Mon. 10th June 2019
As feared, enjoyable as yesterday was, it took a whole day of our time in Broome and now we only have today to see all that Broome has to offer. And, as well we need to get ready to head off into the wilderness. Fortunately, we have a plan and an app on my phone to help us. Also, it has to be admitted that while we won’t come across a bigger town before we get to Darwin, Broome isn’t that big.
First up, though, we need to get the windscreen fixed having picked up two chips in the space of 30mins a few days ago (and this was driving sensibly on a tarmac road). We’ve picked up 3 chips in 6 weeks driving in Aus – more than we’ve had in a combined 80+ years driving in the UK. We’re glad that we signed up for all the excess waivers when we hired the Beast. And, to be fair, Britz have been good at organising to get the windscreen fixed whilst we’re in the civilisation of Broome.
Windscreen sorted, we can get on with our day of exploring, starting with the route shown on the Jetty to Jetty app. This guided walking tour takes us through the history of Broome – which as we learned at Cygnet Bay Pearls yesterday, for Europeans, is based on pearling and exploitation of aboriginal people. On the plus side, this app talks about aboriginal history in the area and provides a map of historical sites on my phone. But these are somewhat outweighed by the negatives of the map being vague and the fact that most of buildings described no longer exist.
For example, the first stop is Streeter’s Jetty a reconstruction of one of the original wooden jetties used by the pearl luggers. All well and good, but the reality is that it is a 50m long narrow, rickety boardwalk that leads out to the middle of a mangrove swamp. We were just discussing the (small) Fiddler Crabs we’d seen in the mud below the jetty when another tourist asks us “is there a historic jetty around here?” He isn’t impressed when we point out the reality to him and he wanders off without giving it a second glance.
We are, though, impressed by a couple of things. Firstly, the Cygnet Bay shop is close by Streeter’s Jetty and Janet remembers that the largest pearl harvested by them is on display there. So, we have to go in and have a look. Sure enough, it is a whopper (22mm diameter). No, no, nothing at all whatsoever to do with our wedding anniversary being in two days time!
Our second find is the Sun Pictures cinema, the oldest operating outdoor cinema anywhere in the world. We nearly miss it as it has a fairly conventional looking front on the main shopping street hidden behind some pavement improvement works. Inside, though there is a transition from indoor to outdoor with rows of deckchair seats. The whole interior is maintained as a living museum – 1950s decor, old projectors and all. Tonight’s showing is Rocketman and we are very tempted as this would be a brilliant place to get a dose of Elton John. Sadly, it’s not going to work logistically for us.
As we continue through town, we pay less attention to trying to find all the places on the map (that no longer exist) and more attention to what we can see with our eyes – such as a new lookout giving a view out over the mangroves and the bay beyond. Our route takes us past Matso’s brewery again and we are very tempted to declare an early lunch. But no, we need to get some provisions as we are camping for the next couple of nights and so we collect the Beast and head off to Woollies.
I thought we were taking a strange route, when Janet suddenly says “turn right here”. I’d forgotten that there are historical cemeteries in Broome – for the Japanese, the Chinese and for ‘Pioneers’. Janet’s plan for the day(naturally) has us visiting all three. Truth be told, they were all very different – the Pioneers cemetery overlooks the sea and we get to that later, but the Japanese and Chinese cemeteries are right beside each other and very different in style. I was particularly taken with the Japanese cemetery which contains the graves of some 900 Japanese pearlers mostly dating back to the 1900s. The cemetery has been beautifully restored with new tombstones of Japanese granite laid out in neat rows and a large obelisk in the middle to commemorate pearlers who drowned in a cyclone in 1908.
Later in the afternoon, we head out again to complete our Broome sightseeing and first stop is to complete the map on the Jetty to Jetty app at the (site of) the old jetty at the other end of town. This turns out to be even less impressive than Streeter’s Jetty as nothing remains of what once was a long and busy pier. We do better with the second phase of our plan which involves heading further along the coast to the modern port and the new jetty. Yes, this one actually exists even if it doesn’t have the romance of the old pearl luggers.
Then, with the sun heading down, it’s time to have a little 4WD practice and take the dirt road that runs a little way around the cape to the lighthouse, which we’ve been told is the locals favourite spot to watch sunset. Before we get there, though, I spot a turnoff from the track and take it in the hope it gives us access to the a beach. Win! A sandy beach with not a mangrove in sight and, better still, lots of interesting shaped rocks with the sea washing around them. It’s not quite golden hour yet, but there is enough yellow in the sunshine to bring out the colours of the rocks.
It’s possible that I got a little carried away and not until I catch a glimpse of Janet with her arms folded and tapping her feet that I remember we need to get to the lighthouse at Gantheaume Point before sunset. Sure enough, it was well worth the effort with an osprey nesting in the skeleton of the lighthouse and a cluster of folk sitting on the jumble of rocks at the cliff edge watching the sun sink slowly to the sea on the horizon.
Given the theme today, it’s very appropriate that we return to the new jetty for dinner at the Wharf restaurant with fellow guests at the hotel (and fellow Brits) Roger and Ann. It transpires that 40 years ago Ann was a nurse with the Flying Doctor Service based in nearby Derby. We are fascinated by her reminisces (including going to the Sun Pictures cinema) as well as her story as to how she came to be out here. They are also fellow travellers and the evening swiftly passes as we swap stories of places we visited and those we’ve yet to see.