The caravan park was only 10 minutes easy walk to Cable Beach, which is famed for it’s sunsets over the water and camel rides along wide expansive beach in front of the high dunes. At the closest point to us their was a life-saving training centre being built atop the dune. After a short walk north there was a cafe/bar and a beach resort also atop the dune. Despite the caravan park being quite empty their was still plenty of patronage, which must have come from the other caravan parks and resorts.

We only managed to get to Cable Beach once in our first week. But in our second week we went down a number of times at sunset to enjoy the free spectacle, whilst getting some exercise by walking along the beach and watch the camels coming back from their sunset rides.

The tides in Broome can be as large as 11m, which is pretty much what they were when we there. As such the beach gets pretty wide at low tide and given that it coincided with sunset there were 4WDs aplenty driving down onto the beach and heading north for some fishing or just to watch the sunset up further.
It’s quite hilarious watching people with no beach driving experience attack the sand or coming off the sand onto the concrete drive. They fall into two categories:

• The ‘Sand Warriors’ who (needlessly) drop into low range and then (needlessly) gun their engines like they’re trapped in a sink hole; and

• The ‘Inept’ who slow down and drop their revs in the soft sand as they approach the concrete ramp only to bog in a bit. Then in a burst of panic rev the guts out of their engine only to dig in deeper as the wheels plough themsleves in.

It’s almost as entertaining as boat ramps or watching people back their caravans in…

But the real entertainment atCable Beach is the sunset. Like Darwin, the sun gently lowers itself toward the ocean and as it approaches begins to transform the sky from blue to grey/blue to pale yellow to orange to red to purple and then it drops below the horizon…not yet finished. After a brief dusky grey the horizon then starts its afterglow as a thin band of orange growing to a thick band of pink through purple as the hidden suns light is relected through the clouds or sea mist.

At a certain point, before the sun goes down, if you look south you get a juxtaposition of day and night. To the left, inland, you get royal blue sky and on the right (seaward) you get the fiery sunset sky fading to dark. The camera doesn’t quite catch it but it is a sight to behold.

As sunset approaches the Cable Beach Camel Rides slowly trudge back to the mounting/dismounting place, which is a tray-back 4wd. One by one the camels stop beside the back of the ute and the tourists slide off onto the ute tray then down some steps to the sand. It seems they have developed this technique to avoid the lurching jerk upwards when camels go from kneeling to standing and vice-versa. We decided that we weren’t interested in doing a camel ride. Mainly because Jo is allergic to horses and therefore possibly camels and Rob weighs more than 90kg and the websites said there was an individual 90kg limit for all riders. Not sure it was enforced though because we did see a few people bigger than Rob getting on and off.

Gantheaume Point is a red rocky outcrop on the Broome peninsula. A lighthouse tower sits atop the point which is surrounded by a fairly barren coastal grassland and conservation area. When then low tide drops below 1.7m, which only seems to happen occasionally, you can scamble down the rocky bluff to a rocky ledge area and find some dinosaur footprints right on the edge of the water.

As it happened the specific low tide occured the morning after we arrived in Broome at 7:10am. So… like good travellers we set an alarm and got ourselves there around 6:45am. There was a path to the lighthouse and at the end of the path there was a slab of concrete with casts of the dinosaur footprints that showed you what to look for.

We scrambled down the rocky slope where the map told us to explore. There are no signs telling you where to look so you have to try and align yourself with the map and figure it out, which is a good way to do it and makes for a more interesting experience.
At the bottom, we discovered acres of jumbled and tumbled red rock ledge fronting the Indian Ocean. WIth only a memorised image of the concrete casts and a small glossy map to go with we began searching. Jo wanted to head right around the point a bit but Rob spotted a flat ledge of rock to the left and figured that that would be a likely spot for a footprint to exist. We headed left and found a vague outline that could pass as a three-toed footprint and took some photos thinking that it was a bit ordinary and possibly not even a footprint.

After some more searching we headed back to the right towards the point and noticed that there was a family of three further around the point to the right. We headed towards them on the premise that they had either found the footprints or that five sets of eyes would have more chance than our two. As we approached they pointed down and called out to us that they had found the footprints. The chap actually had a compass and was using it to orient himself with the map, which in hindsight made great sense.

When we got to them he pointed the two footprints out, which were on the very edge of the water and only a few centimetres above the lapping waterline. The footprints were quite clear and obvious when you saw them but given the tide you had to be there at exactly the right time and you would probably only get 15 to 30 minutes to view them. This was their second time looking them so we were grateful that they had already put in the hard yards. We took our photos and another small group spied us and also came over to view them. The footprints are believed to belong to a ‘theropod‘ dinosaur.

