Our Australian adventure this year is to The Kimberley in North-western part of the country. We have booked a two week cultural/walking tour with Kimberley Wild, a local WA company. We flew from Sydney directly to Broome.
Leaving Sydney and the eastern coast
It was not long that we had left the green coast and the Great Dividing Range that the desert country with its salt lakes appeared below for most of the journey.
Arriving in the small town of Broome on the western coast of Australia. In the wet season it has a population of 14,000 but during the peak season, May-September, it has 300,000 visitors.
Our backpacker hostel was 10 minutes walk from the airport.
We have a basic double - share bathroom. It is full. 150 backpackers, all about 25. There is a pool but no way I’m getting in with my black Speedos amongst all these ravishing girls in their bikinis.
We’ve spent the last day and a half exploring the township. There is some excellent indigenous art being sold on behalf of distant communities.
One section of Broome is called Chinatown with many cafes, restaurants and the main commercial centre. Along Jimmy Chi Lane there were signboards listing Broome’s aboriginal past, the influence of island migrants from the north, the coming of the Chinese for trading, the Japanese for early whaling and then as pearl divers, the colonial push and the disappointment that the hopes for Broome as a thriving northern city weren’t realised.
Street art. Broome is home to many species of birds.
We had hoped to go to the open-air cinema but ran out of time. It holds a dark past with its segregation policy during the White Australia era.
A scaled model of the cinema in the Museum.
We walked about 20 minutes to the Museum. A voluntary organisation but full of excellent displays and fascinating historical information.
Chinese rickshaw
The range of languages spoken in early Broome day’s
For thousands of years pearls have been harvested in this region
One of the reasons Broome proved to be an unsuitable permanent settlement was the perishing weather and Broome’s susceptibility to cyclones. It was also isolated and very exposed, as was found when it was bombed by the Japanese during WW2. Broome was named after the 1880’s Western Australian governor. When he realised that Broome would not be the thriving metropolis he expected he tried to have his name removed but the Surveyor-General, John Forrest, refused his request.
The Kimberley coast has a pre-historic dinosaur past, with footprints found as nearby as Cable Beach.
The Chinese cemetery
Next door the Japanese cemetery, ordered and artistic. Many of these were divers who died from injuries or exploitation.
Boab trees line the streets
Their exquisite flowers
The nuts are large enough to be carved and the flesh is used as bush tucker
Lush flowers abound. Broome is situated on a subterranean aquifer, which provides a constant source of water.
Excellent meals today - breakfast and dinner at The Aarli, at the end of Frederick Street.
We had lunch at Zander’s at Cable Beach.
We became very adept at using the local bus service. $2 a trip for Seniors.
Cable Beach warning
The long flat expanse of white sand, complimented by the azure ocean
Beach open and running
Rocks along the shore which hold dinosaur prints
Sunset camel rides
Plovers join in the throng
Breathtaking sunset
Off on our bus tour early tomorrow morning.
M&M
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