A week in Broome

Before I went to Broome a few weeks ago, I was secretly wondering what exactly I was going to be doing.

I know plenty of people who’ve been to Broome and they all had a great time; but the focus always seemed to be the beaches. Sure, I like a good beach — for walking along. And I supposed it would be nice to get away from a Melbourne winter for a bit. I was vaguely aware of something to do with pearls… and knew Broome is considered the gateway to the Kimberley (Australia’s stunning northwest). But I still wasn’t sure what there was to actually do in Broome.

Obviously, if left to my own devices, I probably would never have gone to Broome. (Which would have been a huge mistake.) But, luckily for me, my parents generously arranged for us all to go on a family holiday — all my siblings and their spawn — and they picked Broome.

I should have realised there would be loads of things to do, because this was my parents’ sixth visit.

By the time we headed over there, though, I didn’t care what we would be doing. The weather apps said it would be 30 degrees C in Broome and I was ready for a break, having just finished four months of a big work project. Frankly, I had images of lying beside the pool in the shade, sipping gin and tonics, while reading.

Needless to say, this did not happen.

Some readers might be wondering at this point why I didn’t simply do some research. But I’m not a huge pre-planner when it comes to travel. I like to discover a place when I get there, allow it to unfold around me. This adds to the adventure and helps me stay in the moment, rather than try to do everything.

Having said that, it’s fortunate my sisters did some planning on my behalf. There are a number of day trips and half day tours you can take for various activities, but you need to pre-book these early to get a spot. In the end, I rocked up with two things pre-booked, and that turned out to be perfect.

So… what did I do (I hear you ask)? I’m going to have a go at including everything in one post. It’s probably going to end up long, with lots of photos (hopefully not too many words). Let’s go!

Cable Beach

We stayed at Cable Beach, which is renowned for being long (Wikipedia tells me 22.5km) and white and beautiful, with amazing sunsets. I visited a few times (but not to swim) and found a couple of geocaches stashed in the dunes.

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Horizontal Falls

One of my pre-booked trips was a day trip to the Horizontal Falls, which are in the beautiful Kimberley region of Australia. They are a natural geological and tidal phenomenon, where the tide level changes faster than water can flow through two narrow channels. This differential results in abrupt changes of water level on either side of the channel — and makes for a fun ride in a boat! On this day we travelled by 4WD “bus” up to Cape Leveque, seaplane and boat. To cap it off, I splurged and went up for my first ride in a helicopter too. Awesome day!

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Hovercraft ride to dinosaur tracks

The second of my pre-booked excursions took us by hovercraft to view some dinosaur footprints — or tracks (I’ve just read on an expert site). Apparently Broome is a fantastic location for dinosaur tracks and all the global experts go there to study them. The ones we saw are in fact a dinosaur trackway — multiple tracks — of an adult and a junior sauropod. Really interesting. (Read more here.) The hovercraft ride itself was a highlight for me… We later saw different dinosaur tracks at Gantheaume Point — these were three-toed therapod tracks, where are completely different.

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Pearls

Most people probably know (or are vaguely aware) that Broome evolved around the pearling and pearl shell (for buttons) trade. It was established in the 1880s — which is pretty early for Australia. There’s plenty to learn about the early pearling industry and, of course, pearls to buy. I had no intention of buying anything pearl-related, I truly didn’t. But by the end of trip a pearl somehow appeared around my neck. Oops.

Family bonding

Because my entire family was all together (all 17 of us), there were many opportunities for sharing adventures and experiences — such as visits to a crocodile farm, night market and Broome’s famous “picture garden” (open air cinema). Some of my nephews were introduced to geocaching too. We stayed in four self-catered units in a low-key resort, allowing the kids to come and go between units and many shared meals.

Random pics from Broome

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Stuff to do next time

There’s still PLENTY to do if I ever make it to Broome again. I didn’t spend a great deal of time in the town of Broome. I didn’t make it to the museum, or on a whale watching expedition. As for the Kimberley… I didn’t even scrape the surface. I think you need a slab of time to do the Kimberley effectively, but otherwise I can see myself taking another week in Broome, when July in Melbourne gets all dreary and I need a dose of sunshine.