsite

The drive from Fitzroy Crossing to Broome was easy, 260 kilometers and sealed road all the way, as we got into Broome we were quite surprised at the size of the town, we were both expecting something smaller.

We made our way to the Cable Beach caravan park were we had booked a powered site, at reception we were told that we had a choice of two sites, one right next to the pool and one right next to the exit, after a little drive around we chose the one next to the pool.

Campsite View

The park was enormous with 500 sites which were pretty cosy, our site was pretty big, shady and as you can see in the photo very close to the pool which was great for the boys especially.

After we set camp we went for a drive to the supermarket and bottle shop stopping at beach for a look, the beach is just amazing, the smell of the ocean and the white sand was so different from the red dust and dry outback.

By the time we got back to camp it was 1500 hrs so I got the roast dinner started and the boys swam in the pool which they loved, good thing was that I could have a beer, tend to my roast and keep an eye on the kids in the pool at the same time.

After dinner Joanne and I relaxed listening to the sound of the swimming pool waterfall, I did have a little concern that the sound of the waterfall may not be so relaxing through the night, we will know tomorrow.
That night we slept well, the sound of the waterfall at the pool was quite soothing and otherwise the park was pretty quiet.

Broome Attractions

The Beach

Cable Beach was just amazing, white sand and clear water that was safe to swim in which was a bonus, you were allowed to drive onto the beach and north up the coast for some way, on one hand its good but you have to wonder what sort of damage its causing to the environment, I think it will probably be stopped in the future.
While in Broome we visited the beach a few times for walks and swims, it was always very popular.

Cable Beach

Cable Beach Traffic

My Handsome Ride

The Camels

We did a pre Sunset Camel ride which was great fun, the ride lasted about 40 minutes and cost us $140.00 for the family, we were lucky because the numbers were small which meant we got a camel each, with this particular company (Yellow Camels) you also got a discount on the Pearl Luggers Tour in town.
This was not a first camel ride for the boys as they had one back at Boulia,but riding on beach certainly was and the view was much better.

The Camels were very well behaved apart from the one behind me rubbing its face and neck on my leg, apparently that particular camel tries to take the lead and that's why it come along side the one in front.

There appears to be three companies that do camel rides on the beach, Blue Camels, Red Camels and Yellow Camels, they all offer different packages and prices vary a bit.
We chose the Yellow ones because they were the best value, and in the end a camel is a camel.

Cable Beach Camels

Pearl Luggers Tour

There are two Pearl tours available in Broome, one is located in town and focuses on the history of pearling in Broome, and the other which is out at Willie Creek 30 kilometers out of town focuses on the modern day pearling.
We chose the Pearl Luggers tour in town which we thought would be more interesting, and we are very happy we did so, it was great.

The Pearl Luggers tour is probably not really a tour, as you don't actually leave the premises, it is more like an educational talk and exhibit in the museum on site, it was amazing to hear the history of pearling and see close up the equipment that was used in that era of pearling.

The boys got to be models for some of the gear and they loved, and we got to feel the weight and awkwardness of the gear the divers had to use.
After the tour you could buy pearls in the shop of course, we did not,but Joanne did get to hold the second biggest pearl in the world which was valued at $100.000, for a moment I thought Joanne was going to do a runner with it.

Second Largest Pearl In The World, $100,000.00

At the shop there is also a cafe that had very nice coffee and cakes, and in contrast, just across the road was the Roebuck pub where some early starters were making a bit of a racket, its common apparently but was all over when a taxi came and picked them up.

Willie Creek

We did take a drive out to the Willie Creek Pearl Farm to have a look, it was basically a shop and cafe, and the starting point for their tour which was very expensive compared to what we did.
The shop sold a variety of Pearl jewelry most of which was well out of our price range so we did not buy anything there, it was worth the drive to have a look though.

The Open Air Cinema

Worlds Oldest Operating Picture Gardens

In China Town you will find the Open Air Cinema, we went there one night to see a movie and it was a great experience, because we got our tickets during the day we got straight in at 6 pm and got front row seats, the crowds waiting to buy tickets at 6 pm were incredible, I think it took a good hour from opening to seating all the people waiting, the place was packed out not a vacant seat to be seen.

At the Movies

The weather was perfect and the movie was great, the seat which were old fashioned deck chairs were not particularly comfortable but OK for the couple of hours we were there, it was also an interesting experience having a large jet fly a couple of hundred feet right over the cinema in the middle of the movie, the cinema is right under the flight path of the airport.

Well worth a visit, make sure you get tickets during the day though.

Japanese Cemetery

In town you will find the cemetery, most of which is very ordinary, but the Japanese section is worth a look at, unfortunately all the headstones are in Japanese, but it is still interesting.

Matso's Brewery

Not enjoying a beer at Matso's

We went to Matso's, which is supposedly an award winning microbrewery to do a tour that they have running but when we got there they had no tours because of lack of interest, we stayed for a while and tasted some of the beers available.
I did not particularly like any of the beers they had on offer, they have a range of beers, including  Ginger, Mango, Lychee and Chile, a couple of Pale Ales, and a Larger, in my opinion they were drinkable but not worth buying in any quantity.
The bar and restaurant was nice though and looks like it would be pretty popular in the evenings.

The Building itself is very nice, it used to be a bank many years ago and has an interesting history which you can read about on their web site.

True, but not here !

All in all we loved our stay at Broome, there is so much interesting history here lo learn about, at  this time of the year the weather is fantastic, the beaches are great amazing and great for swimming.
I highly recommend Broome as a holiday destination and would come back again in the future.