A Week in Broome

My route to Western Australia took me from Cairns to Darwin first. I then stayed in Darwin for one night, in order to catch the Greyhound bus in the morning through to Broome. This journey was 1,871 km (about 1160 miles) and over twenty five hours including time differences. I spent the time staring out of the window at the sheer expanses of nothingness, watching the Toy Story films and eating chicken and spinach rolls. We did have comfort stops, which I was very grateful for, in Katherine and Kununurra.

We finally arrived in Broome just before 7am on the Friday and it was raining. It was a fine, warm drizzle and made my walk to the hostel a little damper than I'd have liked. I checked in to Kimberely Klub, and was surprised to be given a key to the room straight away. It wasn't until I'd gone up to quietly dump my stuff that the reception man came along to point out that my bed "might not be vacant yet". I'd figured that one out myself and just grabbed what I needed for the day and left everything else in the corner.

I decided to walk to the iconic Cable Beach. This was nowhere near as close as I'd thought it was, I'd been walking about an hour and was on the last stretch, when a car honked at me. The lady pulled over and shouted "it's further than you think, jump in", so I did. Turns out she was the chef at the restaurant by the beach, she hated seeing people walk in the heat with no shade. She dropped me right in the carpark and I thanked her profusely, it probably would have taken another hour to walk!

I climbed over the sand dunes to find a stunning stretch of beach, it went for miles in both directions. The sand was a lovely golden colour and there were very few people to be seen. If this had been the East Coast, it would be packed. I loved it here in WA already. I could see an interesting collection of rocks and cliffs over to the left, so aimed to walk towards them. The sand was quite hot so I walked through the shallows as far as I could. I then came across collections of granite rocks potruding out of the sand, I walked higher up the beach to find a pathway through, hopping across the sand and climbing over the rocks.

Behind these hid humongous sandstone formations in reds and yellows. They were beautiful, all shapes and sizes. I had a great laugh balancing my camera and taking funny pictures of me "holding them up" etc. Maybe it was a good job I had the beach to myself, I must have looked like a right idiot. I carried on walking over the rocks and all the way to Gantheaume Point. The rocks had began to get a little larger, and a route was not so obvious. In the end, I climbed over to the top of the cliff and walked on the red sandy road to get there.

I was so grateful to find a shelter with information, a toilet, and a water tap when I arrived. I refilled my water bottle several times. I took a quick walk to the lookout, but didn't want to go too far and was soon back for another sit down in the shade. Once I felt recuperated, it was time to start heading back. This quite literally felt like the longest walk ever. I managed to find a resort en route who let me use their toilet, and refill my bottle again. It was scorching hot and the walk must have taken nearly two hours, in flip flops. Not my best idea, but at least I'd had my suncream and a hat.

I was so tired once I made it to the hostel that I pretty much just ate a chicken roll for dinner and got into my pjs. Walking past the TV lounge, I spotted someone was watching Moana. I had to stop and watch, we followed that with Zootopia and then it really was time for bed.

~

WA is three hours ahead of Queensland, so naturally I was awake at silly o'clock. I didn't want to wake anyone in the room, so quickly got changed and went to chill out in the lounge. I sat on the sofas for a while, writing this and researching things to do. It was due to get a lot hotter later on in the day, so I headed out towards the town.

Chinatown was only a short walk away and looked quite cute. It didn't look like most Chinatowns I'd seen, it was basically just a small selection of shops and a takeaway. The area surrounding it was full with tourist information type centres, cafes and pearl gift shops. I was too early to see any of these places open and instead walked to where I assumed the coast was. I found the jetty and read that there was a 'Jetty to Jetty' walk I could follow.

It was a very short walk that brought me to Town Beach. It was nowhere near as impressive as Cable Beach and I have to say I was disappointed. The water was still crystal clear, but the sand wasn't as soft underfoot and was just average coloured. I was looking forward to some brunch of some kind and was happy to see a cafe. I ordered something a little different, an iced chai latte. Luckily, it was very nice and surprisingly filling, just what I needed. 

