BALMY BROOME

Beautiful Boabs along the road.

Driving thru' stunning scenery

Brolgas by the roadside Fitzroy Crossing

Tide in - Derby wharf

Tide out - Derby Wharf

Hello again, you find me in a pensive state of mind, and as a result are probably in for what you may deem a blissfully short blog.
Since my last entry we have covered a little bit of ground. We left Kununurra, travelling through some stunning countryside – amazing ranges interspersed with relatively open grasslands. One of the main features of the countryside were the Boabs. They were incredible – the grotesque shapes and sizes were without end. I had no concept of the shapes they contort themselves into.
We spent the first night at Halls Creek – can’t say a great deal about Halls Creek as we only stayed the night. The Caravan Park was opposite the pub and so we were entertained throughout the night by some interesting shouting and singing overshadowed only by the noise of the dogs barking. It really wasn’t as bad as I am depicting. The campground itself was fine and the amenities good. Next morning saw us on the road again, this time our overnight stop was Fitzroy Crossing. The park there was a total surprise – very up market indeed. I know I should be able to tell you which park we stopped at, but my memory fails me at this point. I can tell you that it was not the Council Park and was the first one as you enter Fitzroy Crossing from the north. By now you have probably read “Up to Mud” so I won’t bore you with the details of that little adventure again, except to say “it sucked” and I was pleased with neither the attitude of the Park or TBBITW or more aptly in this case TBPITBITW (the biggest pain in the bum in the world). The highlight of Fitzroy Crossing was our little trip up Geikie Gorge. The bloke had the wonderful idea of taking the local cruise on the Fitzroy River to check out the Gorge. What a brilliant little exercise that was. The cost was only $25 and we felt it was the best value we had seen for quite some time. The Gorge itself was stunning and completely different from any other we had seen, being constructed largely of limestone that was once part of an inland sea. The bird life and the freshwater crocs were all very much in evidence and the whole experience was great. We felt quite proud of ourselves as we did this little trip in the morning on the way out of Fitzroy. This meant that we had to tow the van into the park making this the first time that we had managed to go on a tour and travel on the same day.
Once we left the tour boat, we clambered back into Zed and continued our trip to Derby. A pleasant surprise awaited us in Derby. We had fully expected an unpleasant little town and park, but quite on the contrary the park was lovely as was the little town. I don’t think you could call Derby pretty or beautiful, the water there being largely muddy and brown in colour, but the place has a tranquil character and was very relaxing. We stayed two nights there in order to see the amazing change of tides. Derby has one of the biggest tides in the world and it is quite something to see the water surging in on high tide. We watched in fascination as a boat of respectable proportions literally fought the tide in order to off-load a car onto the shore. The wharf which sits pretty much on mud during the low tides regains normality when the tide is full. It is interesting to look at the boats mired in mud awaiting the water’s kiss in order to head out to sea. We noted that many people actually make Derby their holiday destination. We assume it is due to the peace and quiet combined with the lovely winter weather. It certainly had a dreamy quality about it.
Leaving Derby we headed on here to Broome. Once again, we have been pleasantly surprised. We expected not to like Broome as we felt from all reports that it had become a bit of a cafe strip and a bit yuppy-fied. We were very wrong. I think that perhaps in the Cable Beach area, it could be a little that way inclined, but you do need a bit of that sort of thing after all. Old Broome, or really China Town however is still very old world and full of character. The old buildings there are largely constructed from galvanised iron (not as hideous as you would expect), all well kept tho’, and nicely painted. I haven‘t been able to convince the bloke to spend a lot of time in the town (I think he is afraid I will shop!) so we haven’t really done it justice. We did go to the Old Lugger and check out their ‘Pearl Tour’. The pearl tour is run by Willie Creek Pearls and was really interesting. As with many of these things we found out a great deal of the history of both Broome and of pearling in WA. Some very shocking facts surfaced, including the fact that aboriginal people were essentially enslaved for pearl diving. The masters particularly liked the women heavily pregnant as they believed that they had more oxygen in their blood and therefore could dive deeper. Children as young as 9 were sent down to collect pearl shell. Human life was considered very cheap in those early pearling days and in addition to the aboriginal people many Asian people also lost their lives to the cold blooded and mercenary pearl masters. In addition to going to The Lugger for a talk and taste of pearl meat, we also went out to Willie Creek and ‘did the tour’ out there. It was fine, but at the end of the day we felt the price was over the top, as really what they are doing is charging you for the privilege of trying to sell you their product. I’m not saying that there was not a great deal of interesting and relevant information passed on, but we have reached the stage of being a bit sick of these people constantly dipping into our pockets.
That really brings me to the point that we seem to have hit a bit of a brick wall. Since arriving in Broome, we have done very little. Everything here pretty much requires expenditure. It had been a long term plan to ‘do’ the horizontal falls, but we formed the opinion that they just want too much money for these things. When we were out at Willie Creek they tried to talk us into a helicopter ride – 5 minutes for $60! It is just not on. There are several things we would have liked to do, it’s not that we cannot afford the money, it is the principal of the thing. The tourist industry is obviously a very important income generator for this region, but we feel that doesn’t excuse blatant ‘rip off tactics’. Oh well, I’m down off the soap box now, have had my little spit.
The weather here has still been warm, but mostly not as unbearable as Kununurra – some of the evenings have been decidedly balmy and very pleasant. The air conditioner has had a bit of a rest, although there is usually cause to put it on at least once in each day. We have started walking again in the mornings, something we just didn’t feel inclined to do in the heat. We have also decided that we must do something drastic about our general fitness and weight issues, as if we keep going the way we have been, we won’t be able to keep going at all. This lifestyle is wonderful but it is very easy to be totally delinquent. There is always some little bakery or deli to try out, or some local delicacy that we just must have, or the local fish and chips are great, or, or, or. Of course, nocturnal drinking is also a great risk. When actually on the road it is also very easy to opt for the greasy roadhouse eats instead of a healthier sandwich etc. So some new rules have been implemented – let’s see how strong we can be! I am still having terrible trouble with my eyes and have just consulted another pharmacist today – this one feels that the problem is bacterial and so has given me anti-biotic drops to clear up the problem – I certainly hope that they work as I feel like tearing them out at the moment.
Well, tomorrow morning we leave here for Eighty Mile Beach. We intend staying there for around one week and will be out of range for that period of time.
In the meantime, look after yourselves, Stephanie.