Three days in Broome

From the moment we stepped off the Virgin Australia plane from Perth, felt the tropical temperature and then were met by our Aussie friends Gene & Julian at the arrivals door, Broome has been a joy. Aid & Ed were already there having arrived a few minutes earlier on a Qantas flight. Qantas stands for Queensland and Northern Territories Airline Services, in case you're interested.

Broome is the winter retreat of thousands of Aussies from the south and it’s easy to see why, as the laid back (even by Oz standards) attitude becomes apparent, the variety of accommodation, inc up-market resort hotels (we’re staying at Bali Hai), as well as the constant warmth, the beaches and sea. 

Cable Beach is probably the best known feature, stretching for 22km along the Indian Ocean 

and where the perfect sunsets are viewed by most people, some taking advantage of the three camel trains available to rent a ride @ $90 a place!

   

First evening we spent at the Sunset Bar & Grill, with superb view of the sunset (at 5.30), washed down with beer and bubbly (spot the new moon):

 

Our first night coincided with Wales in the Euros semi-final in France, kick off 3am (WA time), which we didn’t want to miss, so alarm was set and we were able to witness the disappointment of their defeat to Portugal on our room tv, then back to bed at 5am.

 

Second evening we took our SUV onto the beach with Gene & Julian’s for drinks and nibbles on the sand – very atmospheric and another beautiful sunset:

 

 

Broome is famous for pearl diving, which was the reason the town was founded, so there are many shops selling the jewellery at prices ranging from about $20 to $100k. Mary prefers the pink Argyle diamonds mined from the region of that name. Unfortunately, the ones she liked the best were $46k.

Our third evening consisted of an Indian meal (sitting outside, of course) and a visit to watch Nice Guys, with Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, in the 100 year old open air Sun Cinema (sitting on a deck chair):

The flight path into Broome airport goes low over the town, so any incoming planes can cause you miss a few moments of dialogue!

 

Tomorrow we have one of the anticipated highlights of our trip, a sea plane visit to the Horizontal Falls - more in the next post.