Broome

After an easy two and a half drive from Derby, we arrived at Broome late morning.  It is school holidays in WA, which is peak season for Broome, probably not the best time to visit, but that is how it worked out.  But there was a plus.  All the caravan parks are booked out and once this happens they allow the overflow places to open.  We got into the Broom Pistol Club, which only opened less than a week before but was already very full.  We still managed to get a powered site and fitted into it reasonably well.  The camping is basic but all we need, and is considerably cheaper than the expensive caravan parks here.

After lunch we drove back into Broome to visit the information centre and grab a few brochures.  We then decided we had to see the famous Cable Beach.  It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon and the patrolled surf beach was absolutely packed.  And what a gorgeous spot it is!  No wonder it is in the top beaches.  We then discovered just past the surf club is beach access for cars, and we drove down there and found you can drive along this gorgeous beach for kilometres.  This is also the part of the beach the camel trips leave from, and all three companies were there with their camel trains.  It was just on sunset as we were leaving, and it was amazing the number of cars and people already there or just arriving to see the sunset.

In front of the surf life saving area at Cable Beach.  Heaps of people there

Broome's famous camel rides at sunset

Friday morning we discovered that Broome even has a Bunnings, which also happened to be not far from us.  There were a few items we had been trying to buy at Derby, so we were pleased to get what we wanted at Bunnings.  A few more minor repairs and improvements were done when we got back.

After lunch it was off to explore.  We headed south to the deep water port, which isn't far from our camp.  From here we took the sandy road to Gantheaume Point, stopping at Reddell Beach on the way.  While looking at the fantastic scenery in the area, we were amazed to see a large whale jump out of the water.  Our first sighting for the season.

Rock formations at Reddell Beach

View from the point looking back along Cable Beach

Gantheaume Point was quite spectacular with beautiful views down Cable Beach.  After walking to the point and looking at the rock formations, we made our way back to the car access at Cable Beach, where I happily sat while Jim tried his hand at fishing.  Only one small one, which became bait in the hope of something bigger.  Alas no, lucky I took something out of the freezer.

Saturday was something of a disappointment.  Here we had got so used to endless blue skies day after day, and suddenly we have cloud and threatening rain.  It didn't stop us from more exploration, firstly going to Town Beach.  This is the area that everyone comes to see the Staircase to the Moon.

But the weekend markets are on and we spent quite a bit of time walking around looking at the stalls.  Next on the walking agenda was Chinatown. We were a couple of hours walking around looking at the shops.  Many sell the pearls that Broome is famous for.  The good ones were well out of my price range, although I did like the necklace at $18,000.  Lunch was naughty fish and chips at the famous Blueys.

On our way back to camp, we stopped at the park that has a number of memorials to WW2.  Again we have been surprised to discover that Broome had been bombed and many had been killed.  A large number of these were women and children who were on flying boats that were sunk in the harbour.

It was a cool and miserable day, but Saturday was the only day with a low enough tide while it was still daylight to see the dinosaur footprints.  So we rugged up and ventured back to Gantheaume Point, to find quite a few other brave souls with the same idea.  Lucky there were other people there or we might never have found them.  We went prepared for sand, wearing thongs, but didn't anticipate climbing over slippery rocks.

Dinosaur footprint

That night it rained quite a bit, but we were amazed to read that Cape Leveque had received 242 mls, that's nine and a half inches, on the Saturday.  We are booked there to camp with our tent later in the week.  That is very unseasonal weather and a lot of rain even for the wet season.

By lunchtime Sunday the clouds had started to blow away, and we decided to head back to lovely cable beach.  I was quite happy to sit back reading in my comfy chair while Jim again tried his hand at fishing.  Only one little one, not good enough to keep.  But we stayed for the sunset this time and it was amazing.

Fishing at dusk

No wonder so many people come to see the sunsets

Monday morning and it was time to head to the supermarket and do a big stockup for the coming week.  The van is going into storage and the tent is coming out as we head to Cape Leveque.  I really didn't expect that it would take us most of the day to get everything sorted between the caravan and the car.  We have put the back seat down in the car to fit things in better, but there still seems to be a lot in there.  Hopefully we won't run out of food. 

So to end our time in Broome, we were lucky enough to be here for the Staircase to the Moon.  This natural phenomena occurs when there is a full moon and low tide.  It is a big tourist drawcard here and they also have a night market.  There were heaps of people but the majority of the market stalls we had already seen on Saturday.  Unfortunately no good photos.  We went up early and positioned ourselves behind people sitting in chairs, thinking we would see easily over them.  However as soon as the moon came up, they stood up with their cameras.  But it was a spectacular sight.