Broome, September 1997

Broome is one of those places that is described as "magical" in holiday brochures. It used to be the centre of the Australian pearling industry but most of that has disappeared these days. In the centre of Broome is an area rather laughably called Chinatown. It actually consists of about 4 buildings.

I wasn't too impressed with Broome. After hearing people rave about it, and considering it's a major stop on the backpacker circuit, I thought there might actually be something there. In fact, most of the pubs and restaurants shut at 10pm in the week and at 9pm on a Sunday. It was a bit like Carnarvon all over again. There was a bit of life on a Saturday night. One of the bars had a band playing, but that was the only place that had anyone in it. I went into the Roebuck Hotel, or the Roey, as it's known, and there were only about a dozen in there. Most of them could barely stand up and one guy had a five minute conversation with me. To this day I still don't know what it was about.

Broome's most famous attraction is Cable Beach. I must confess that I never went there, because it involved getting a bus, but I still don't think a nice beach would have made up for the place. There are plenty of nice beaches in Australia.

I did try to go diving in Broome. There's only one dive shop in town and their brochure described the diving in sponge gardens. When I rang them, they said they were going on holiday that weekend. After a while, you just start to give up, don't you?

Since I couldn't see any living coral, I decided to go on a trip to see the remains of the Devonian barrier reef. This was formed millions of years ago by very primitive coral like animals called stromatoporoids. Trips to the gorges formed by rivers in the reef are quite popular.

I booked a 2 day 4WD tour with Over The Top Tours [(08) 9193 7700] to see these gorges. I was staying at the Broometime Lodge, which was $50 a night or $250 a week. It was much nicer than a backpackers', had its own pool, and all the rooms had air-con. The temperature in Broome was just over 30C and the humidity was high. I paid for a week, as I was staying 5 nights. This was handy because it meant I could leave all my stuff in the room whilst I was out on the trip, without it costing me any more.

There were about 10 of us in the 4WD. I got picked up first so got the front seat next to the driver. Our first stop was a roadhouse, where we stocked up on some beer for that evening. Then we made our way out to Geikie Gorge where the Fitzroy River has cut its way though the Devonian reef. The Fitzroy is one of those rivers that either has a lot of water in it, or very little. Geikie Gorge has always got water in it, because a tributary joins the Fitzroy just after the gorge, and there is a large sand bank, which keeps the water in.

On arrival, we had lunch and then went for a swim in the crocodile infested water. This isn't quite as brave or stupid as it sounds, because they only have freshwater crocodiles there, which aren't dangerous to humans at all. Then we went for a boat trip up the gorge, which is run by CALM. The scenery is quite spectacular. The difference between the high water mark, the white rocks, and actual height of the water is amazing especially when you consider that it reaches more or less that height every year.

That night, we camped out under the stars. Fishing and netting is permitted at Geike, so we netted a few freshwater prawns, called Cherabin, and roasted then over the hot coals of the campfire to go with our dinner. After a few beers around the fire, we went to sleep in our swags, which are roll-up beds with a thin mattress included. It was still very warm, so you didn't really need anything thicker than a sheet to cover you.

The next day, after a morning swim and breakfast, we headed off to Tunnel Creek. This is another part of the same reef system, but here the water has cut a tunnel right through it. You need to wear shoes that can get wet, as the water is waist high in a few places. It actually deeper than that, but if you've got a guide who knows the best way, you don't get any wetter.

After Tunnel Creek, we headed off to Windjana Gorge. There wasn't as much water in Windjana as there had been in Geike, though there was still enough for plenty of crocodiles. It was very hot inside the gorge, because the sides cut out the cooling breezes, and the temperature in the bush at that time of year is in the mid-thirties Celsius.

My luck with 4WDs was holding out again, because two of the six bolts holding the back axle had snapped. The next stop was Derby, via the Gibb River Road, which is very rough. By the time we arrived, there was only one bolt left on the axle, so our guide took it into a garage. We set out in search of the nearest pub. The bush is very dusty and hot, so we weren't the neatest, tidiest or cleanest people in the world, but we were the best dressed in that pub. After a couple of beers, we started to limp home with the 4WD only having front wheel drive. This didn't do it much good, and we stopped about 60 kms from Broome at a roadhouse, and waited for someone else to come and pick us up. Fortunately, the roadhouse had a pub attached, so all was not lost.

We eventually got into Broome quite late at around 9 o'clock after a tiring, but well worthwhile trip. I never got my souvenir T-shirt though. After a couple more days of lying around the pool, I jumped on a plane to Cairns, in Queensland, on the east coast.

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