Broome

Trying to describe the town of Broome doesn't come easy. It is a town of contrasts. From the beautiful blues of the ocean & sky at Cable Beach that clash with the red Pindan dunes, to the shops stocked with beautiful Broome Pearl jewellery worth tens of thousands of $ to the corrugated fence graffitied with "No grog for our mob" & "Jesus loves yous" at the Community village on the old Broome Rd.

The buildings, both domestic & commercial are virtually without exception, built of corrugated iron. It is a town of pitched iron rooves & walls of ribbed iron. Red lattice work decorates buildings & bus shelters. The dark green & red colour scheme adopted by the town is reminiscent of the Asian influence & was made popular on the buildings of the iconic Cable Beach Resort built by Lord McAlpine.

This is one of the old buildings converted to a gallery in the retail sector.

 

This is a row of newer terraced shops that is typical of the growing development. The verandah outside the shops are raised from pavement level due to the inundation of the town before flood mitigation works kept back the water from the king tides that filled the streets.

The popular tourist towns boasts trendy cafes, restaurants & modern holiday resorts while still retaining its character as a remote outback town with a unique history. Like all sleepy places that become popular not everyone enjoys the "progress"

 

The population in the wet season is approx 7000 which swells in dry season with the influx of tourists flooding in to enjoy winter days in the high 20's. The caravan parks would hold over 4000 at any one time populated by grey nomads & families on the trip of a lifetime taking up to a year off to travel.

It is a creative town & the indigenous community contribute strongly with music & books telling the history of the place. Songs from bands like the Pigrim Bros tell of the life of the Pearl divers, the perfume of the native frangipani trees & Mums fish soup. Books published locally have stories from the dreamtime & personal experiences of growing up in the early days when the community was more segmented into areas created by the Japanese, Chinese, Afghans, Aborigines & white settlers. The main part of town is still called China Town but it does not resemble the areas in cities that bear the name.

Broome Cultured pearls are a big industry for the town & are some of the best in the world. Originally the industry was based on the mother of pearl shell which was used for the massive world button manufacture & Asian furniture inlays before the invention of plastic. Plastic almost sounded the death knoll before the art of cultured peals revitalised the growing of the pearl on a commercial level. They have a saying "You dont choose a pearl, the pearl chooses you". Unfortunately my pearl must be still in its shell as none of them cried "Your mine" as I enviously looked in the glass cabinets.

The Stairway to the Moon is also a festive occurrence for three days during a few months of the year. We were lucky to be in town & joined hundreds on the foreshore of Roebuck Bay to watch the phenomena.

As the large tide falls away over the sand of the bay the soft ambient light & colours give way to the golden crescent shape of the moon as it grows & becomes a gleaming orb. As the sun sets over Cable Beach to the west the huge moon sneaks above the horizon in the east.

 

 

The dusky light disappears behind a midnight black sky & gradually the moon reflects on the wet seabed of sand & the stairway shines for a magic moment.

Our month in Broome has been an enjoyable time, experiencing what Broome has to offer. From lazy beach days, paddling the kayak over crystal water, enjoying satays & dim sims at the markets & meeting other intrepid travellers from all parts of Australia - all in all not a too shabby time!

One day we might return!

 

Posted with Blogsy