Broome, the capital of Kimberley. Population, 17,000. That’s 42% of the total population of Kimberley, an area the size of California. Founded to support the pearling industry, Broome is now an active tourist destination. We’ll have but one night here before boarding a Virgin Australia flight to Perth.
We disembarked the Pursuit at 9:30 a.m. and boarded a cruise-provided bus to be delivered to our four-star rated luxury accommodation, the Continental Hotel. Four star? Google and TripAdvisor must have a sense of humor. We waited several hours before our room was ready. The delay clearly was from limited staff as the vast majority of rooms were, to our eyes, not in use.
And our room? A square, white walled minimally furnished accommodation, with a queen bed, a single stool-like chair and a cabinet for luggage and clothing. There were four hangers( which, in truth, was enough for a night). There was a patio door leading to a semi-private area with a table and two chairs. This was the “upgrade” we had requested.
OK, it was fine for one night and the bed was comfortable enough and the shower sufficient.
So, what to do for the rest of the day in Broome? Our decision was to walk the mile and a half to the Japanese cemetery, which we heard was worth a visit. It was, but we didn’t walk. As we exited the hotel a taxi was discharging its passengers. Five minutes and $8 later we were dropped at one end of the cemetery complex. We wandered through the Anglican, Malay, Moslem and Catholic sections and, when we reached the far end, had fears we were trapped. But the gate there that looked to be locked, wasn’t, and we exited, turned right and found the Japanese Cemetery.
After that visit we walked the quarter mile to a shopping center for a light lunch. (Remember Woolworths and Kmart? They’re still around, at least in Broome). Even that short walk in the heat convinced us to flag down another taxi and head back to the hotel. That was the extent of our daytime exploration of Broome.
The McKennas visited the Broome Museum and quite enjoyed their visit. We’ll have to read Brian’s write-up to get the details.
That evening, the four of us patronized a Thai restaurant in what is called Chinatown. Maybe it once was an area where Chinese lived, but now it is an interesting stretch of shops and restaurants, laid out in small clusters of establishments. Our meal was absolutely delicious. (Pork Panang Curry and Shrimp Pad Thai for the curious.)
We had brought into the restaurant two bottles of wine we had saved from the cruise, a white and a red from American wineries. The red, a pinot noir, was sealed with a cork. The waitress had to look around for a cork screw—we had forgotten that almost all wines bottled in Australia, both red and white, have screw caps!
This is about all I can report about Broome. We did have an amusing incident at breakfast at the hotel. I had ordered two servings of granola at the counter. A man waiting for his coffee walked up to get it and tapped the credit card reader to pay for it. Only, it was my charge he tapped to pay. “No worries,” he grinned, “I’m on a business trip,” and refused to attempt a correction. (The cashier was relieved.) I paid for his coffee.
The Broome International Airport is wonderfully small and ours was the first flight out this morning. When we land in Perth, two hours and twenty minutes south, we’ll finally leave the warmth of the subtropics and begin experiencing an Australian winter.
