BROOME

Morning walk

Tess building sandcastles

Beth enjoying the beach

Best beach cricket pitch in the world!!

A star in the making

Stunning sunset

Not here for Staircase to the moon, but Staircase to the Sun is pretty spectacular

DAY 52 – BROOME                                                                    Tuesday, 23^rd August

OK, this is really a sign of the times.  It is Thursday afternoon and I have just realised that I haven’t written on the blog for a couple of days.  The days - full of sun, surf, and sunsets – are all just meshing into one another!!

On Tuesday, we went into town and had a look around the sites.  We almost fell off Streeters Jetty when it stopped abruptly!  It used to be where all the pearl luggers came ashore.  We saw two pearl luggers which had been restored.  It was fascinating to read the history (often very dangerous history) of the Japanese pearl divers over the last hundred years and seeing the outfits in which they used to dive!!  I could not even pick up ONE of the shoes they used to wear, let alone the helmet and the other weights!!  The last diver to use this equipment used it until 1975!!

It was appalling to find out that when diving, if a storm approached, they just cut the line to the diver and headed for safe harbour.  The boat and the catch were more important than the diver.  Apparently during WW2, the government sank all of the luggers in Broome to prevent them falling into the hands of the Japanese.

Broome has a very chequered history and it is interesting to note that Aborigines just don’t like coming to Broome anymore.  Not only is it full of tourists (fair enough reason for not wanting to be here!) but they say it has a “bad feeling” for Aboriginal people because of the history of “blackbirders” and other atrocities which occurred here.  It is a bit sad because it is such a beautiful place.

Then off down the beach again for the usual boogie-boarding, wine-drinking, cheese-eating, snag-cooking afternoon!!  Met up with the Pattersons again and nattered until too dark to keep an eye on the kids!  Ben is just loving the surf and just wants to boogie-board all day!!