On the way back to the hostel, I stumbled across the Courthouse Markets. They were much the same as any other market, with the usual trinkets and treasures. It was starting to get rather warm by now, I took refuge under the shaded stalls. I was intrigued by a lady selling "ice cups". On buying one I realised she'd literally just frozen lemonade in cups with lolly sticks. Fair play. Whilst sitting and waiting for my ice to melt - just a little bit - I booked a tour to Cape Leveque for the following day.

Back at the hostel, I met Åsa ("call me Ollie") attempting to lighten her bag. It was rather amusing to watch and wonder how someone can accumulate so much. Thank the Lord there was a pool, it wasn't even midday and I was beginning to sweat profusely. I changed into my swimmers and floated around in the water for a while. It wasn't as cold as I'd wanted it to be, but was still refreshing. I sat on the side to dry off, before noticing an unoccupied hammock. I was straight in there.

I woke up maybe an hour later, hungry and a little disorientated. Ollie wandered past, and we decided to have some lunch together. I didn't have much food wise, but did offer up a carrot to add to the pasta and pesto mix. Cutlery required a deposit, so I just ate mine with a wooden spoon! It was harder than I thought it would be, but I still managed to finish my portion. We booked a camel sunset tour on cable beach, grabbing our cameras we were off.

We both needed to get cash out, so walked up the road to Woolies first. We were still really early for the bus, so treated ourselves to an ice cream while we waited. We arrived on the beach and walked barefoot along the sand to where we thought the camels would be. Our company was nowhere to be seen, so I called them to make sure we had the right place. After all, Cable Beach was massive! We could relax, they were on the way. I dipped my toes in the sea and watched another tour leave.

Finally, we watched as twelve or so camels were led across the sand towards us. The tour group assembled and we were able to meet the camels. We were able to touch the one at the front, stroking and patting him. We then lined up alongside and one by one, climbed aboard our camel. Me and Ollie were last so were lucky enough to have a camel each to ride. Mine was called Spartacus, I clambered on and up we went. I always forget just how tall camels are, I was pretty high off the ground.

It was a great ride across the sand, with the sun slowly going down alongside us, creating shadows on the sand. One of the guides took a tonne of photos for me, with Spartacus as the star. I was told all about him, learning that he was the youngest at only eight years old. He was living in the wild in Alice Springs, and took a shine to the owner of the company. Fully trained, he is still a very cheeky camel and loves his post-tour treat of a carrot so much he'll try and steal everyone else's.

We arrived back to the base just before sunset, Spartacus slowly knelt down and I was able to climb off. I could now appreciate the funny faces he had been pulling. The sunset was stunning, the large stretch of beach bathed in colour at the end of another day. We were given a gift of pearl earrings and a free drink at the bar. Thanking the team, we headed to the bar in question to find a massive queue. Regardless, a free drink was a free drink, and so we queued. I got a can of sprite, thinking I could at least walk with it to the bus stop.

We jumped off at Woolies again, this time to buy some bits for dinner. Once I'd eaten - with my wooden spoon again - it was shower time. It was so refreshing to enjoy a cold shower and wash away the sweat of the day. There was a one hundred year old open air cinema in town, it was rated one of the top things to do in Broome. If we hot footed it, we could make it to their 8.30 showing of Girls Trip.

This was when I had my first (and last) bad experience with a few local aborigines. We were accused of staring at two young girls, who proceeded to follow us down the road and throw rocks. We elected to ignore them and just keep walking, we had a film to get to! When one of them actually pushed me I snapped, I turned around and gave them a right talking to. I don't know who was more surprised, but they left us alone after that.

We made it just in time, Sun Cinemas was incredibly cute, with a large screen and deck chairs. Girls Trip was hilarious, I honestly don't think I'd laughed that hard in a while. Our walk back was uneventful, I was so tired I fell straight asleep.

~

I was up nice and early, sitting outside with my packed bag, eating my cereal bar. I was due to be picked up at 6.30am, and found myself joined by Naroombe a few minutes or so before. We waited for over an hour, having called the office and being promised the driver would be on the way. They hadn't been able to speak to him, but were sure he wouldn't "leave town without us". Turns out, that's exactly what he did. Once he was finally contactable we learnt that he'd quite simply forgotten us.