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We headed back to the bluff to climb back up and by the time we were half-way up the water was already starting to spill over the footprints… At this point we stumbled across another couple who were sitting in a sheltered rock pool in a large ledge area halfway back up the slope. It was quite amazing to see a clear pool of water about 60cm deep and 10 to 15 metres up the slope. It was like a child’s wading pool and perhaps 5m long by 3m wide. It backed onto what could be described as a rock walled ‘room’ with no roof. It’s amazing what nature creates without any form of blueprints… We had a bit of a chat with the people in the pool and then continued the climb back to the lighthouse clearing and back to the car.

We’re told that on especially low tides there is a larger group of about ten dinosaur footprints further out in the water but you have to be a bit lucky and very careful to find those. We were satisfied with the two, possibly three, prints that we viewed. It was well worth the visit and the incidental exercise gained from the walking and climbing.

Town Beach Jetty

On our first day in Broome we headed into the Broome town area to have a look around town and made our way to Town Beach and the Jetty. It’s a very pretty park area with playgrounds, bbq areas, and grassed lawns. Town Beach is as the end of the park area following the mangroves.

Their is a high modern jetty that rises above the beach and extends out over the water. The top-end of W.A. experiences massive tide fluctuations, up to 11m. As such the jetty towers above the sand flats as it reaches out into the water. We were there at low tide and also visited another time to see it at high tide and the difference is startling.

Despite Broome being a known saltwater croc place there were people on the beach with kids paddling and wandering around the waters edge. Although the water was quite shallow it was fringed on either side by mangroves and probably not the place we’d be letting children swim.

Near the jetty is a sculptural monment titled, “Nine Zeroes Nine Stories.” It features white silhouttes inscribed with the stories of nine people during the Japanese air raids of WW2. Most people tend to think of Darwin regarding the Japanese air raids but the raids extended as far west as Broome. Yet another fact about Australian history that isn’t taught well in our schools.

Matso’s Brewery

Matso’s Brewery feels like a bit of an institution in Broome. Rob was already aware of Matso’s having bought and enjoyed some of their Mango Beer some years ago. The Brewery is located on the road following the coastline that goes to Town Beach. It’s also not far from the Broome Prison! It’s a scenic part of Broome and the building consists of a large rectangular building with corrugated metal roof and wrap-around verandah on three sides. The inside has a large pub style bar area and inside tables. Outside on the sea side there is a large open area beer garden with bar tables and stools made from old palettes set out amongst tropical palm trees that had that atypical lean in one direction with a lighty curved trunk rising to a pom-pom of palm leaves.

Matso’s has a very relaxed and cruisy vibe and would be perfect for a Sunday afternoon chill session with live music and good friends. Alas the season was at an end so no entertainment was happening but there was still plenty of patronage. We had booked a table for lunch and took a table on the verandah. Sitting there on the verandah had that distinctly tropical feel and more so when our drinks arrived. Rob had a tasting paddle and Jo tried the ‘Hard Lemon‘, an alcoholic lemon squash. The Hard Lemon was quite good… think Solo or Pub Squash with alcohol undertone that gently relaxes you in shade and the breeze. The tasting paddle was interesting but their Mango Beer is the standout brew. It’s kind of like a mid-strength lager with a mango after-taste that is a bit sweeter and less bitter than a standard lager.

For lunch we ordered two share plates of spicy chicken wings and calamri with a bowl of chips. The wings were perfectly executed and the calamari was equally superb. The servings were generous and with the side of chips made a perfect pub lunch sitting on the shady, breezy verandah with cold mango beer and hard lemon to lubricate our throats.

The only disappointment with Matso’s was that our friends and family were all on the other side of the continent and not there to share it with us…

Open Air Cinema

Broome has an open air cinema, or picture garden to use the correct term. It is in fact the oldest picture garden still in operation in the entire world. It is in the centre of the Broome town area on a main street and retains much of the character that it would have had back in the day.

We went there one evening to watch ‘Ticket To Paradise‘, the lastest Rom-Com starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney. It was quite funny and very much suited the tropical atmosphere of Broome, being set in Bali.

