Broome 2016 - The Final Episode.

While family and friends down south, have been battered with the wind and rain and cold, we have continued to bask in Broome's sunshine. In fact, it is now getting damned hot! But thankfully, there has only been the odd day with high humidity. We are loving every minute of it! The air conditioner is working overtime!! We have been watching the tourist numbers dwindle more and more, with some days only a handful of caravans left in the park. The wet season is on its way. In the local paper, the council is warning residents to prepare for Cyclone season. Trees are being trimmed of dead branches, and rubbish is being left out for collection. It will soon be time to move. We've stretched this visit out as long as we can!!

Chinatown Broome.

More Horizontal Falls Tourists.

We all occasionally get reminders of how small the world is. We had yet another reminder recently, when a new arrival in a huge 5th Wheeler, towed by an equally huge American GMC Truck, pulled into the site next to us. The usual greetings were exchanged, and gradually the recognition came into focus, as John met John again, for the first time in close to 40 years!! John Lord and I went to Primary School together, and in subsequent years met up again in the late 1970's, when we both worked at Duesbury's. Since then, the only time I had seen John, was on TV! He was appointed as the Receiver of the failed empire of Alan Bond! He is now retired, and living the dream. Sadly, John's wife Laraine, is suffering from advanced emphysema, and mostly has to get around with a walker or wheel chair. She is very frail. My hat goes off to John, who does everything, even washing & colouring Laraine's hair!! We enjoyed some great happy hours, reminiscing, as John also knows my brother Neil quite well, having worked and played cricket together. 

Settled at Roebuck Bay C/P.

Right on the beach.

There are 6 caravan parks in Broome, and the one with the prime position right on Roebuck Bay at Town Beach, is the cleverly named Roebuck Bay Caravan Park!! We had watched with envy, whilst partaking of coffee at Stan's Town Beach Cafe, as the tenants walked across to the beach and across to the cafe, just metres away. We made inquiries at their office, and found out we could get a spot on the front from early October, so we grabbed it. On October 11th, we hitched up and took our shortest drive ever, just 7 kms over to Roebuck Bay, from Tarangau at Cable Beach. So here we are, and we are loving it! At high tide, the water is almost on our doorstep and ideal for swimming, whilst at low tide, the sand flats spread out for up to a kilometre!! This is as good as it gets!! The caravan park itself is pretty run down, and has a large population of permanents, but we have a great site. We will be doing our utmost to understand the booking processes here, for future years!!

Coffee at Stan's.

A storm on the horizon.

The loss of the tourists sees a lot of changes to the cafe and restaurant scene around Broome. The owners start to schedule days off, and work reduced hours. Many now, including Stan, only do breakfast and morning tea, and close at around midday. Being mostly outdoor eateries, we fully understand that people don't want to be eating lunches in the hottest part of the day!! The only time this changes, is if a cruise ship comes to town, which happened again recently, the third one since we've been here! Stan, and many other cafes, close down altogether at the end of November, and reopen 1st of March, which gives you an idea of just how different it is living in a remote outback region. With Stan so close, and a number of our other favourites on restricted hours, we now just wander across and if Stan sees us coming, the order has already been placed!!

The 18th at Broome Golf Club.

The Clubhouse.

We have been making the most of the excellent Broome Golf Club, so much so they asked if we wanted to join!! Carol has now somewhat embraced the game, and we regularly head off with Carol playing nine holes and me doing the eighteen. We almost have the course to ourselves! We hit off early to avoid the hottest part of the day, but there always seems to be a nice breeze. The day is quite an adventure, as the wildlife is prolific. Each round, there are dozens of wallabies, lazy kites swirl high above, and there are parrots, ibis, butcher birds and bower birds all over the place. On the fairways, we regularly come across a big goanna or blue tongue lizard! The locals and visitors must spray the balls around and be a lazy lot! I've never found so many golf balls in my life, and not even hidden in the scrub!!

Big crowds for Staircase to the Moon.