I met Ollie out on the step and she promised me breakfast to make up for the wait. She'd been sitting watching TV having been up ages anyway. I ate a vegetable wrap while I planned my stay in Western Australia, where I wanted to go and what I wanted to see. I finally managed to sort out my transportation, opting for Integrity Coachlines. We were determined to do something with the day, and decided we'd walk to Town Beach.

The walk was longer than I remembered, hindered by a massive blister on the bottom of my foot. That would teach me for walking so far in flip flops. It was even quieter than the day before when we finally did arrive at the beach. I was so hot and sweaty that I stripped down immediately and walked straight into the sea. Unfortunately, it was quite warm and not refreshing in the slightest. I still had a mini paddle before taking my towel into the shade for a lie down. We both had the intention of planning things. I fell asleep and Ollie was too busy sun baking.

I woke up with another swim, staying in much longer this time. The water was quite shallow but I didn't let that stop me doing "laps". All of a sudden, lots of boats started arriving and mooring around the bay. I took that as a sign to get out of the water. A few more hours of sunning, reading and a little bit of planning followed. But then it really was way too hot, even in the shade! My terrible blister plaster had fallen off and I wasn't looking forward to the walk back. Not wanting to slow Ollie down, I told her to go ahead while I shuffled along.

I must have taken nearly an hour to make it to the hostel. When I got there, I collapsed into a hammock and fell asleep. I'd hardly done anything all day and yet the heat was making me so tired. I woke up and made my way down to the bar, having discovered that they would fill my bottle with ice for no charge. I spent a few hours trying to work out the logistics of my next few weeks, eating ice cubes and having a little chat with Mum.

On my random walks through town I had noticed a rather interesting ute parked down the road from the hostel. Sitting pretty on the trailer were three stone pizza ovens! We simply had to try one, we ordered a "Supreme" to share and popped to Woolies while it was cooking. The pizza box was massive, neither of us could wait to dig in. We sat on the sofas and sat the pizza proudly in front of us. It was a large square pizza, cut into slices. It smelled as good as it looked, and tasted even better.

Once we had demolished the pizza, I had a shower and packed my bag ready for tour in the morning. I read myself to sleep, it would be another early morning! Let's just hope they wouldn't forget me again.

~

I was picked up nice and early by Glen and nabbed the front seat of the 4x4 bus. We only had a few kilometres on sealed roads today, the rest would be all dirt, or sand in particular. Despite the bumpy ride I found myself asleep within minutes. We stopped along the way for a "bush wee". I did consider finding myself a tree, but what if something bit me on the bum?! I just took pictures of the long stretch of red road ahead of us.

I woke up as we were pulling in to the Beagle Bay community. Their resourcefulness was outstanding, considering how cut off they were from everything. They had vegetable gardens galore, sourcing everything they needed from the land. The reason for our visit was to see the Sacred Heart, or "Mother of Pearl" Church. It looked very out of place, made by German Monks in 1914 and decorated by Aboriginal women with a mixture of Christian and indigenous symbols. It was one of a kind, so beautiful, adorned with thousands of mother of pearl, cowrie, volute and olive snail shells. 

Once we had had a look around, it was time for morning tea. I enjoyed a cuppa and several Anzac biscuits, hopefully they would wake me up a bit! Glen told us all about communities in the Kimberelys as we drove to our next destination. The children will first learn in bush schools, taught by their elders as well as following a curriculum. Many form a partnership with schools in major towns and cities, with football tournaments allowing the children to meet and learn each others culture.

Cygnet Bay is the oldest pearl farm in Australia, and the only one open to the public. We were met by Terry who had grown up in the community, and was the 4th generation of his family to work on the farm. We watched a video showing old footage of the families involved learning how to cultivate pearls. The oysters spend two years in the water, and are cleaned monthly. The grade of a pearl depends on lustre, colour, shape, size and any imperfections. Terry took us out to his "back yard", and explained that there were thousands of oysters out in the sea. It was a beautiful sight, blue water and white sand and a fishing boat. Apparently they hired backpackers to keep up with demand, missed out on that opportunity.