The Picture Garden is basically a large open air screen with rows of deck chairs for patrons. The front series of chairs are under the sky, the back rows are under the cover of the roof. We bought some take-away asian food and sat in the first covered row of seats to eat it and wait for the start of the movie. We had been advised that the local bat population can sometimes do target practice on the open air seats so we decided that discretion was the better part of valor.

Broome airport is only a couple of kilometres from the Picture Garden, which is under the flight path. It was absoltutely amazing to see a 737 jet and a large turboprop airliner fly almost directly over the top of us at, maybe, 100m as we were waiting for the movie to start.

The Picture Garden is an absolute must do in Broome. But beware! Two hours sitting in a deck chair can cause some serious consequences in 60 year old bodies…

Broome Museum

After not getting past Matso’s Brewery on the day we got the cruiser serviced, we made time to visit the Broome Museum. It is volunteer run and consists of three buildings, a main display building, a sail-makers shed and a third building housing information about the dinosaur footprints and a massive shell collection. The buildings surround a courtyard with a magnificent shady mango tree and ‘teenage’ Boab tree sitting across from some WW2 aircraft wreckage. Apparently you can still see some aircraft wreckage around Broome when the tides are low, which we didn’t see.

The museum is mainly focussed on the pearling history of Broome and is quite honest about the history of mistreatment of indigenous pearl divers. We do not get taught Australia’s full and honest history in school and it is a sad statement of our prejudice and indigenous ignorance that we do not do so.

Most of us are aware that pearl diving is a hazardous profession, even today with modern diving techniques and equipment. We are also generally aware that many Asian pearl divers lost their lives during the ‘hard hat’ diving suit era either through equipment failure, the bends or shark attack. What we discovered is that prior to hard hat diving suits a great many indigenous men were press-ganged (kidnapped) and forced to free dive for pearl oysters with no protection. A great many died in this cause and didn’t benefit from the business run by the ‘white suit brigade’, English ex-pats from aristicratic families who were granted a ship and rights to harvest Mother of Pearl Shell.

Aside from yet another example of cruel British colonialism, the ‘white suit brigade’ were an English mafia that ran Broome and were noticeable for their preferred ‘uniform’, which was a pure white, drill cotton suit more suited to the hot tropical climate. It was also interesting to note that the red dirt of Broome meant that these men would change their suits three or four times a day to retain their clean white appearance, which also kept the Chinese laundries busy during those times…

The museum entrance is dominated by a full size hard hat diving suit that is impressive in its size and then you realise that they were oversize to accomodate a diver wearing a thick woollen pullover and then plumped out further as they were filled with air. Divers could be sent down for hours hence the thick woollen jumper to ward of the cold. Visibility on the oyster beds is very low at about arm’s length in normal conditions. Many hard hat divers lost their lives to the ‘bends‘ because they would stay down too long and not want to spend the requisite wait time on the way back to the surface to expel the nitrogen buildup in their blood. The invention of the hyperbaric chamber reduced these deaths dramatically but to us the beauty of the pearl has a history tainted with the exploitation and death of a great many indigenous and Asian pearl divers.

Port of Broome

Towards the end of our Broome stay we took a drive out to the Port of Broome. It is a working port on the tip of the peninsula on the other side from Gantheaume Point. It has a fairly impressive jetty, which is closed to the public but the area is also home to some beautiful rock formations near the public boat ramps.

The water around the Port of Broome is a matt turquoise colour and contrasts beautifully the rich reds, oranges and creams of the rocky coastline. It’s a fascinating area with small coves and beaches littered with shells and rocks of all sizes and shapes. The sedimentary stratafication of the rocks combined with wind and waves creates thin flat slices of rock that look like plates or choppong boards. Some of the white layers sparkle with embedded minerals when they catch the sun.

Port of Broome is one of those places that you can just poke around and always find something interesting to look at or examine.

Of course Broome is most famous for it’s pearling industry and all of the history and romance that goes along with it. Willie Creek Pearl Farm is self described as one of the smaller pearl farms in the area. They have a shop and display in the town itself but the homestead is located at Willie Creek about 30km north of Broome. They operate tours of the Pearl Farm and you can be picked up by their bus, at extra cost, or you can drive yourself (4WD recommended). We opted to drive ourselves and they advise to allow about an hour to get there. This is because once you leave the hardtop you take either of two roads to get to the farm. The ‘red’ road is shortest but subject to tidal movements and weather. We had to take the longer ‘blue’ road which was your typical corrugated red dirt, rattle your teeth all the way experience.

