Broome

 14 – 21 September 2022

The caravan park we had chosen in Broome is located at Cable Beach and allows check-in to sites from 11:30am so we arrived just after that and were set up in time for lunch. We had requested a shady site not far from the amenities and were very pleased with our location. It turned out to have shade for most of the day which was very much needed with temperatures still well into in the 30s.

We wandered over to Divers’ Tavern, just across the road, for dinner and were surprised at how busy it was for a Wednesday night at the end of the tourist season. We enjoyed a nice meal but didn’t enjoy the crowds.

On our first full day we drove around town picking up things that we needed and included a visit to a computer repair business to have Mick’s laptop looked at. We also went into town for a look around and noticed that much of the old part was quite familiar even though our last visit was 31 years ago. Although there has been a lot of development there are still many buildings, especially around Chinatown, that retain their heritage appearance.

On Friday night we did what everyone else does in Broome and drove down onto Cable Beach for an early dinner at sunset. Fortunately for us the low tide coincided with the sunset. There is a short ramp to get onto the beach and then you can drive for a long way to get to a nice spot. There were so many people down there we had to go a fair way to find the perfect place. We took chairs, table and a cooler bag with drinks and the makings for a lovely cheese platter. We watched the famous camel tours go past as the sun went down over the ocean.

It was nice to be set up in one place for a week and we spent our time exploring the area including a couple of visits to the mangroves at Streeter’s Jetty. We remembered the jetty from our last visit but it has been reconstructed several times since then. It once extended out through the mangroves and was used for loading and unloading pearl shell and other goods but now is just a short tourist walk. We also went to the Thursday Night Markets at Town Beach and wandered out on another reconstructed jetty, and the Courthouse Markets on Saturday morning. All around Broome there are interpretative displays describing much of the history of the town. Much of the information is presented as recollections of residents, excerpts from diaries of early settlers and stories of indigenous occupation going back many thousands of years, all of which gives a really good insight into the lives of those who have called Broome home.

We don’t go on many tours but we made an exception for the Broom Dinosaur Adventure Tour as it seemed to have something to offer both of us – a visit to dinosaur trackways, a trip up the creek, food and drink, and a bus pick up and drop off service. The departure is tide dependent and our pick-up was scheduled for 1:45pm, with the tour starting at 2:45pm. We were taken to the departure point on Simpson’s Bay where we took in the fabulous views while receiving a safety briefing and changing into our “reef shoes”. This tour involved wading through water so footwear is compulsory – you can bring your own, as we did, hire them or purchase them onsite.

Once settled on board Brahminy Kite we were on our way, and were stunned to see a Brahminy kite flying overhead! We stopped near the town jetty to hear about the bombing of Broome in March 1942, which resulted in the destruction of 15 flying boats in the bay, and 6 aircraft at the airfield. It is believed around 100 people died in the attack. At certain tides, the wrecks can be seen and visited on a tour or by walking out to them.

We continued on to the site of the dinosaur footprints, on Yawaru land, across the bay. We waded to shore and followed our guide a short way along the beach. Without this expert knowledge you would easily walk past this link with the giant sauropods who roamed the area. The trackways extend for about 80 kilometres from Broome along the Dampier Peninsula and were laid down 120 million years ago during the early cretaceous period. At least 22 different types of dinosaur have been identified from their prints, with potentially more yet to be discovered. Despite the number of tracks to be found there have been no fossilised bones discovered in and around Broome.

Returning to the boat we continued to journey across Roebuck Bay and up into Dampier Creek where Mick was keen to photograph some of the birds, while enjoying a glass of bubbly and some nibbles. As the sun started to set we returned to the starting point where we enjoyed cocktails, a tapas style meal and more bubbly as we chatted to other travellers, before hopping on the bus to go home.

When we returned to the caravan park we realised we could hear the music from the Stompem Ground Festival in the park a couple of kilometres away. We can now say we have listened to the Pigrim Brothers and Midnight Oil play live in Broome! What a way to end the day.

On Sunday afternoon we decided to go for a swim at Cable Beach so we checked for when the tide would be high and drove down after lunch. When we arrived we noticed that there weren’t many cars in the carpark which we thought was unusual for a weekend, and the beach was deserted. When we reached the top of the beach access stairs there was a sign indicating the beach was closed due to a recent confirmed crocodile sighting. Then we saw the red flag instead of the usual red and yellow. Red and yellow are used to indicate the safest swimming area, and red means no swimming. Checking online later we found out that a crocodile had been seen swimming towards Cable Beach from Gantheaume Point the previous day. Bad timing on our part!

The days were very hot and, even though we had a nice shady site, we took advantage of the good facilities at the Broome Library. They are well set up to cater to visitors with a heap of work-stations with power available. They also have a book swap and toilet facilities.

After a few hours at the library we visited another spot further along Cable Beach and again drove down on the beach. The sand is so hard packed that you don’t need to air down your tyres, and it is even possible to drive along in a 2WD. Mick was hoping that there would be some birds on the beach or rocks, but no luck that time. We returned for another try in the morning with a bit more success.  We both thought that this part of the beach, near the racecourse, was the place where we had come in 1991 with some locals who Mick had been working with. That time we had a few drinks and a camp oven cook-up and stayed until after dark. We left the others there and found out the next morning that they had mistimed their departure and had been inundated by the incoming tide.

We spent an enjoyable week in Broome at Cable Beach, before setting off for the short drive to Broome Bird Observatory. The BBO advise that visitors not follow GPS or Google Maps directions but we set the GPS just to see what would happen. We did know the way as we had seen the sign as we came in to town, and as expected, the GPS tried to take us down a road that didn’t exist! So much for modern technology.