We are now on the trip south from Broome toward Perth. Broome is a lovely little town of about 14,000 people but the population rises to about 50,000 over the dry season which is April – November approximately. It is an old town which was formed in 1883 when the largest pearl shell in the world was discovered. In the first decade of the 20th century Broome produced 80% of the world’s Mother of Pearl shell. This was used mainly for buttons. The pearls themselves were only a small part of the business as not all shells held a pearl. At one stage there were 403 pearl boats working out of Broome. The divers on these luggers had a hell of a life. Aboriginals were used first and at one stage pearling masters were going into the communities and abducting these men to work on their ships. Most of the pearling masters were English and lived the old British aristocratic lifestyle in Broome. A law was passed that Aboriginals could not be taken forcibly so Japanese divers were bought in. These men were fearless and although the dangers of drowning, sharks, cyclones and the “bends” were always there, the Japanese worked on the pearl luggers until the 70s, except for the war years, when they were put into internment camps. The divers suits were very heavy and as well as all the warm clothing that had to be worn underneath, the extra weight was over 165kgs. Most of these men would only weigh about 75kg so it was not an easy job! When plastic buttons were developed in the 1950s that sealed the fate of the Mother of Pearl industry but with the advent of the cultured pearl in the 1970s, Broome was back into pearl production. We went on a tour looking at the life of a pearl diver and then visited a cultured pearl farm. It was all so interesting and it is now obvious to me why pearls are so expensive. There are dozens of shops selling cultured pearls in Broome. I have enclosed a photo of me holding a pearl worth $100,000!
As this is the “dry season”, rain was the last thing on our minds, but with climate change anything is possible and in the first 10 days of July, Broome had had its wettest July ever. Water was everywhere with roads flooded and caravan parks under water. Unlike at home, the water just wouldn’t drain away. Friends, Carole & Laurie, who were in the same caravan park as us, were in the middle of a lake with their annexe under water. It made it very difficult getting in and out for “happy hour” but it’s amazing what one can do in an emergency!
Broome is famous for its sunsets and camel rides on the beach. We had to be there for 8 days before we saw a sunset owing to the cloud, but it was worth waiting for. Jim & I also had a camel ride on the beach. It was lots of fun as long as you held on very tightly as the camel stands up and sits down. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
We went to the local outdoor cinema in Broome. The theatre is very old and all the seats are deckchairs where you can lie back under the stars and watch the movie. We saw “A Bran Nue Dae” which starred Ernie Dingo, who some of you may have seen on travel documentaries. It was a great “feel good” movie.
We had booked to take the tent and travel up to Cape Leveque on the Dampier Peninsular for 2 nights, but that plan had to be abandoned as the road was closed owing to the bad weather. We were really disappointed as we had booked that trip way back in February and worked our time in Broome around the dates. We can’t control the weather though.
Our next stop after Broome was Barn Hill Station about 120kms south of Broome on the coast. We had heard only good reports about this unique place and they weren’t wrong. We had to drive 10kms. along a red dirt road with the van on the back to reach the caravan park. The camp is on a working cattle station and we often had Brahman cattle wander through the park looking for greener pastures. It is really a place to be seen to be believed. It sports a bowling green, which is always busy, a reception area and a little shop that sold limited groceries and the most amazing lamingtons and sausage rolls. There are no marked sites as such, you just squeeze them in where and if you can. The ablution blocks are something else. Some were unisex and some not but most of them had no roofs and were made of corrugated iron. The doors were most ingenious as none of them fitted at all well with large gaps leaving nothing to the imagination. The water for the showers was heated by either lighting a wood fire in a chimney or by black polythene hoses utilising the heat of the sun. A very basic solar plan. One night we were there over 200 vans were in the park. Some of the sites had beautiful sea views for which they had to pay extra but the beach was magic. Just blue skies and azure seas as far as one could see and lovely warm water to swim in. I don’t care how basic the camp was; it was worth every bit of it. They had entertainment on a couple of nights a week; roast dinners and BBQs. We loved it so much we stayed there twice as long as we planned.
It was then on to Eighty Mile Beach which is self-explanatory really. Another 10 km. trek on a dirt road but the approach to this camp showed us the damage done by a cyclone in December last. 285km an hour wind gusts hit this camp and palm trees and other vegetation are still lying where they were thrown. I have posted a photo to show the bare trees. Luckily no-one was at the park when the cyclone struck as it is closed during the wet season so no-one was killed. It’s shocking to see the damage that was done. It is now business as usual again and the camp was full the whole time we were there. It is a very popular fishing spot but no swimming is allowed as there are stingrays; sharks; and stingers everywhere. The beach is covered in shells and we have collected quite a number of beautiful shells to hopefully take home.
We are now in Port Hedland which is the main port for iron ore from the Pilbara region. Even though it is mainly a mining town, it is a very interesting town and I look forward to telling you all about it in my next blog.
Travelling in the same direction as we are around Australia are hundreds of others doing the same thing and lots of time you meet up with the same people again and again. It’s good to catch up and swap notes and often make life long friends. We have done this again this year and my Contact List is getting bigger.
Lots of caravanners have names for their vans or different titles on the back. We have seen some very clever ones like “Runaway Grandparents”; “This is the kid’s inheritance” and the funniest (I think anyway) “Adventure in Dementia” Love it.
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