Broome
Trip Start
Jul 05, 2007
1
38
48
Trip End
Dec 24, 2007
Broome,
Australia
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Broome is a lovely seaside town. Much nicer than Cleethorpes. We got into Broome on Saturday night - just in time to watch the full moon rise. There is a phenomenon in Broome called the "Stairway to the Stars" where the full moon rises over the sea and the reflection in the mud flats makes it look like the moon is climbing a staircase. It would be a lovely experience to watch it. Except that it's been hijacked by hippies who play "alternative" (ie rubbish) music, which ruins the atmosphere. One of them was selling DVDs under a banner saying "Have you ever bought music directly from the maker?". No, I haven't. And if he smells as bad as you do, I never will
Staircase to the Stars
.Broome is the pearling capital of the world. There used to be loads of oysters with pearls in, just lying on the beach. Nowadays they farm them here. There's pearl shops on every corner. I've been looking for a souvenir from Broome, as I've liked it so much. So today I bought a pen.
On Sunday I went down to the beach. It's the first sunny beach I've been to since I started travelling. It's a fantastic, long beach. The water was 30 degrees and there are super waves. This does mean that you have to watch out for "surfer dudes" when you swim, though. Cos they don't look out for you.
A quick word of warning about the beach, in case anyone is considering going to Broome. When you go down the steps to the beach, turn left. As I discovered to my horror, if you turn right, you walk into the nudist section. Pay particular heed to this warning if you want to buy the kids that special camel ride. The camels have a tendency to head straight for the nudist section.
Today I hired a bike to look around the town because it's fairly spread out. They say you never forget how to ride a bike. They are wrong. It started badly when I couldn't change the seat height. This was unfortunate, because prior to me using it, I can only assume that it had been hired out to a dwarf. Anyway, I managed to operate it in the end - although my bum hurts badly tonight. This could mke my ten hour bus journey to Karjini National Park tomorrow particularly uncomfortable.
