CLEAVERVILLE BEACH TO BROOME

As you may know, I went back to Sydney for 13 days to catch up with Hayley, Karina and my friends.  I had a great time and it was wonderful seeing everyone again and having so much fun with them.  Apologies to anyone I didn’t have time to see.  Richard and Sally coped ok and everyone at the caravan site was making sure they weren’t too lonely and having happy hour drinks with them.   I got back to Karratha on 4^th October.  Unfortunately, I was pretty sick for 4 days as I had a dodgy meal on the plane for the first time.  I knew as soon as I ate it that it didn’t taste right and paid the penalty over the next few days.  I’m very rarely ill and hate being incapacitated.   Richard had wanted to move on the day after I got back, but I just couldn’t face the thought for a few days.  I also got badly bitten by sand flies and mozzies and was in a bit of a mess, so spent the next    3 days recovering.

MONDAY 7TH OCTOBER   -   We left Cleaverville Beach at 9am and continued  north for 287 kilometres to our next destination DeGrey River that had been recommended  to us by so many people we met.  It was pretty hot by the time we arrived.  Lots of cattle were freely roaming around the area and weren’t too keen to move for us to get past them.  We went on to the lower level by the riverside which was nice.  There were lots of other vans spread along the riverside.  It’s a popular 24 hour free stay, although lots of vans looked like they were set up for the duration.

OUR  SPOT AT DEGREY RIVER

CATTLE AROUND OUR FRIEND'S VAN  -  EARLY MORNING WAKE UP CALL

TUESDAY 8TH OCTOBER   -   We left DeGrey River at 9am for a long  530 kilometre drive to Broome.  Coming up to Port Hedland, we saw so many big quadruple trailer trucks tearing up and down the highway, some of the back trailers were swaying back and forth as they’re so big and heavy.  Port Hedland is a huge mining area, full of red dust, dirt and willy willies swirling across the landscape.  Passing through the town we couldn’t help laughing at the rows and rows of termite nests with hard hats on top (all different colours).  There’s obviously not much entertainment in the town.  Some of the termite nests also had faces painted on them.  They’re quite a tourist feature and make a welcome relief from the red dust and dirt and flat landscape.  










We arrived at The Gateway Caravan Park (pet friendly to friendly pets), the only place in Broome that took dogs, by mid- afternoon.    It was $25 per night or $150 per week.  We were hot and tired and glad to have reached our destination.  The Gateway was 30 kilometres outside town, very dusty and hot with not much shade.  It was the end of the main tourist season and the managers were taking a break.  The off-season managers were very nice and friendly.  There were only 4 other vans in the park.  We quickly got the generator out and put on the air-conditioning to try and cool down.  In the main season it would be a good location with a big pit fire and bbq area to gather around for happy hour.  It was much too hot to even consider either a pit fire or a bbq.  

Later in the evening, we took Sally for a run along the World famous Cable Beach, which is in the World’s top 5 best beaches  (I would definitely dispute that – it is a beautiful beach but not up there in my top 5).  It was a beautiful 22 kilometre long beach, very wide and flat and great to walk along.    The water from The Indian Ocean was crystal clear and pure turquoise.  There was a kiosk on the beach to hire chairs, umbrellas, and surf boards.  From November to April there can be box jellyfish and stingers in the ocean.  At least dogs could be exercised off leash to the left of the kiosk and Sally happily ran in and out of the water to cool off and had great fun with all the other dogs running around. 

SALLY CHASING STONES ON THE BEACH

SUNSET AT CABLE BEACH

There were three daily camel rides on the northern part of the beach, an early morning, pre-sunset and sunset tour available.    

Broome is the Gateway to The Kimberley, with a population of over 16,000.  It is 2,389 kilometres north of Perth and 1,859 south west of Darwin.  It has a rich pearling history that attracted many Japanese, Chinese and Asian divers seeking their fortune, many of them were victims of the bends, drowning, shark attacks and/or cyclones.  The World’s largest fine quality round pearl was grown at Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm in 2006, measuring 22.24mm in diameter. In the early pearling days, Broome produced 80% of the World’s Mother of Pearl

William Dampier arrived in his boat The Cygnet in 1688 and returned in The Roebuck in 1689.   The town was named after the Governor of Western Australia at the time, Sir Frederick Napier Broome in 1883.  Much of the coastline is named in Dampier’s honour:  Dampier Peninsula, Dampier Terrace, Dampier Creek, Cygnet Bay and Roebuck Bay. 

Cable Beach was named after the communications cable that was laid in 1889, linking Broome to Indonesia.

WEDNESDAY 9TH OCTOBER   -      We went for a drive to Ganthaume Point with stunning ocean views and colourful rock formations which were very unstable and dangerous for fishing.  Regardless of the warnings, there were still barefooted fishermen on the edges of the rocks.  When the tide is very low  (1.3 metres or lower), you can spot the prehistoric dinosaur footprints and plaster cast tracks.  They weren’t visible the day we were there. 

We went for a walk through Chinatown and saw many of the original buildings that were bawdy saloons, pearling sheds and Chinese eateries in their heyday.  Now they’re pearl showrooms, cafes and shops. 

THE ORIGINAL SUN PICTURE THEATRE  -  STILL FULLY OPERATIONAL

OUTDOOR CINEMA IN BROOME

THE FRONT OF THE SUN PICTURE THEATRE IN BROOME

Broome is filled with resorts and backpackers.  A lot of the popular activities involve spending lots of money for tours of the Horizontal Falls (around $1,200 each), hot air ballooning,  fishing and whale watching boat trips, trips to Cape Leveque  - 80 kilometres of dirt road which you can’t take a caravan to (and of course dogs are prohibited).  It usually takes 2-3 days to see all the gorges and attractions.  Obviously that wasn’t possible for us.  It was also too damned hot to be outside for too long.   Much of the coastline was surrounded by deep mangroves and we were disappointed we couldn’t drive around to many beauty spots for picnics like we normally do.   

SATURDAY 12TH OCTOBER   -   We moved to Tarangau Caravan Park – the quiet alternative, as we discovered they took dogs from the end of September.  It was closer to town and a 5 minute drive to Cable Beach.  Most importantly, it had very shady spots and was much cooler than being stuck so far outside town.   It was $38 per night - $40 with a dog – we were baffled to know what our dog got for the extra $2 per night.   It was bliss to have big shady trees above us and a cooler sea breeze and we could actually sit outside without sweltering to death in 40 degree plus temperatures. 

I was waiting for replacement glasses to be sent from Sydney to Broome.  By rights, they should have arrived on Thursday by Air Express and we could have left Broome earlier.  They didn’t arrive until Monday afternoon, so we had no choice other than to wait for them. 

We often saw the camel trains walking back from the beach at night on their way home (land beside our caravan park) and stopped to watch them and take photos. 



We were glad we made it up as far north as Broome, but we were disappointed with the place and could image just how crowded and unpleasant it would be in peak season.   The people in the caravan parks we stayed in weren’t friendly towards us and we were pretty glad to leave there.

STATISTICS:

Kilometres travelled      2.4.13   -   14.10.13           22,800

Cost of Petrol                 2.4.13   -   14.10.13          $7,200

Nights free accom           2.4.13   -   14.10.13          28

Nights accom under  $20                                           52

Cost of Accommodation                                            $4,432

Next Week:  We’ve gone as far north as we intend this year.  Now we’ll be making our way south to reach Perth by mid-December , to spend Christmas and New Year with Daniel and Min, Bob and Shelley.