Broome Adventures: Some Lessons Learned

Remember how I said Aussies have optimism built into their DNA? When I told everyone I was headed up to Broome, the response went unvaried: “You’ll love it!” and “Charming town!”.

What’s funny is, most of those people had never actually been to Broome. In fact, most Aussies have probably never been to the north of WA – it’s often cheaper to fly Sydney to London that Sydney to Broome or Kununurra.

Those people I spoke with who actually commute up here for work – one who does engineering work and the other who works with teachers in Aboriginal communities – were a bit more subdued with their accolades. In their undying optimism, you could hear something else – a tinge of jadedness, I think.

It’s a quaint town by any city-phile’s notion. To most Aussies, the north of WA would qualify as what Americans call “coun-try,” with equal emphasis on both syllables. It’s like big Texas guys with big Texas vehicles got dropped into a high desert landscape. That’s the best State-side analogy I can come up with.

I decided to make an excursion to Woolworth’s today for shampoo and batteries. When you don’t have a job, a car, or much at all to do, you can take an hour for things like this.  I asked my hostel buddy how to get there. “Just up the road,” he said.

So I started walking, and then kept walking, and walking. I passed only one other walker on this entire journey. My forehead dripped sweat into my eyes. I drained my water bottle. I reapplied sunscreen. I wasn’t there yet.

The pavement is deceiving here.  It makes you forget you are still in the middle of a harsh desert; a landscape that took many early explorers and settlers, some who could transit between stations (some a million square acres large) in small windows of time when their cattle would need to only move 40 km without a water source rather than hundreds.

When I finally got to Woolworth’s, I had eagerly refilled and gulped my water bottle down. I looked at the time. I’d been walking for all of 17 minutes, but it had felt interminable. This is why people perished when their horses went crazy or their cattle ran off or their tires went out.

I got my shampoo, the tamari almonds and the Midgie Magic from the tiny natural foods store, and AAA batteries for my headlamp (how it saved me while camping!), and made the trek back, this time fortified by the Nikken water at the health food store (did I not say Australia is practically California with different accents?).

I’m about to head out to Kununurra to camp with my friend’s sister, but I thought I’d leave a couple lessons learned from my week in Broome.

1. Figure out whether you want to be town-side or beach-side, then pick your accommodations accordingly. If you’re on the Cable Beach side, you won’t have any trouble getting to the beach, but it’ll be a slog into town for all necessities. If you’re on the town side, you won’t have trouble conducting business – post, groceries, etc – but it’ll be a slog to the beach. Most hostels run intermittent shuttle service, usually one way, and you have to catch a bus back ($3.50 a ride).

2. Rent umbrellas on Cable Beach for the lowest prices I’ve ever seen in Australia. They’re $4/hour or $10 for half a day. If you’re not sold on the prices alone, what you get with the umbrella is a guy to put it up for you, as much ice cold water as you want from the umbrella stand, and free sunscreen there too. A nice bit of shade can extend your beach going time by hours.

3. Get a water bottle. Fill it and bring it along everywhere.

4. Be liberal with your bug spray. Bushman’s is the most long-lasting and effective, but it contains so much shit in it, it removed my friend’s nail polish after a day of use.  Off! Seems to work well if applied frequently. The natural food store next to Cole’s sells an all natural one people swear by. It is made of coconut oil, citronella and some other stuff, but it doesn’t always repel sand flies.

5. Make friends with Midgie Magic. This little tub of all natural ingredients is well worth the cost. It cools and de-itches the awful sand fly bites, which everyone is bound to get if they go exploring.