We now had the chance to harvest our very own pearl. Terry opened up the oyster - they are normally used a few times, but this one was dead - and there it was. A pearl. And that wasn't the only by product, they could now sell the pearl meat and the mother of pearl itself.

One of the kids on the bus was given the task of carrying our pearl back to the main office so it could be graded. While this was happening, we were shown examples of the colours, the different grades of size and lustre. The trick was to wave your hand over the top and see if it was reflected on the pearl. Terry also showed us the biggest pearl they'd harvested, it was so large and so perfect that it didn't even have a price. Ours came in as an A1, it was a 12mm drop shape and worth $1062. Before we left, we sampled some pearl mear and wandered through the gift shop. Obviously I wouldn't be buying anything, the jewellery was just a bit expensive.

We bid goodbye to Terry and drove ovee to One Arm Point. Here, we had a tour of the Trochus Hathchery. There were giant tubs filled with lots of fish; barramundi, clown fish, and even a green turtle. Each tub was also lined with hundreds of trochus shells. They had piles and piles of them alongside their workshop, waiting to be polished and turned into something beautiful to wear, or to sell.

We ate our buffet lunch in a marquee here, with an amazing view of King Sound. I hadn't realised just how hungry I was and piled my plate high. I was so long at the buffet table I missed out on a seat, I just stood to eat instead, gazing out at the stunning surroundings. We cleared up and washed up and it was on to our final destination of the day, Kooljaman.

This was a resort, with accommodation options, a gift shop, restaurants, the whole shebang. On our arrival, we took the 4x4 route down to West Beach. It was like someone had upped the contrast, I was suddenly faced with bright red rocks, the whitest sand I ever did see, and the sparkling blue sea. It was beyond beautiful. I must have taken hundreds of photos, I could barely tear my eyes away. There was something so rugged and untamed about it all, and we were the only ones there!

On to the Eastern Beach, where we could swim if we wanted to. A croc had apparently been spotted in the last week, wasn't sure I'd be taking any chances. The beach did offer a great panoramic view across the whole peninsula. I had a wander along the beach and then stripped to my bikini for a splash in the shallows. It was actually quite rocky so I'm not sure how you would swim properly anyway. Glen had prepared slices of orange and watermelon for us to enjoy before heading back. A few people were taking a scenic flight back to Broome, we bid them farewell and popped to the gift shop. I was in the mood for an icecream but they didn't have any that I fancied. I did get a magnet though.

It was a three hour drive home and I slept quite a bit of it. I wasn't majorly hungry so just had some noodles. I enjoyed a quick shower and then met Ollie in the TV room. We'd forgotten we had popcorn, we watched Lion and munched our way through the packet. It was a really good film, and I may have shed a little tear at the end.

~

Today was due to be 40°C. I was up early, but tried to stay in bed longer to preserve my energy. I managed to doze until about 7, then I was up and organising stuff. I was hot and bothered by 8, downing cold water left right and centre.

Ollie needed a bag to replace her heavy suitcase so that was our main aim of the day. We walked into chinatown, and found a holdall in the general store. That was much easier than we had anticipated. We carried on walking, stopping off to get some snacks from Coles.

We then had a look around the visitors centre for something free to do that we hadn't already done (no such luck). On the way back to the hostel, I wanted to grab a cold water from McDonald's. This turned into a burger for Ollie and a soft scoop for me.

Back at the hostel I spent the rest of the day reading and chilling in the pool. We also booked a snubfin dolphin tour for the next day. Hopefully it wouldn't be as hot! Once I'd eaten a chicken salad roll, it was off to read in bed.

~

Considering that we weren't being picked up until past eight, I was disappointed to wake up about five. I tried to go back to sleep but to no avail, I heard Ollie get up and figured we may as well eat breakfast together. We watched the latest Transformers movie until it was time to head to the bus stop. Lauren picked us up and drove us down to the harbour. The tender boat then took us over to the catamaran. It was a nice small group and there was no struggle to find a good spot to sit. I chose a bean bag out on the bow.

