nteresting place with good infrastructure for its
size, both east and west facings to sea, perhaps the best fishing club in the world, (in both location and per capita participation), and some beautiful and unique scenery. The picture to the right is of the "Hole in the Wall" and on the left is Cable Beach. As you can see from the photos, the water is clear blue, calm, and inviting. (Just watch out for the box jellyfish, crocs, and sharks.)
Unfortunately Broome is experiencing some growing pains, crippling it in many respects with social problems and lack of good staff in most businesses. One can wait 25 minutes in a relatively short line at the Visitor's Info Centre as the 7 employees would rather hide in a corner shuffling papers or shirk off and speak to someone on the phone than address the line of waiting people. It reminds me of the business owner who said he'd really like his business if it weren't for those *##*%# pesky customers always wanting something or other.
Business owners complain that they cannot get good staff and there is ample evidence that supports this. It takes the Australia Post office there 2-3 days to sort the "Express Post" bags and they only arrive sporadically every few days when there is room on the inbound plane. They are quick to complain that they are understaffed and reply to inquiries that "you’ll just have to come back another day". If they were not a monopoly they would never survive.
There are good areas to ride one's bike except for both the broken glass on the roads / footpaths and the "double gee" burrs in the grass. We patched the bike tyres repeatedly as can be seen from the photos. Even after upgrading the tyres to kevlar and the tubes to "puncture
resistant" we still had flats! 
Businesses charge exorbitant prices but there is little alternative as Broome is so remote that competition is quite light. I spoke with a real estate agent there that said that there are no businesses for sale aside from a takeaway restaurant. After paying (dearly) for another tube at the bike shop I asked the owner if they would sell only to be told that it is a really good business and there is no way they would part from it. Small wonder with the high tyre / tube mortality rate and the prices they charge!
We initially stayed in the Cable Beach Caravan Park where we found some of th
e staff to be exceedingly rude, perhaps because they have literally over 1000 people there on 500 of the tiniest sites we have seen anywhere. Some of the visitors were playing loud music and partying into the wee hours while others proved less flexible with their sleep patterns and actually had enough nerve to complain. :) There was a lot of tension in the air as people had to stand in lines for the limited toilets, showers, etc.The unheated pool looked nice but Maree rode her bike alongside it (still on her bike and still on the road) and was approached by yet another rude staff member to tell her that no bicycles were allowed near the pool. She just wanted to see if our children's friends were there, not to take her bike for a swim.
We finally relocated to a caravan park that was not in our caravan park directory, the Roebuck Bay Caravan Park, which we would recommend very highly. It is a small park in comparison only having perhaps 150 sites and it is situated right on Roebuck Bay! (whereas Cable Beach caravan is a "convenient" 15 minute walk from Cable Beach.) They do not advertise, do not take advance bookings and one needs to arrive there early in the morning to get a spot. The sites at Roebuck Bay are spacious with friendly residents and helpful staff. We really enjoyed it there, perhaps even more so after suffering through the stay at Cable Beach.
There is a deep water port at Broome and while we were there they were loading a
few thousand cattle aboard a ship headed to the far east. This ship (right) holds over 30,000 cattle so I can't help but feel sorry for the poor bloke on the other end who has to swab the decks!Another one of the vessels in port while we were there was the Coral Princess (pictured left).
It does trips across the top end including stops at Broome and Horizontal Falls. It was shortly after this photo was taken that they headed to Horizontal Falls where a woman fell out of one of the tender
boats and drowned. Fortunately they got the body back before the crocs and sharks took her but what a tragic event to have happen on a holiday.Speaking of crocs, have a look at this picture of Christian on one of the beaches and you will note that some beaches are mud and even little fellows like Christian (with big feet I might add) sink in up to their shins. This really slows one down when trying to get away from the crocs but hopefully slows the crocs a bit as well.
For those who live in Broome one of the highlights
has to be the Broome Fishing Club. First, the club has 220+ members in a town of 14,000, so it is very popular. 
Second, they have a clubhouse on a hill on a peninsula overlooking the ocean and two boat ramps with ample parking. The land that the club house is on would be worth over $10M alone. What a place to have a coldie and enjoy the 270 degree views!Third they have two boat ramps
100 metres apart on the peninsula facing
different directions to accommodate for different combinations of wind and tide. Fourth, they can get out almost anytime because they get virtually no sea or swell, just a bit of wind. (Have a look at the flat sea!!! Not even a hint of sea or swell.) Fifth, you can catch billfish from small tinnies. 
Look at the pic of this sailfish caught from a 12 foot tinnie. The records in the club house make one drool. They catch (tag & release) hundreds of billfish a year. Want fish you can chew on? They got them as well, and many are massive. Have a look at this one mounted on the wall of the fishing club. This is a fisherman's paradise and perhaps the only place in Broome where you don't require a lot of patience as reportedly the fish bite well. Oh, and they don't forget the ladies either. The all ladies team "Reel Women" took out last year's billfish tournament! Unfortunately the charter boats were either booked out or the businesses did not even bother to return my messages asking to make a booking. This was disappointing but I may still try to get back at some point for one of their fishing tournaments...The tides at Broome are almost as large as those in Derby as you can see from the photos with the pier to the ri
ght. 
This is good as it means that they require a long jetty
and the jetty has a walkway alongside it from where one can fish.This photo (left) is from the far end of the jetty looking back toward the silos where grain is stored for export and the massive fuel storage tanks used to keep the ships moving. We saw this lined with people one day when the fish reportedly came in, and even saw one fellow who caught a spotted mackerel from here. This does fill up so one must get there early to get a good spot.
I am often asked what the children do while we are travelling and so thought I’d include a couple of pics. This is Mariah
is doing some schoolwork and Christian reading the
latest Harry Potter novel, one of the books he is reading for school. Both children are doing exceedingly well with Distance Education but much of the credit must go to Maree, their very committed teacher. All of us enjoy a good book and the Harry Potter series has been entertaining.
Many say that watching the sun set over Cable Beach is one of the prettiest sunsets you’ll ever see. I’ll let you be the judge of that but it certainly was a nice way to spend the evening as we had drinks and dinner watching it happen.
Broome also boasts dinosaur footprints.
Due to rising sea levels one needs to do some planning to see these fossils as they are only exposed at extremely low tides (unless you bring a snorkel and don’t mind the crocs and sharks nibbling at your toes). Christian is showing just how big these footprints are but it may not be long before he catches up at the rate he is growing.Next week's report will cover more of Broome, Port Smith, and 80 Mile Beach as we move down the Australian West Coast on the DownUnder Tour.
