Broome

It’s hot here. In fact, the first night we were here Broome broke some record for the highest minimum temperature on that date. We had a restless night under our fan operating at its maximum but still not quite powerful enough to provide much respite from the 35 degrees. But we were compensated by the smell of jasmine that truly hung heavy in the air.

Broome was established in the late 1800s as the site of a substantial and lucrative pearling industry. Yesterday we had an hour long tour through a small pearling museum and learned the history of the trade and the techniques for gathering up the tons and tons of oyster shells that came from this region. The main product was Mother of Pearl which was in high demand for buttons and other fashion accessories. The pearls themselves were rare and highly sought after. There was much about the story that reminded me of the boom days of whaling on Herschel Island and the Klondike gold rush. The museum was full of old copper diving helmets and the other pieces of gear required to sink an inflated suit to the bottom of the ocean. Each boot alone weighed 22 pounds. The development of plastic buttons, World War 2 that saw all the Japanese divers interned, and the establishment of the cultured pearl industry lead to the decline of the trade and its eventual end in the 1970s. But the town still revolves around pearls in the same way Dawson and Skagway still prosper on gold. The streets are full of shops selling pearl jewellery of every description, supplied by the area’s many oyster farms that have replaced the luggers and divers.

Tonight we went to a movie at the “World’s Oldest Operating Picture Garden”. Ninety years of outdoor cinema. Sitting under the stars we watched geckos crawl across the 20 by 40 foot screen adding wriggling black blotches to the actors’ faces. It was hilarious.

Tomorrow morning we pick up our rental Toyota 4WD Land Cruiser. It’s a diesel and comes with some camping gear and snorkel attached to the engine’s air intake in case we have to cross any flooded rivers. We’ve been warned not to wade across the rivers first in order to check out the depth due to possibility of lurking crocodiles. We will be heading east along the Northern Highway as far as Kununurra. This is the paved road that goes all the way to Darwin. At Kununurra we turn around and head back to Broome along the Gibb River Road. The Gibb is an unpaved 4 wheel-drive track that cuts through the centre of the Kimberleys. We’ve rented our vehicle for 12 days and plan to camp in national parks and at some of the huge cattle stations that welcome visitors.

We’ll be back in Broome on May 5. Not sure what the internet connections will be like until then but I’ll try to report back as we travel along if I can.

Photos from Broome

Broome