Once there though it is quite a picturesque setting on the banks of Willie Creek. They are set up with a wrokers dwellings, a shop, outdoor areas and sheds for the land-based, pearling activities. We were there at low tide, which meant that Willie Creek was 11m below us and was more of a sea-water dam until high-tide opens it up. The mouth of the creek is a high dune that blocks the creek during low tide and apparently the sea water rushes in at 30km an hour when the tide comes up.

The tour took us into the sheds, which held large tanks where oysters are temporarily held so that they can be carefully opened and seeded with the glass beads around which a pearl is formed. Each oyster is operated on in a succession of three stations like a hospital production line. They are then returned to the tanks to recuperate before being taken back out to the leases where they form their individual pearls over the next couple of years. Each oyster can be seeded 3 or 4 times before they are retired, i.e. killed for their pearl meat and mother of pearl shell. They like to say that ‘all’ of the oyster is used in one way or another and their is no waste from the process.

The most exciting thing we discoveredt is that Willie Creek has partnered with a local University and is trialling the use of ‘Mother of Pearl’ shell for creating artificial bone graft filler. It seems that the shell can be crushed and used to form a medical paste that can be used like a filler in human bones. The paste hardens and forms a lattice like scaffold that new bone grows over. You can see that the owner is very excited about the prospects of this research as much as he is about the pearls themselves.

After the shed tour we were taken on a short cruise around the creek to see the small ‘recuperation oyster lease’ and how they handle the oysters out on the larger sea leases. They were hoping for the three resident salt-water crocs to show themselves but unfortunately they weren’t cooperating that day. Seeing how high the tides rise was really quite amazing. We alked down 11m of steps to board the boat, all of which would be covered at high tide. In the middle of the creek they have moored one of their original pearling boats and stripped it out, leaving it floating their for seabirds to nest in. A novel but thoughtful way of putting a ‘dead boat’ to new use.

Following the tour we were treated to morning tea consisting of fruit platters and home-baked mini dampers. The dampers were baked in the shape of a small loaf about the size of two Mars Bars stacked on top of each other. They were an absolute hit… lightly herbed and spiced, slightly chewy and crusty but nice and soft on the inside. Served warm with butter they were irresistable. They’re obviously proud of their dampers because they have their recipe on a poster, which anyone is free to photograph and take with them. The surprise ingredient is lemonade (or beer, or ginger beer). Here’s the recipe for those that may be interested:

After morning tea we gathered in the gazebo shelter where the tour guide takes a random oyster, picked at the start of the tour, and opens it up to show you the oysters anatomy and hopefully harvest a pearl before your eyes. These demonstration oysters are from what they call ‘death row’. It is their last seeding before being added to the meat and shell harvest. Our oyster did indeed produce a pearl, which was passed around for us to see before being taken to the shop to be graded and priced.

With the anatomy and harvesting lesson finished we were guided back to the shop where those eager to buy pearl jewellry could spend their money. But before any sales occur they do a pearling masterclass where they explain that the value of each pearl is determed by five virtues:

• Size – bigger is better (individually).
• Lustre – how shiny or dull the pearl is.
• Colour – Black (Tahitian), gold or white (creamy).
• Shape – how round, regular or symmetrical the pearl is.
• Complexion – how flawless the surface of the pearl is.

The pearl harvested on our tour was decent but nothing special. It was valued at approximately $700.

In the shop they have their hero pearl, which is known as ‘The Don’ and named after the owner’s father. The Don is very large at around 21mm in diameter and has excellent quailities in the other virtues. It is valued at $150,000. This magnificent pearl was actually found during a Willie Creek Tour exactly as the one that we were on. The tour guide on that day opened up the random oyster for the tour group and immediately noticed that he had something a bit special. He played a joke on the owner by asking one of the tour group to carry the pearl back to the shop for grading and pricing. The member of the tour group quietly handed the pearl over to the owner as if it was nothing special and you can imagine how it played out from there… It is a special pearl as far as pearls go and all the more so because the oyster, which was on it’s third and last seeding was showing signs of having been attacked by particular type of sponge that causes the oysters to slowly get sick and die.

Although neither Jo or I are pearl enthusiasts, like the opals of Coober Pedy, we find the industry and the process to be fascinating. We thoroughly enjoyed out tour of the Willie Creek Pearl Farm. It is reasonably priced (drive yourself) and gives you a full picture of the pearl farming in an interesting, enjoyable and educational balance. We’re particularly interested to hear about the ongoing pearl shell bone graft research in the future. It represents an exciting new offshoot from commercial pearl farming that will revolutionise medical treatment for bone injuries.

