Broome - Pearling Industry

14/9/19  Well I’m back. For the past six days we’ve made our home in Broome. It wasn’t a long drive (220Kms) compared to some of the driving we have done getting from point A to point B on other occasions getting around this vast country . Broome is a large regional town (Kimberley Region) which is quite spread out along the coastline. We’ve been staying in one of those outer areas called “Cable Beach”. This is the most popular area of Broome as it is very close to the beautiful stretch of white sandy beach. To our surprise we soon learnt that if you had a 4x4 vehicle you could drive along the beach for kms. Not having to ask me twice, we were out there asap. Whilst driving along at the restricted speed we saw a lot of other sightseers, fisherman and others. As we were just driving along, taking in the scenery I said to Janine, “did that bloke have his pants on”, We soon realised that some of he people of Cable Beach live a carefree lifestyle. They don’t alway have their clothes on when they stroll along the beach. They were mostly elderly people and should have had their clothes on. It will be hard to erase some of that vision form my memory.

Broome has been a bit of a layback stay over these past few days. The town itself has been built around the pearling industry. There have been numerous tours to various pear farms but we decided we would go to a small tourist attraction in town that was dedicated to the story of how the pearling industry started in Broome and where it is today. We found this very interesting as they told us about the brave divers in their massive suits with the large metal head gear. These divers relied on the deck hands keeping the hand driven compressors turning over so they had a plentiful supply of air to breath. Very dangerous work. Most of the good divers were Japanese & Chinese but there were other nationalities working there as well. Some of our darkest days in history also occurred here. A lot of aboriginals were “blackbirded” into working/diving, usually for very little payment if any. There is a magnificent monument down by the water in Broome to recognise the suffering that was inflicted on these people by the early pearling masters.

We have spent a lot of our time down the beach either walking, driving or just sitting around watching the world go by. The one thing about this region is that there is always a plentiful supply of fresh seafood. We have had various home (caravan) cooked meals of barramundi, prawns and other fish. On our last night in Cable Beach we whipped up some salad, a good serving of prawns and some beverages, packed up the table and chairs and heading to the beach for a sunset dinner. How romantic. It was a great way to finish off out time in Broome.

Our location for the next couple of days is “80 Mile Beach” caravan park. We arrived here yesterday 13th and plan to stay two nights. It is the only caravan park along the seven hundred and fifty klms between Broome & Port Hedland other than a couple of rough roadhouses. The one thing we have been in awe of on this side of the country is the tide movements. It’s not so much the height here at 80 M/Beach but the distance it retreats out at low tide. Last night when we went down for a look it was a least half a klm or more out to the waters edge. This morning it is right back close to the sand dunes. Quite amazing. Well it time to more it or loose it so, it’s off to the beach we go. Might even go 4x4  again and have a real good look along the foreshore.