Swept away by Broome

Getting to Broome was another one of those milestones we’ve been looking forward to, as it means getting back to the coast, and starting the west coast adventure. For the whole time, the various Facebook groups have gone on and on about how busy Broome is and how you must book. I’m starting to learn to take these comments with a grain of salt – generally the people are talking about powered sites, and what I’ve found is that if you don’t need power, there are usually options available.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t busy though, and because we needed a spot for a week, we chose a place about 25 minutes out of town. The whole place is unpowered, which unfortunately means generators are allowed, but other than that, I couldn’t fault it as a spot for our Broome stay.

Speaking of power, I can’t tell you how much I never want to hear about solar panels and batteries ever again. It’s been an ongoing issue, and it seems that no matter our weather situation, or set up, we were always chasing power. After the great solar panel smashing in Alice Springs, we persevered with a half-working solar panel (while we tried to figure out if we’d really killed it or not). In Kununurra I’d had enough of this, and told Jim to go and get whatever solar panel he needed at whatever it cost so we didn’t have to talk about it ever again. What I had meant was that this new panel would replace the half-broken one, but apparently I didn’t convey that bit, so we now have FOUR solar panels.

But what we do have, finally, is enough power to run all the things without it being a stress. We’re also now using the half-broken one on top of the trailer while we’re travelling, so we can power the fridge as we’re going along. That means that we turn up to a new spot without needing to play catch up on power even if we’ve just spent five hours driving. It’s a relief, and something that took way too long to sort out.

Back to Broome.

I think there’s a reason people come all this way to go to Cable Beach. It is really quite spectacular. Beautiful white sand, warm water and so much space for anyone and everyone. We made it a priority to check out the waterfront, starting with the port and jetty, then moving around to the point with its spectacular orange rocks, then driving on the southern end of Cable Beach, before going up to the more famous bit (where the resorts are).

We also checked out Town Beach which has some nice little night markets. Not quite on the scale of the ones in Darwin, but the laksa was excellent. Heidi is developing a taste for Pad Thai and that seems to be her go-to market stall dinner, while Jim had an excellent barramundi curry. Hamish of course had a hotdog. No point branching out when you can eat something boring with no nutritional value.

On the weekend we decided to put the dog into doggie boarding at the local vet, which gave us two days and a night to do dog-free things. We went to some other markets where three of us got some Broome pearls (me earrings, Heidi and anklet and Hamish a bracelet). We then went back to Cable Beach to the bit where dogs aren’t allowed to do a bit of swimming, before finding a spot at a sports bar to watch the Matildas play their quarter final against France (and what a cracker it was – extra time then the longest penalty shootout ever).

The following day we drove out to Willie Creek Pearl Farm to do their tour. It went for about 3 hours and was very comprehensive and quite interesting. They conveniently finished their tour in their showroom, but sadly their pearls were way, way out of my price range.

Broome was also the location for not one but two birthdays. For Jim’s we went to Matso’s Brewery to try a few of their beers, then on to the aforementioned night markets for dinner. For mine, it was our last day in Broome so we went back to Cable Beach, drove down it to find a good spot and had some cake, champagne and prawns while swimming and watching the sunset. We just have one more birthday on the road (Hamish’s – in November, and it will be his second birthday away from home).

Right now, we’re about 2.5 hours further north from Broome near Cygnet Bay. It’s a picture-perfect spot and we’ve got a site with waterfront views. Of course, there’s the usual crocs to deal with so no swimming, but I’m hoping to test out my new reel (birthday present) and catch some dinner instead.

I’ll report back on the fish tally in the next installment!