THE ROAD TO BROOME AND THE TARANGAU CARAVAN PARK (19 MAY 2015)

Broome.  Who in Australia has not, or does not want to see this town?  Some I suspect, but not too many.  Liz had already been here in the early 1990's. For me it was all brand new. 

We were on our way early (again) out over the entrance grid to the 80 Mile Beach park 

and onto the nine kms of dirt which we had to traverse to reach the highway. As I had cunningly discovered on the way in, our exit side of the road was not as bad as the other, and let's face it, we were already covered in fine red dust....what's a bit more?

We did have a somewhat startling encounter as we made our way slowly over the ruts. A huge snake was disappearing over the edge of the right hand side of the roadway into the scrub. By the time we had gotten over our shock (it was a monster) it was too late to try for a photo, but I have managed to find one very similar (good old Internet again), incredibly, on the 80 Mile Beach images site. Thanks to 'hinchy.org' for this photo which could have been our bloke.

Shortly after this early shot of adrenalin, we reached the comfort of the black-top and settled into our continued journey north-west on the Great Northern Highway.

A fuel stop was very much in order. The Sandfire Roadhouse fitted the bill nicely, and speaking of 'bills', this one was large....at $1.75 a litre we were into the dear fuel country, although we were to pay much more later in our travels.

We do hear many fellow travellers banging on about fuel costs and consumption rates, a discussion we rarely join. For us this is just an unavoidable expense of the lifestyle we have chosen, and whilst I do always drive to maximise our economy, the idea of bleating about the cost just strikes us both as being and exercise in utterly futility.

As usual at all these highway stops, I did check out the caravan park area of Sandfire and from what I could see peering past the closed gate, it looked more than fit for purpose. Liz made notes in our parks book accordingly, as she does.

Topped up, we were off again. We still had quite some distance to go. I was still finding it a little odd to be looking at these road signs in 'real life' as it were, after the many planning sessions when these towns were but far distant names on the maps I was studying what seems an age ago, and now, bingo, here we are!

Much of the countryside through which we were now travelling had been subjected to burn off. We though at this point that what we were seeing were controlled burns, but we subsequently learnt that much of this is nothing more than vandalism. 

This is not an entertaining stretch of road. It just seems to go on and on through country which is not likely to inspire landscape painters or anyone else for that matter. I would describe it as 'nothing' country....it has neither the odd appeal of a total wasteland nor any prominent features to break the monotony.

So we made our own fun by poking our noses into the Goldwire free camp site, partly to relieve the boredom, 

and partly to check the facilities on offer here on this long, open section of the highway. We take the view that one never knows when the need to break a journey may arise, and it is good to have relevant notes and options. In the general scheme of things, this one was pretty good. Oodles of space, some shade, a dump point and a shelter shed. 

All was duly noted before we headed out on the last leg of today's journey, through the utterly flat grassland on the approach to the Broome area.

At last, the junction we had been waiting to reach. Broome was within striking distance.

As we turned left, we soon came across the Roebuck Plains Roadhouse and caravan park. This is pet friendly, and provides a residential option for those of us who travel with a furry or feathered friend (when all the parks in Broome adopt a 'no pets' policy for the high season). From what we saw as we drove past, it looked most impressive, with fine grassed sites, neat hedgerows and plenty of shade. With the adjoining roadhouse and tavern, this presented as a very promising spot for a night or two.

But fortunately for us, one park in Broome itself would accommodate Max until 1 June, so we were not obliged to drop anchor some 30 odd kms out of Broome and commute in to sight-see. We motored on, past the welcome sight of the Broome town sign

and into the somewhat initially confusing jumble of Broome roads. We were heading for Cable Beach...the Old Broome Road was not for us at this stage.

Our trusty electronic navigator attempted to take us through a maze of narrow Broome 'suburban' streets before we shut it down and relied on the road signs. We were learning that Broome can be tricky, and Liz was no help.....she could not believe what she was seeing...rows and rows of houses where all she could remember was open bush. But this is not surprising, it was thirty years or so since her last visit after all.

After a few false turns and dead ends, we finally found our way to the entrance to our selected park, Tarangau, short walk to Cable Beach and a much quieter spot than its more vaunted neighbour, the huge Cable Beach park.

As we pulled into the park driveway at the small but very efficiently run office, we were fleeing quite chirpy.....this was looking more than acceptable, a matter of some relief when there are no other options.

Booked in and shipshape, it was off down the entrance roadway.

A left turn at the first junction, past the very well appointed heads, 

and we were on our site,

and soon all set under a delightful (and as it turned out, most welcome) canopy of huge shade trees. Here again, the value of our C-Gear flooring proved itself. The white shell-grit surface of this section of the park did not deter us at all.

As with most parks in this part of the world, sites present as either 'grass' or 'shade', rarely both. We'll take shade every time, and here at Tarangau, Broome's smallest park, there was plenty of it.

There is nothing super flash about this very well managed family run park, but compared to what we saw of some of the others, we were more than content. As I mentioned earlier, the ablutions are first class, and the small camp kitchen is adequate.

There are only about 100 sites here, unlike our immediate neighbour, the Cable Beach caravan park, where its five to six hundred sites mean that it is impersonal, awfully busy and to get from one side to the other (as we discovered when visiting friends there) you need to take 'a water bag and a packet of dates', as they say!

The camp BBQ area at Tarangau is not the most elaborate we have seen, but it was quite functional, and

on each Thursday evening it certainly comes to life with an organised park 'happy hour and sausage sizzle'.

With all our experience now, both as travellers and park employees, we cannot for the life of us understand parks at which the management do not facilitate these weekly functions (often with a local charity as the benefactor of the sausage sizzle) and encourage all guests to join in. It is one of the best ways to meet all sorts of folk and these meetings can make a world of difference to the general atmosphere in the park at large. 

I mean to say, it's just not rocket science. How can one walk past someone with whom a convivial drink and traveller's tale has been shared the previous evening without a hearty greeting (or quiet and solicitous enquiries as to the general state of well being if the 'hour' had extended to several)?

Here at Tarangau we enjoyed two such evenings, where a local indigenous chap entertained us royally with his singing and playing, and we had the pleasure of meeting Barb and John, a couple with whom we shared a glass or two (totally unexpectedly) at Lake Argyle some month or so later.

So let me finish our arrival into Broome, and the Tarangau park in particular, with another tale of 'less than six points of separation'. In the course of my conversation with John he told me that he had been an airport fireman in Darwin.  My ears pricked up immediately. "You didn't happen to run into Craig Cousins by any chance?"  "Of course", was John's response, "he is the boss there. Why do you ask?"

He did struggle to come to grips with the fact that I have know Craig since he was a youngster. He and his family were stalwarts of the Glenelg Surf Club back in 70's. I visited Craig in Darwin in the 1980's shortly after he had joined the airport 'fireies' and was delighted to hear how well he had progressed in his chosen occupation. John assured me that my proffered best wishes would be delivered during his proposed forthcoming visit to his old home town.

As a final postscript, we were so comfortable here at Tarangau and so surprised with what Broome had to offer that our planned seven day stay became twelve. We had much to see and do, and we did. It was a busy time for us as you shall see.....whenever I can get around to sharing it with you.