Frangipanis, bouganvillia, palms, pearls, blue skies and Cable Beach…oh, and a few smelly camel trains. What a perfect combination to create a seriously relaxed town. No wonder Broome is a tourist mecca!
We stayed in the ‘resort’ precinct at Cable Beach, which was teeming with tourists. The caravan parks were bursting with grey nomads who make Broome home for a few months each year, hoping their arthritic knees and aching backs are spared the pain synonymous with the southern Winter chills. The apartments and ‘resort’ accommodation were full of holiday makers from the cooler climates who were paying a fortune to enjoy Broome’s sun and a smattering of the endless local tours on offer. For those with deep wallets and a thirst for adventure, here’s a taste of what you could do;
Flights & boat ride through Horizontal Falls $750 p/p
Local pearl farm tour $80-100 p/p
Sunset camel ride $65 p/p
Hovercraft tour $185 p/p
Fishing tour $325 p/p
Our budget didn’t stretch beyond a camel ride but we found plenty of other free things to keep us all happy for a week. We ambled through the weekend Courthouse markets, explored the ancient dinosaur prints embedded in the rocky outcrops around the coast, jostled for a position with hundreds of others to see the ‘staircase to the moon’ (each month, when the full moon is first rising, the reflection on the water looks like steps leading up to it...or so they say!), enjoyed a little retail therapy (well, the girls and I did have birthdays to buy for!), and perhaps best of all, enjoyed plenty of time at the incredible Cable Beach.
Cable Beach is undeniably one of the World’s best beaches. With acres of soft, golden sand and sensationally warm, sapphire water, it is beautiful. Its 22.5 kilometres of ocean frontage has pretty impressive tides that can reach over 9m and which are credited with regularly ‘cleaning’ the beach. Gentle waves allow boogy boarders, paddle boarders and body surfers enough action for hours of fun. And for those like us who travel with their hairy hounds, there’s even a couple of massive off-lead dog sections where the puppies can run freely, make friends and frolic happily in the water. It’s a rather peculiar and crazy place though! Only a tiny section is patrolled by local surf lifesavers and the rest seems to be a free-for-all for anyone wanting to do anything! At low tide, dozens of 4WD’s descend on the northern section of beach, dodging the three trains of stinky, snorting camels that collectively take hundreds of excited tourists along the egde of the water for morning and afternoon tours. Add in a few mad dogs chasing balls or birds and, right amongst the chaos, a few groups of (mostly old) people who are starkers (Cable Beach is one of Australia’s most famous nude beaches) so you’ve pretty much got as much action as you need!
(For the history buffs among you, Cable Beach got its name after the submarine telegraph cable, which had been connected to Darwin, was rerouted through Broome because of volcanic activity in the Arafura Sea. It landed on what is today known as Cable Beach.)
Broome itself was founded in the late 1800’s on the cruelty and greed of Europeans who forced enslaved Aborigines to dive for pearl shells. Many suffered horrific deaths from diving accidents, brutality and from the ghastly living conditions they endured. Especially sad was the fact that they preferred to use pregnant women, whom they believed had superior lung capacity. Eventually, slavery was abolished but not before, the indigenous divers had collected most of the shells from the shallow waters. (They were expected to skin dive up to 12m) Boats and diving equipment were needed to move to deeper water where new colonies of oyster shells could be harvested. New migrant groups came as the industry expanded, offering more lucrative spoils. The Japanese were the most successful divers and their skills were highly valued. The influence of many Asian cultures on the town is still obvious today and the Japanese cemetery pays homage to the hundreds who died seeking their riches.
Both World Wars and the Depression of the 1930’s had a disastrous effect on Broome and its pearling industry. However, the biggest threat to its viability came with the invention of the plastic button! Pearl shell had been such a valuable commodity for so long as it was used to make buttons and cutlery handles but when plastic was found to be stronger and cheaper, the industry collapsed overnight. Luckily, the demand for pearl jewellery had been growing. In the early 1950’s, Broome again turned to the expertise of the Japanese, who had been experimenting with farming cultured pearls. The oyster unique to the Broome area, Pinctada maxima, grows twice as fast and twice as big as Japanese pearls so it was an attractive proposition for those willing to invest. Broome pearls are now coveted across the globe and demand continues to grow.
Despite being quite a dog friendly town, accommodation was definitely NOT dog friendly. Only one caravan park in Broome allowed dogs, and only in the ‘off-season’. (Once peak season hits, all dog owners are shunted onto an oval near Town Beach.) Arriving just prior to the peak, we expected our request for a site at the ‘pet friendly’ caravan park would be straightforward…how wrong we were!! Turns out they really only like small dogs and took particular exception to Rottweilers! So, after many assurances from Michael that Hailey had already travelled successfully with us for 5 months, they hesitantly agreed to our booking. It was actually quite hilarious in the end. When we arrived, they had allocated us a spot on what was essentially their front lawn, away from all other guests. They informed us that most of their clientele were grey nomads who were intolerant of dogs and kids, and because we had multiples of both, we were high risk. We dubbed our spot the ‘naughty corner’, which we didn’t mind a bit as it was much quieter than being squashed amongst the ever increasing old folk who rolled in day after day from as early as 8am. Ironically, four or five other families / couples we’d previously met ended up at the same caravan park and all would have been happy to bunk in with us on the front lawn. So much for our scary dog and terrible children!
THE BEAUTIFUL CABLE BEACH (click on the pics for info)
THE SMELLY CAMELS! (click on the pics for info)
RANDOM BROOME HIGHLIGHTS (click on the pics for info)