The cruiser was last serviced when we were in Adelaide and after the slog up through the Northern Territory and then west to Broome it was time to have it serviced again. Rob booked it into Broome Toyota when we were back in Kununurra to make sure we could get it done before the next long slog down the west coast to Perth. Although we only had 50,000km on the odo, the time intervals involved meant that it was due for the 70,000km logbook service, which is a bigger service than usual.

We arrived early that morning to drop the car in. Without transport we had the option of catching the bus back to the caravan or hoofing it into town to fill in the hours. We decided to walk into town and have breakfast, then take a quick look at the shops and after that walk over to the Broome Museum near Town Beach.

After a leisurely breakfast we poked aroung the handful of shops for a while. By then it was about 11:00am. The car was due to be finished at 2:00pm so we started our trek to the Broome Museum. It was a pretty hot day but one of those days where you don’t sweat while you’re walking. It’s only when you stop walking that you start dripping with sweat. We soon realised that Matso’s Brewery was on the route we were taking to the museum and that was pretty much as far as we got as we stopped in for thirst quenching ‘hard lemon’ and a ‘mango beer’…

It was so pleasant sitting in Matso’s beer garden that we decided to leave the museum for another day and just enjoy the shade and the drinks. Whilst sitting in the beer garden we noticed that there was an art gallery on the same site so decided to go in and have a look to kill a bit more time. It turned out to be a new gallery set up by the artist ‘Sobrane‘. Sobrane apart from being a very talented artist with quite a distinctive style is also a ‘silo artist’ and we had seen some of her silo work previously on our trip back in Victoria. Sobrane was actually in the studio working on a large commission piece so it was quite a treat to actually see the artist herself having admired her silo art some months beforehand.

Sobrane has a perculiar condition called ‘synethesia‘. She cannot recognise faces but she hears and smells in colour. It sounds weird but her brain is wired a bit differently to the norm so when she hears a sound or smells an aroma it is interpreted in her mind as a colour. A bit hard to imagine if you don’t have synesthesia but possibly partly explains her talent as an artist.

So after a dalliance at Matso’s and Sobrane‘s Gallery we hoofed it back to the Toyota dealer and got there about 1:30pm so we could sit in the service waiting area until the car was ready. We ended up waiting four hours due to an electrical failure earlier that morning, which meant they were unable to pump oil and had been waiting on a replacement generator and compressor.

During the four hour wait we started talking to the two other individuals who were also waiting for their cars. One was a local bloke from Broome and the other was an indigenous bloke from Fitzroy Crossing. Both were really nice blokes and interesting to talk to and fountains of local knowledge; to us anyway.

The indigenous bloke, Shane, was a fly-in-fly-out mine worker who lived in one of the indigenous communities in Fitroy Crossing and had driven to Broome to get his car serviced. Now, you may remember that Fitzroy Crossing has a bad reputation for crime, vandalism and social issues amongst the indigenous communities. Shane, however was a hell of a nice bloke, had worked hard all his life and made a good life for himself. He told us a fair sized chunk of his life story and one part in particular really hit home how badly our indigenous people have been trated post-colonisation.

When Shane was a young man he moved to Broome and got himself a job at a joinery that made kitchens. He started there doing cutting and over the course of two years there kept asking to do more complex jobs up to the point where he was putting together complete kitchens. After two years he went to the boss and asked if he could have an apprenticeship so he could be formally qualified. He then explained that his boss’s reply was, “No… we tried that with one of your mob a few years ago and it didn’t work out!” Despite this Shane kept working for them for another three years until he moved onto bigger and better things. You could see when he told this story taht he was still hurt by it (after a few decades) but despite this he wasn’t angry or petulant about the way he was treated back then. He was simply resigned to it.

Thankfully for him, life treated him well after that and he lives a good and rewarding life. But what this chance encounter showed us was a few things:

• Places like Fitzroy Crossing are far more complicated and surprising than just the bad reports that people give of it.
• Indigenous social issues are complicated but fuelled by white indifference and ignorance with a willingness to place all indigenous people into the same basket without giving them a fair go or a fair hearing.
• Indigenous issues will never be solved by old white men making decisions in Canberra and throwing money at the problems.

We learnt a lot listening to Shane that afternoon. Our cruiser was the first car finished and as we prepared to leave all four of us stood, said our goodbyes and shook hands with each other. Something we weren’t expecting to be doing in the waiting area of the Toyota dealership in Broome. It was a good afternoon…