The Pearl Luggers Centre.

There is a large indigenous population in Broome. When we stayed out at Cable Beach, you hardly ever saw any of them. Only when we came to town to shop. However, here at Town Beach it is a different story. There is a lot of Aboriginal housing in this area, and they frequent the parks and beaches. They also bus in large groups of kids from the remote communities, so they can have a swim. Out in front of our caravan site, and just along a bit, is a favourite gathering spot under a big shady tree. They arrive in dribs and drabs, carrying slabs of beer and cases of wine, and stay until it is all gone. Occasionally, they light a fire. God knows why?? It's 35 degrees!! They get progressively louder and eventually stagger off in a flurry of language, both from men and women, that would make anyone blush. They leave everything behind! Rubbish, chairs, eskies, fishing rods and nets and the odd chair!! They never come back looking for their possessions. The park residents clean it all up, otherwise the place would resemble a tip! They call it "getting a return on their tax dollars!!" The police regularly drive through, checking all the known gathering spots, and moving them on when they are too loud and abusive. You have to question what is really being done at the grass roots level to overcome the problems of alcohol and health. There is no doubt that a lot of money is spent. Just doesn't seem to be getting down to the bottom of the chain!! Quite sad really. The alcohol  purchase restrictions, of one purchase per person per day, are a joke. They turn up in mini vans or large 4WD's, or even maxi taxis, with the entire family, and buy the limit per person per day, most days!!

Sea Turtles at low tide.

Purple dye from a sea urchin.

This past couple of weeks we have witnessed Broome's biggest tidal movement of the year, a whopping 10.5 metres!! On this day, the sand flats out front went all the way out to the main channel, around 1.5kms! You can walk right out to the edge, to see the flying boat wrecks, from the infamous Japanese air raid during WW11. A number of Flying Boats, that were evacuating Dutch Nationals out of Timor, landed at Broome to refuel. Sadly for them, a Japanese bombing mission was scheduled to hit Broome that day. The Japanese destroyed all of the Flying Boats killing more than 50 Dutch people. The wrecks that remain visible are war graves, and only seen on a few days a year when the low tide is less than one metre. We didn't really want to peer into this sad sight, so didn't get too close. With the low tides came another Staircase to the Moon. We could see this one from our caravan site!! Always a very special sight.

Movies at the Sun Picture Show.

My Spangled Emperor.

We have been regulars at the Sun Picture Theatre. We now look like a couple of locals, as we take our pillows and get cosy on the less than comfortable deck chairs.  I couldn't believe that on one occasion they had run out of choc tops!! There was almost a riot!! With sunset at around 5.45pm, and no twilight, it is dark at 6.00pm, so they have a 6.15 session and an 8.30 session. We've seen Sully, Girl on a Train, and Jack Reacher, and enjoyed them all. For the 6.15 session, we leave the caravan at 6.00pm, park right out the front, buy tickets and are seated with choc top in hand, at 6.10pm. And that's on a busy night!!! We will miss the outdoor movies when we leave. It is very special sitting out under the stars with the warm balmy breeze blowing, ducking as another low flying bat comes through!

Absolute Ocean Charters.

Ready to fish.

Fishing is something that doesn't come easy to me! That is why I enlist the aid of experts like my mate Fred! However up here, with no Fred, I decided to seek the aid of local experts. I googled, Trip Advisor, and did just about everything else I could, to choose the right experience. It came down to two, and in the end I finished up doing both, a couple of weeks apart. First day out was Reef Fishing, with Absolute Ocean Charters, supposedly the biggest and the best. There were six Intrepid anglers on the day, and at the safety briefing when the skipper announced he would hardly break even on the day with such a small contingent, the first alarm bell rang!! The boat was good, the gear was good, the lunch and morning tea were good, but the fishing was average. This was an ocean cruise with some occasional fishing!! We were out on the water for over 7 hours and spent maybe one hour fishing!! We all caught 3 or 4 nice fish, but it was evident that these guys were never going to let us over fish any one spot. We'd stop and drop our lines into the water, and within minutes it was "OK, lines up, we need to keep moving!" When we got back the skipper said he hoped we had a good day, and asked us if we did, could we write a nice review on Trip Advisor. If we didn't, could we keep it to ourselves!! Based on the reviews I saw, lots of people keep it to themselves!! Still, I brought home 3 nice Spangled Emperor. Probably worked out around $125.00 per kilo!!!!