With no further ado we were off out to find some marine life. The first sighting was a dugong, I couldn't see it at first but think I did get a glimpse just as it went back under. I moved on to a block to get a better view and feel the wind in my hair. This year I've realised just how much I love being out at sea! Lauren brought round some nibbles as we searched for the dolphins, savoury muffins that were actually delicious.

We spotted lots of turtles, their heads popping out of the water briefly before disappearing. Finally, we found a snubfin dolphin, a single make travelling on his own. We followed him for a while, watching him swim amongst the waves. They're quite funny looking dolphins and hard to spot, not having much of a nose they're much quicker at diving. Saying that, they are the slowest and laziest in general. Leaving our friend alone, Lauren brought round some pastries and cookies as we headed further out. I loved being waited on, and was impressed by her balance.

After ten minutes or so we were lucky enough to find a mother and calf. We watched their interactions, they were very cute. The calf was staying very close to mum, learning how to swim. We left them to it, spotting another male. This one was fishing, and we watched him use a special technique called "spit fishing". This is where the dolphins flip on to their back and literally spit at the fish to get them where they want them before catching them in their mouths. He had a few poor attempts, but finally managed to catch a fish. I felt so proud.

With our dolphin friend munching on fish, Lauren treated us to scrummy slices of frittata as we stumbled across a family of snubbies. They were so adorable, swimming together. They came quite close to the boat, but seemed a little shy. They didn't hang around us too long before swimming off into the distance. That was our cue to make our way back to dry land.

We weren't too far from the harbour when a pair of bottlenose mums and calves joined us. My camera had died, which was really a blessing in disguise as meant I could really enjoy their presence. They were swimming under the bow, catching a free ride. Apparently they are regulars around the harbour, and are known for their little quirks. One of the calves was only a few months old! We had to leave them behind to get back on time, with Lauren handing out our last treat of fruit kebabs and watermelon. It had been a wonderful tour, we were so lucky to see so many animals in a short space of time.

We were dropped off at Cable Beach where we enjoyed a good sunbathe. There wasn't much shade it got uncomfortably warm quite quickly. We stayed for about an hour before getting the bus back to the hostel. I had a much needed shower and a bottle full of ice. I packed by bag properly, reorganising everything. It's amazing how messy my bag can get in a few days.

I spent the evening planning New Zealand with Ben, watching the rest of Transformers and reading.

~

My last day in Broome, it was only right that I would be awake early again. Looking through Facebook as per the usual morning routine, I somehow managed to call Emily. After some confusion on my part, we had a great chat. I spent the rest of the morning researching, it's all I seem to do these days.

Once Ollie was awake, which didn't take long, we walked to the local brewery, Matsos. They didn't start serving alcohol until ten so we walked to Coles first. I grabbed some snacks for my bus journey and we took a slow walk back. Ollie tried their speciality, mango beer, while I had water and a chai latte. I enjoyed both, but was finished way before Ollie and sat twiddling my thumbs. Nanny then rang and we had a catch up on my walk home. It was crazy hot at this point, I literally felt like I was in an oven.

We jumped straight in the pool once we were back, cooling off a little. A cold shower was much more efficient, and I dried off on a hammock in the shade. After a quick lunch, it was back in the pool again. I found some of the girls from our boat tour chatting with Ollie, floating on pool noodles. I joined them and we had a good moan about how hot it was. I eventually climbed out and had a proper shower, ready for the overnight journey to Exmouth.

I packed my toiletries away, dried my towels and read again. It was too hot to do anything else. Another 40°C day I reckon. I spoke to Ben some more, planning for NZ again. Once I'd eaten my dinner, it was pretty much time to head to the visitor centre to meet the bus. I had been going to walk, but one of the guys felt sorry for me and offered a lift. Perfect. I plonked myself down in seat 4a and prepped myself for the long journey.