Day 45 - Friday 17 August - On to Broome

Day 45

Friday

17 August

Roebuck Plains –Broome        

Ear plugs pulled and the sounds of morning assaulted my ear drums. Hello very noisy world. I read for a while, before we both made our way out of bed and got ourselves ready to tackle the day ahead. 

At 9, we drove the 30km’s into Broome, parked at the Tourist bureau and went in search of information. I gathered all the print material that took my eye and then we spent a good amount of time talking to an attendant, who plied me with even more papers! 

We dumped it all in the car and then set off on foot, happy to check out the Chinatown end where most of the bustling occurs. Paul was busy looking for old landmarks, finding some that were familiar, while others were long gone. 

We walked down to Streeters Jetty, where the pearl luggers of a bygone era use to pull up. Today there was a fancy sand castle made from the red pindan, a few interpretive signs and the restored jetty to wander along. The luggers are long gone from this area and the mangroves have moved in to reclaim their patch. 

We strode to the end of the jetty all of not even 30m and watched the crabs below. Bright red claws saw them stand out against the grey of the mud flats. Some of the claws were incredibly large and would take a strong hold. 

We did a lap of the block, poking our head in to the various lanes, wandering past the “Roey” hotel and then returned to the car for a drive around town. Our first stop was a chiro, as Paul’s back was still not right. No appointment until Monday, but we took it anyway. 

We then continued through the streets until we found the caravan park we are due to move into tomorrow, it backs onto Town Beach, so we stopped in the car park to take in the view. The waters here as so vividly aquamarine, it is hard to describe to anyone. Unless they have seen it for themselves they could not fathom the true depth of colour. We stood at a point overlooking Roebuck Bay and just drank it all in. 

Next up was Cable Beach. This end of town is far more upmarket. We parked at the beach, where the famed Cable Beach Club Resort looks over the waters. Paul was not surprised to see the level of development and the money that has been pushed into it. We walked to the sea front path and again stood back to check it all out. Here the white sands stretch on for 22km and there were plenty of people soaking up the sun on the beach and a number on the water. I can’t wait to get out amongst it. 

We returned to Roebuck Bay side, zig zagging through different streets just to have a sticky beak, eventually we arrived at Matsos Brewery just in time for lunch. Paul ordered the tasting paddle, before we put in a food order and made ourselves comfy on the veranda. The food was delicious and very filling and I came away very satisfied. 

Finally, we made our way back into Chinatown and stopped in at Coles for a couple of quick things, before making our way back to the Roebuck Plains. I gathered all of the tourist brochures and began reading through, making a mental list of things I would like to do, so glad we have plenty of time to get fit it all in. 

To cool off, we decided to head to the pool. We had it to ourselves and no wonder, it was cold like Argyle. Surely it isn’t that hard to heat these things. We chatted with another couple while we were there and then made our way back to the warmth of the van.

I got busy sorting out tour dates and key happenings around town for the time we are here, keen not to leave anything out. We ate a small dinner, as we need to be under weight restrictions for our camel ride and then grabbed our electronics and took off for the bar to watch the Richmond v Essendon game and use the free wifi. 

I got busy looking up websites and booking all the tours that we wanted to do, keen to fill in the dates we had free. Thankfully, everything fell into place and we should have plenty of time for rnr as well as being active. It will be a busy couple of weeks.

We stayed in the bar until the footy was over and Richmond had come away with another win and then we made our way back to the van read to head to bed.