Launching the boat.

Mud crab was a bonus.

My next experience was much nicer. This time I went with Geoff from West Kimberley Fishing, an owner operator, and right from the beginning it was a much nicer feel. This was a very big trailer boat, and there were 5 of us fishing, targeting the incredibly good eating Threadfin Salmon, that are bountiful around Roebuck Bay. I've not seen this species anywhere else around Australia, but it is prolific in the North West. Unlike most salmon which has a pink flesh, this is firm white and sweet. Excellent to eat, with the locals reckoning it is a better eating fish than Barramundi! We tend to agree!! The weather was average, with a strong westerly blowing, but Geoff took us into sheltered creeks and bays along the shores of Roebuck Bay. On this tour we spent about 80% of our time fishing. In one of the creeks, I caught a very good mud crab on my line!! He was delicious that night as our entree! In addition I caught some really good Threadfin, and a couple of other species that looked like Mulloway. From this day out, we now have some really nice fillets of fish in the freezer! The price per kilo is on the decline!!

Pied Oyster Catchers.

White Breasted Sea Eagle.

At the caravan park when the tide is very low, we enjoy walking out across the sandy flats of the bay. We find some amazing marine life left behind by the receding tide, and also see so many species of water birds. There are lots of different crane and heron species, terns, sandpipers, pelicans, shearwaters, oyster catchers and even the occasional spoonbill. Circling above them all is the resident White Breasted Sea Eagle. Two days ago, while Carol was cooking up a storm I took myself out for one of these walks, and had the most incredible experience. I was slowly walking along one of the little streams the receding tide makes, when I heard this commotion from a couple of seagulls. As I turned around, I saw they were chasing the Sea Eagle, who had a large fish held in one talon, the weight of the fish seemed to be stopping him from flying up higher, and he was flying straight at me at about head height! About three or four metres in front of me, he landed on a large rock, and turned around to fiercely screech a warning at the seagulls. He then must have sensed me, as he jumped around on the rock to look at me with those fierce eyes, let out one piercing cry after another, daring me not to come closer! It was the most incredible encounter! After a minute or two staring at each other, he balanced himself and raised those immense and powerful wings, flying straight over my head, heading for the mangroves. I just stood there with my mouth open watching him go! Wowwwww! Of course I didn't take my camera or phone, but I have a memory I will never forget!

Huge working boat.

Sea Princess came to town.

From our caravan site, we get a great view of the port. It is a very busy port, serving the needs of the off shore oil and gas rigs. One of the strangest ships we have ever seen, called in recently. It is a construction vessel servicing the oil rigs as well as laying cable. It was huge, with the biggest crane mounted at the bow. I was left wondering how it could ever lift such huge weights, floating on the ocean?? It created quite a lot of interest with the locals, as there has never been anything like it visiting Broome before, and according to the local paper, it is very new, and very unique!!! With the westerlies blowing this time of year, we don't need to look, to know another live cattle boat is docked! Thankfully there has only been one since we arrived here!

Our last few days here will be spent getting ready, and planning for the next part of our journey. With the heat inland, now starting to crank up, we will most likely be moving pretty quickly from coast to coast. Yesterday, the maximum temperature at Fitzroy Crossing, which we will be passing through, was 44 degrees! We think we'll pop up to Darwin for a few days, then head down to Threeways at Tennant Creek, then straight across the continent towards Townsville. From there, we will just meander down the Queensland coast. Well, that's the plan, but as we know, our plans have been known to change!!