Broome

18-Jun-2007

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Sunday - 15th August

Leisurely pack up and off to Broome.  No room at any of the caravan parks.   We ended up at the Police Youth Club caravan overflow area.  It’s OK, grassed, power and water, sites somewhat cramped.  We’ll line up at the Cable Beach CP early tomorrow to see if we can get in there.  Did a bit of driving round Broome, walked out along the pier, were nobody was having any luck fishing.  Went out to the lighthouse point and watched a pod of whales cavorting off-shore.  Then checked out the beaches, Cable Beach looks good especially the pub overlooking it. Weather still bright and sunny, but a bit of wind today.

Monday - 16th August

Got up real early and waited at Cable Beach CP, got a nice site, so went back to PYC CP and relocated van.  Settled in at new location.  Went to town and did some shopping and updated web site.  Went down to Cable Beach to catch end of sunset.

Tuesday - 17th August 

Went into Chinatown for some hairdressing at Shaggahs, Jude just got a bit of a trim, I got a major haircut, shortest its been since I was about 10.  Feels strange.  Went for a drive along Cable Beach, quite a few nudists around, mainly old and wrinkly, but occasional young ones.  Got pictures of both.  Bit windy again but sunny and hot, so spent the afternoon laying on the beach (clothed), lovely spot, wide white sand and turquoise water.   Had dinner at Cable Beach Resort overlooking the beach and watched the sunset.

Wednesday - 18th August

Washed some of the Kimberley red dust off the car then went into town.  Had a great feed of fish, Red Emperor for lunch, came back and spent another afternoon on the beach, (its what you do in Broome).  Tide goes right out leaving a huge beach, and vast numbers of  people head down it in their 4WDs to watch the sunset.  We did too, took along the barbeque and watched another beautiful sunset and the camels ambling home.

Thursday - 19th August

Trip up the Cape Leveque road today.  Sandy, with few corrugations but generally OK.  Dropped into the Willy Pearls operation and listened to a young lady give a very good exposition on the life and times of a pearl oyster.  The oyster meat sells for $700 a kilo in Asia, must taste good.  She passed around some very large pearls worth around $25,000 and got them all back at the end, amazing.  We then drove on up to Quandong were a lot of people were bush camping on the shoreline.  Had lunch and tried our hand at beach fishing.  Not much luck, in fact none, so we packed up and meandered back down the coast.  Views were spectacular.

Friday - 20th August

Quiet day.  Jude did some washing and we then veged on beach for the afternoon.  Winds have dropped somewhat.  My ears have never been out in the sun before and are now burnt.

Saturday - 21st August

Up early and off to Court House Markets,  usual market stuff, organic vegetables, contortionists,  artists and artisans, ethnic food sellers, apparel merchants, pipers and didgeridoo salesmen.  It’s the start of the "Shinju Matsuri" (Pearl Festival?) up here, so after lunch we went to the parade in Chinatown.  Large crowd there and the floats were terrific, a Chinese dragon, lots of school children, the local boot-scooting club, unicycle riders, elvis impersonators and about 60 bizarrely decorated cars that had just finished the Derby to Broome, via the Gibb River Road and Kununurra, Variety Bash. Had a great dinner of threadfin salmon and chips down at the port.

Sunday - 22nd August

Drove north along Cable Beach for a few kilometres, tide was right out and it was a few hundred metres to the water across white sand.  Went to the Dragon Boat races in the afternoon.  The Notre Dame Uni team was short one rower for the race and I was press-ganged into the position.  We got about 200 metres off shore before we capsized.  Water was nice and warm though and the crash boats picked us all up to bring us back and tow in the swamped boat.

Monday - 23rd August

Up very early this morning to join the boys on a fishing charter on the Port Bouvard Charters 60 foot boat, "Blue Water".  What a great day, started off with a freshly cooked bacon and egg roll when we boarded, then off to sea.  About 75km due west from Broome we dropped our lines in and waited with varying degrees of success.  When the bites stopped, we’d move off to another area and try again. I caught a Red Perch, a Coral Trout and a Mulloway,  all good size and a smaller perch we used for bait. All the other anglers were doing very well too.  After finishing the reef fishing we tossed the lures over the back to try for Spanish Mackerel.   I reeled in one of these, they fight like mad and had to be clubbed when brought on board.  A few others were caught as well.  We had a late lunch of Spanish mackerel and salad which was delicious and started the long trip home.  I had an interesting time filleting my fish back at camp but managed it OK.  Should be a few good fish feeds over the next few days.  Definitely recommend the charter, great crew, great boat and great fish.

 

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