Kristy's Chat Broome - Dampier

Broome, oh beautiful Broome.  My new most favourite place in the whole entire world!  Our first night saw us take a camel ride along the pristine sands of Cable beach.  So naturally beautiful is this place that people are encouraged to get natural with it.  I was unaware of this fact until, aboard our camels with a bird’s eye view we cruised past numerous nude people tanning themselves.  Ry thought it was hysterical and although he swears he doesn’t like girls he kept nagging us to go for a drive on the north side of the beach (how dumb does he think we are?).  The funniest thing about a nude beach is it is heavily populated by aging men in far less than perfect shape.  Let’s not kid ourselves, they’re there hoping a young spunk strips off and makes their life a little happier!  Now for those who may be wondering, yes, our bums are still pristine white in colour.



Taz and I get Nude on Nudey Beach



 Broome just got better by the day.  We went fishing on the wharf and in the first 15mins we had seen 2 huge sharks, sea turtles giant trevally and a variety of other fish.  We pulled in beautiful fish one after another until all the bait was gone.  Catch of the day went to Ry who hooked a huge shovel nose shark, a battle ensued until reality struck and it occurred to us that if we got him up on to the wharf he may want to eat us! The kids were buzzing with excitement and just when we thought we could take no more a massive 3m hammerhead shark cruised by to check us all out.  It was breathtaking to see such an amazing animal in his own environment.  That was it, Tamsyn, Ry and Chris to the wharf for the next couple of days.  Not to worry Taj and I were well equipped to cope beside the pool/café/beach.

Of course it wouldn’t be a real trip to Broome unless I ventured in to one of the pearl dealers.  Yep the budget took another little beating but there are some things that just have to be done to help the local economy.  That being said I did manage to get past the Argyle diamond mine without spending a cent.

I really have to say that everything about Broome looks beautiful.  The bright red dirt is such a stark contrast to the blinding white sands which transform almost immediately into waters of every different shade or turquoise.  To see this best we drove out to the lighthouse, where dinosaur footprints remain embedded in the rocky cliffs.


Swimming in Anastasia's pool (notice Taj's bomb)



Once again Chris got talking to a local who put us on to “the place we go to get away from Broome”.  So we waved good bye to Broome, the one place I had been desperate to see since watching a Malcolm Douglas doco when I was about 10.  We drove south for a couple of hours before turning onto a heavily corrugated, red dirt road (my van will never be the same again).  We pulled up at Port Smith, (never heard of it? Google it).  This town consists of a caravan park and ….. actually that’s about it.  Oh but the caravan park is packed with facilities making it a dream destination for most men I know.  You see it has fuel ($1.95), ice, bait, bore water, great fishing in a remote destination and oh yeah, it has an 18 hole golf course.  Apparently during peak season you can’t fit an extra tent in the park however at this time of the year we were able to count the total of full sites on one hand.  At full tide the ocean fills the lagoon making it safe for the kids to swim but as the tide goes out you can drive over the sandbar to the inlet and fish for hours.  It’s unbelievably beautiful and we had the entire beach to ourselves for most of the day.  After a full day of fishing and a lovely quiet night sleep we realised that there really is only so much fishing Taj and I can take so we continued out trip south.



Just another "normal" roadhouse.

 After 10 hours of nonstop driving we arrived at yet another of my choice destinations.  For those who have seen Red Dog you’ll understand that travelling through the Pilbarra meant we would have to stop and pay homage to the Red Dog statue.  I sobbed during the movie, so it was no surprise that I got a little emotional standing in front of the statue.  I don’t know if the tradition of having a resident stray in Dampier continued after Red Dogs death but while we were having dinner at the pub where the movie was set the kids found the pub dog, a red heeler that sits out the front of the pub in the company of about 50 miners going from one to another for a pat. Whatever the case it kept the dream alive for all of us. 

So the west coast has proven to be a saviour of my sanity.  Even the ghastly red dirt that seems to coat everything looks beautiful here set against the bluest of blue skies.  I’m right back to thinking that this trip could last forever.

Until next time,

Love and miss you all, Kristy.