Our Broome time just seemed to run away with us somewhat. Apart from the sightseeing and socialising, we were 'just catching up' a little after the fairly hard push up the coast. And, of course, there was a fair bit of re-supply to be done before we headed out again. So a deal of our time was taken up with the somewhat boring but highly necessary logistical requirements of a life on the road.
My foot was still presenting a major impediment to full scale activity and there was a continuing daily requirement for re-dressing the wound (more of this later), but we did fit in a few more sorties to local places of interest.
At the strong recommendation of one of our newly acquired Broome SLSC friends, breakfast at the Town Cafe on the shores of Roebuck Bay was placed firmly on the agenda.
What a good decision this proved to be. Fair comment demands the observation that the shores of the Bay itself are not a patch on the wide sands of Cable Beach, as you will shortly see, but a cafe by the water always has appeal, even more so if the food served is of a high standard, and this certainly was.
'Miss Sweet-tooth' could not resist the allure of pancakes, strawberries and ice-cream. Your much more diet conscious scribe (of necessity, I hasten to add....the waistline was not reacting well to my enforced lack of exercise) opted for an omelet. Both offerings were first class and fully justified our friend's acclaim.
This indulgence prompted the need for some 'walking off' (well hobbling off in my case) so we took the opportunity to have a wander around this area of Broome where we soon discovered the seafront park attracts a bevy of local amateur artists who were all dabbing away under the roving tutelage of a professional. As could be expected, the canvasses of some were much better than others.
At one end of the park a short peninsular attracted my attention.....this looked like a good spot for views over the beach and bay. It was.
From here we could see south along the short expanse of the course sand of Town Beach, the caravans on beachfront sites in the Roebuck Bay Caravan Park
and beyond to the fuel tanks and jetty of the Port of Broome (focussed in).
Looking the other way are the red cliffs and mangrove flats which are typical of much of the Roebuck Bay shoreline. This is not the Costa Del Sol!
At the shore end of this short peninsula are the green slopes of the Broome Pioneer Cemetery which I must say I found a little disappointing.
But I did come across a few headstones of interest. Here the tragedy of the Japanese air raid was again remembered
as was another significant piece of Broome history. This rather small plaque honours the memory of one Police Inspector Herbert Thomas. Who I hear you ask? It was the bold
Inspector who managed the official response to the race riots of 1920, swore in as Special Constables and armed many of the white residents of the town and brought the potentially highly explosive situation to a peaceful conclusion within two days. Thomas did not rest throughout this period, and, in what is an ironic and very sad end to the affair, collapsed and died of heat exhaustion just after calm had again descended over Broome. It occurred to me that the good Inspector's memory could have been better more fittingly honoured than with this tiny square of brass on its equally insignificant foundation.
As is the case whenever a new destination looms on the horizon, one decision to be made is that of where to stay. We have learnt to be cautiously sceptical of the website photographs posted by caravan parks where experience has shown us that they rarely match reality. We are similarly hesitant in our acceptance of all that we read on Tripadvisor and other similar 'comment' sites.
The Roebuck Bay park was one we considered for its proximity to the CBD and its 'absolute beachfront' claim. Given it was a short walk away, we decided to check it out for future reference.
The park entrance does have real tropical appeal but I have to say that was about as far as it went.
The sad fact is that Broome's Town Beach is less than visually appealing and the number of sites overlooking it are limited.
Beyond the beach strip those in the sites overlooking the water
have the pleasure of gazing across this 'beach'. Add the facts that the nearby mangrove flats are ideal sandfly territory
and many of the 'locals' deem it their right to wander willy nilly through the park, often leaving with more than they arrived with (to the continuing ire of those in residence....as this confrontation demonstrated whilst we were there), we were more than pleased with our decision to stay in the Cable Beach area.
Not too far from this part of Broome is another of its famed tourist attractions, Matso's Brewery
where I found that if the brew is as good as the humour, this should be a cracker....there was only one snag...I was the designated driver today.
But not herself. Liz was on a mission to determine if the much vaunted Matso's alcoholic ginger beer and cider were as good as claimed.
As could be expected in the Broome climate, much of Matso's frivolity is conducted outdoors in several areas where shade is provided either naturally
or artificially.
For us it was indoors to the business end of the establishment where the many Matso brews are dispensed over the bar
and tables and chairs cater for those choosing to dine indoors amid all the memorabilia and award plaques.
Food was not on our agenda.....thankfully we had eaten a large breakfast. The dining prices at Matso's are consistent with most of the remainder of the State.....high! So as I watched on with a degree of chagrin, Liz sipped away at the samples (bought of course...there is no such thing as free tasting here) she had chosen.
'Exotic' is the only word to describe much of what Matso's offer. Mango cider and beer, lychee beer, and chilli beer are but four of the more eclectic of the Matso brews. Liz confined her tasting to the more standard cider and ginger beer.
Here I must add a rider. We did make a return visit on the afternoon we took in the Broome RSL and this time it was your scribe who indulged in a Matso' tasting paddle of five ale and beer brews. Our collective verdict......OK but not earth shattering.
Which very conveniently brings to the last of our Broome 'days out'. The local RSL advertises a Friday BBQ. We had to find out what this was all about and visit what is purported to be the only RSL in the country which is housed in a building with no walls.
This is not immediately apparent from the front of the establishment (where Liz was clearly having trouble reading the sign!)
But once inside, the claim was given veracity.
This large dining area is indeed devoid of walls along either side of the room
and at the front behind the internal wall of remembrance.
And here we found a couple of reminders of home (well South Australia at least) amongst the various Sub-Branch pennants hanging in the dining hall.
The 'open air' theme of this large and obviously well supported RSL Sub-Branch is carried further with this wonderful external pagoda type structure
where we did indulge ourselves with a beer or two whilst assessing the BBQ deal. It was sadly unimpressive. I have no objection to cooking my own meal, but the pre-packaged meats on offer did not appeal in the slightest.
This was something of a shame because the venue is impressive but there was no shortage of food in the van so the Friday evening RSL BBQ went ahead without us.
Max was pleased to see us back. He is becoming more and more of a sook as his age advances. Evenings alone are definitely not his thing any more. But he did enjoy Broome. He spent many a moment in feline fantasy land imagining just what might be if the resident butcher bird fell inside the reach of his lead. But it didn't (we had seen to that) so after each unsuccessful hunt
there was nothing for it but to retire hurt on 'his' chair.
1 June was upon us, the date on which our delightful Tarangau Caravan Park becomes 'pet unfriendly' (although I have to say that our charming host Jamie did suggest that in Max's case this was a mere 'technicality') and it was time for us to move on.
We had already extended well beyond our original plan. Broome did indeed have much more to offer than I had imagined, and as it was I did run out of photographic puff in much of the town. But as you have read, I was determined to get to the bottom of the pearling history of this unique Australian town, a project which created some demand of both time and intellect.
Derby awaited us. We were about to see just what the huge tides of King Sound were all about and contemplate what our life may have been if Liz had taken a three month nursing contract there.
Farewell Broome. It had been fun.
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