What a Pearler! Broome.

Next stop after Derby is Broome, an oasis of life and civilization after a long dry spell. Broome is a lovely little town, based around two main things - the pearling industry, and Cable Beach.

We pulled into town on a Saturday morning, and our first port of call was the market. This had all your generic bits of market paraphernalia - handmade goods, some produce, some art and craft - and a whole lot of pearls. They were everywhere, and this was a good introduction to the rest of town, which was also full of pearl shops. The other unusual thing about the market was all the food stalls were Asian - Indonesian, Japanese etc, and there was a real multicultural mix of people. This was all related to the pearling industry as well, as we found out.

Broome made its fortune, not with pearls as most people think, but with pearl shells. Back in the late 1800s pearl shells, or 'mother of pearl' as they were called, was a very big industry, especially for making fancy buttons. Pearl divers would go down and collect these shells by the thousands, and if an occasional pearl was found (one in ten thousand), well that was just a bonus. The Japanese were very attracted to the pearl diving industry as it was very lucrative. Also because they like doing extreme and dangerous things.

We had a tour at the Pearl Luggers Museum which showed us what was involved - the things they had to wear, the suit, the helmet, the lead boots to weigh them down etc. It was not an easy job. During the war, of course, the Japanese were not welcome, and there were more Indonesian people involved. Then after the war, with the development of plastics, the market for mother of pearl dropped off a bit. This was the time they started looking at the pearls with a bit more interest.

Because naturally occurring pearls are so rare, that would never make a viable industry. It was at this time that Mikimoto in Japan developed the procedure for culturing pearls. This involves collecting living oysters, implanting a 'seed' of some gritty substance, then caring for the oyster, with frequent turning, to develop a nice round pearl. Nowadays natural pearls are extremely rare, and virtually all pearls are cultured. Depending on size, colour, sheen etc, they can be worth thousands of dollars.

To learn about this industry we decided to take a tour of the Willie Creek Pearl Farm. This was a little out of town with 15 kms on sealed roads, then another 14 kms on dirt roads. There was a bus that could take you, but the cost was $40 more than if you did a self drive tour and got there yourself. It was 4 WD only, and involved some driving on the Cape Leveque Rd, a famous 4 WD track. Now we had taken the motor bike for just such a purpose, as it was a dirt bike as well as being road legal. We had used it on the roads a fair bit in many small towns, but had never taken it off road. We thought this was the perfect opportunity, as it was only 14 kms off road, and would save us $80 between us. Bad move.

We managed the sealed road without any problems; then we hit the dirt, and all hell broke loose. We were ready for a rough road, bumpy, with corrugations, like all the unsealed roads we had seen so far. What we actually found was sand - soft, loose, powdery sand that had no traction whatsoever. I will let George describe this part in more detail - suffice to say keeping balance was very difficult, especially with me sitting behind him. At one point I had to get off and walk, and even that was difficult as you sink right in. When we got there we were talking to a couple who had driven in a 4 WD car. They had seen the turnoff and put on the brake, but nothing happened. They just had to wait until it slowed down eventually, then do a U turn and come back.

When we got there, I asked if there was any room on the bus for the return journey, and hitched a ride. It was easier for George on his own, although still not really easy.

The other thing Broome is famous for is Cable Beach, a lovely long sandy beach with turquoise blue water, facing west, so you can see the sun setting into the water. This was a big highlight, and people lined up for miles, taking photos of this amazing phenomenon. The problem was that the two nights we were in Broome there were no clouds at all, and sunsets are pretty boring when there are no clouds. The third day we spent most of it relaxing on the beach, then pulled out to a rest area for the night. That night there were clouds, and a beautiful sunset, over the caravans and trees.

GeorgeY's bit

In this entry we cheated death, saw sunsets, camels, and wild life.

When you read 4WD track you think unsealed and bumpy road. If you have 4 wheels, one on each corner, then staying upright is easy. You might lose traction to go forward, or fail to steer where you want. You can come to a complete stop, but you stay upright.

When you are on a bike all you have is 1WD, and you need traction in order to go forward, and also sideways traction in order to stay upright. If you stop you have to put your feet down to stay upright.

Getting to the pearl farm was a brush with death. As soon as the bike's front wheel touched the deep section of soft, powdery red dust, it went sideways and was out of control. We stopped to let pressure down, but with both of us and no traction we were in a losing battle. I don't know how we managed, but we were very close. The way back was not easier, but with Eva on the bus, the risk was halved. With my feet on the ground while riding, till my slippers started getting hot, I just managed. Still no walk in the park.

Cable Beach is the place to be in Broome. There is another spot called Gantheume Point with rocks and dinosaur footprints, but not a swimming place. Cable Beach is famous for its "Stairway to the Moon" but since we were out of phase, I attempted a stairway to the Sun picture. It was OK, but again, the camera did not do it justice.

Cable Beach is split into a civilized section where people swim, sun bake, eat, drink and watch sunsets.

The north part of Cable Beach is the wild section. Camels parade passengers and relieve themselves (a novelty for some but not me). 4WD trucks dig their wheels in the sand because they need to prove they are not Toorak tractors "city folks". The sad fact is that flat, wet, and compacted sand is far easier to trek than some sections on Highway One between Townsville and Mt.Isa. Take that "sissy folks". And finally ugly old nudists on the beach. I am not being prudish about nudists, but the key here is the subject's appearance - something usually related to age and condition.

On the civilized side, when some young backpackers decided to shed half their bikinis, which if you pardon the pun covered the "bare" minimum, they still looked right. On the wild side, geriatric men sunning their full monty, while having more skin than shape (some with spare skin enough to shelter an African village), looked wrong.

Why do they do this? One can speculate that due to "Oldtimers disease" they forget what they looked like last time they used a mirror. (Not a pretty sight, closest to the professor on Futurama.)

Doing justice or not, the camera was not even considered here.

All up, Broome is a gem and full of gems.