Broome Broome

Such a fascinating place! And relaxing....ahhh! Really is a great holiday destination, especially in winter. We have been here 3 days and enjoyed every minute. Some of our mini-adventures in Broome include....watching the sunset and the full moon rise over the water; swimming at Cable Beach; going to church; tours of a pearl farm and 'Pearl Luggers'; shopping; lunching in a restaurant overlooking the ocean; wandering through beachside markets. Really feels like we are on holidays.

Cable Beach on the Indian Ocean - the tide changes here are phenomenal....100 metres plus of beach is covered or exposed, depending on the tide. The water is crystal clear and a cool 22 degrees. And we even body surfed a couple of waves at highish tide.

A pearl oyster....so ugly yet what they can produce....WOW! Of course there's the pearl...either a cultured or a Keshi, but Kirsty even tried pearl meat...which goes for $400+ a kilo in Asia. This is the average size of the pearl oyster grown at Willie Creek Pearl Farm, north of Broome. In the creek, it filters 150 litres of water each hour thanks to tides rushing in and out at 25kms/hr.

Hard Helmet diving for pearls took place in Broome for 100 years, right up until 1974. Originally, local Aborigines dived without any gear, but as the areas along the coast were fished out and divers had to go deeper for the oysters, new ways of surviving the dive were needed. Still, over 900 Japanese divers are buried in the town cemetery. Most died excruciating deaths from 'the bends.' BTW, the helmet weighs 35kg and the diver also carried 2 x 35kg weights on his front and back; wore a 13 kg suit and 10kgs of woolen clothing as well as 8kg weighted shoes. And most divers were 50kg, 5 foot 2 Japanese men.

And what did they risk life and limb for??

Not this beautiful thing! This is a 21 mm pearl worth between $100 00 - $120 000. Now, the cultured pearl industry is HUGE, but originally, divers were after the shells so that Mother of Pearl buttons could be made. Yes, the saying around town is 'Broome was built on buttons.'

Another famous (or at least well-marketed) Broome activity is to watch the full moon rise over the Roebuck Bay mudflats. It creates the 'Staircase to the Moon' phenomenon which we saw last night. While our amateur photo really doesn't do it justice, hopefully you get the idea that this is another one of God's amazing creations. He's just so clever!

We are off up to Cape Leveque today (3hrs north of Broome) and looking forward to a boat ride to the Horizontal Falls on Friday. Hopefully we'll see a whale or 2 on the trip and have more cool pics to show you soon.