Holidaying pt 2 – Broome the second

Following on from the previous post, we drove from Gantheaume Point back towards Broome township, via a dirt road that ran past Deep Water Point, where the large ships are docked.

I didn’t feel well, but Darren walked up the dock and on the way back, spotted a turtle:

And then headed into town and located the Japanese Cemetery, which has been restored with the help of the Japanese people, but was also vandalised soon after.

It was unlike any cemetery I’d seen before and very lovely.

Later that day (after the required pool time) we went to iconic Cable Beach to watch the sunset from one of the restaurants there. It’s the place that everyone recognises from pictures of Broome – often with people taking a camel ride up the beach at sunset. Darren had been keen on doing this, but honestly, I’ve been on a camel before, they are nasty smelly beasts that spit and the ride is NOT comfortable. I told him he was welcome to, but after reading about the dodgy dealings that went on when last the camel operator licenses went up for tender (scroll down for story), Darren was put off as well. They only walk them on the section of the beach North of the rocks and have banished the cars up there as well, leaving the Southern section (it’s a long beach though) for the swimmers to enjoy in peace. That’s at least one good decision the Council have made as I had thought our time on the beach would be ruined by yahoos in 4WDs (though they seemed to exit the beach quietly enough after sunset, so I may have been mistaken there too).

Many people picnic or BBQ on the beach at sunset, or just come to look at the view, which is worth braving the crowds for.

We took those from our table, and afterwards wandered down to the water.

I am in love with this shot, I want to put it on my wall:

As you can see, the beach was a bit rocky, and I was glad it was low tide and the rocks were exposed and easy to avoid. The water was much colder than I expected though, despite the sign stating it was 22C, it seemed worse!

More to come…

LiveJournal Tags: Holidays,us,Broome

Holidaying pt1 – Broome!

LiveJournal Tags: Holidays,us,photos,Broome

All my adult life, I’ve wanted to holiday in Broome. Pretty much ever since they started promoting it on Perth Radio as a winter destination. Though given the mild weather in Perth while we were there, I don’t think they need it, and we should move it closer to Melbourne, haha.

Some readers might be aware though that Darren and I were very ill in the fortnight before we went away. Darren with swine flu (during which I worried about him a lot and considered taking him to hospital more than once), myself with whooping cough. For those who don’t know, apparently your vaccinations to whooping cough (that you have as a baby) wear off when you are in your mid-thirties. And it’s been on the rise for some years, leading to an epidemic in the northern rivers of NSW, which is where my Mum lives, and I visited her two weeks earlier. I blame the prevalence of hippies in that region. If they’d seen a baby with whooping cough (as I have), they wouldn’t risk their children by not vaccinating them. Whooping cough is no easier for adults. In fact, I was diagnosed when I went to the Dr in hysterics because I’d been unable to sleep for coughing the entire night before. Not to mention the other unmentionable consequences of coughing as violently as I had been. Anyway, both of us made it back to work in time to do two days of work before buggering off on holidays. \o/

So, leaving Barry in the care of the lovely and wonderful housesitter Anna, we snuck off early in the morning, heavily laden with luggage (for we were to head South to Perth after Broome and had been told that it was freezing there) and flew to Broome. We headed off to our accommodation, the wonderful and now highly recommended Frangipani Resort, which was blissfully quiet the whole time we were there, and had a beautifully quiet pool as well. After we’d put on appropriate clothes and stocked the fridge with food-type goods and plenty of alcohol, we headed out to do touristic things. I’ll not give a blow-by-blow account of all our days there, instead, I’ll say that we tended to get out in the morning, head back and spend the afternoon by the pool and then head out in the evening (either to the beach or for dinner), very much as we did with our trip to Darwin. The best way to cope with a warm climate IMO is to do very little in the heat of the afternoon, which also means you’re not out in the sun getting sunburnt too. :)

Anyway, we went to Gantheaume Point, where sadly the tide was too high to walk out and find the dinosaur footprints – though on our second visit, it may have been low enough IF we’d had a guide to take us out there and show them to us (but we were too scared of the rapidly changing tides compared with the time it might take us to locate them!). Still, the contrast of the red pindan soils with the blue blue of the sea and sky was amazing.

Looking North towards Cable Beach.

Walking down to the point.

Obligatory tourist photo

This shot was a complete accident but has garnered a lot of comments. I liked the drama of the sky behind Darren. Others have noticed something else…

This amuses me.

Lighthouse keeper’s “cottage”. I LOVE this shot, the dirt, the sky, everything. Though I wish I’d had some low-speed slide film and a polariser on the lens. Then it would be even more poppy with the colours.

Looking south-east around the point towards the township