Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
BROOME
2,389km (1,481 miles) N of Perth; 1,859km (1,152 miles) SW of Darwin
Part rough Outback town, part glam seaside resort, the pearling port of Broome
(pop. 11,000) is a hybrid of Australia and Asia you won't see anywhere else. Chi-
nese and Japanese pearl divers used to work the pearling luggers in this isolated
little town in the old days, and as the Chinese settled here, they affixed their
distinctive architecture to typical Australian buildings. The result is a main street so
cute it could be a movie set, with neat rows of Australian corrugated iron stores
wrapped by verandas and trimmed with Chinese peaked roofs.
The people are unique, too, because Anglo-Saxon/Irish Aussies and Chinese,
Filipino, and Malayan pearl workers often married Aboriginal women. The
Japanese tended to return home, but not all of them made it as cyclones, the
“bends,” sharks, and crocodiles all took their toll. The Japanese legacy in the town
is a divers' cemetery with Asian inscriptions on 900 rough-hewn headstones.
For such a small and remote place, Broome is surprisingly sophisticated. Walk
the streets of Chinatown and you'll rub shoulders with Aussie tourists, itinerant
workers, Asian food-store proprietors, tough-as-nails cattle hands, and well-
heeled visitors from Europe and America downing good coffee at a couple of
trendy cafes. Broome's South Sea pearls are still its bread and butter, but the old-
timber pearling luggers have been replaced with gleaming high-tech vessels
equipped with helipads and stainless-steel security doors.
To be honest, it's kind of hard to explain Broome's appeal. There is not much
to do, but it's a nice place to be. You can shop for pearls, and it's a good base for
exploring the Kimberley. But most people simply come to laze by the jade-green
Indian Ocean on Cable Beach, ride camels along the sand as the sun plops into
the sea, fish the unplundered seas, mosey around the art galleries and jewelry
stores, and soak up the gorgeous reds, blues, and greens of the Kimberley coast.
ESSENTIALS
GETTING THERE Airlink (book through Qantas & 13 13 13 in Australia)
flies direct from Perth, Ayers Rock, and Alice Springs. Virgin Blue ( & 13 67 89
in Australia) flies direct to Broome from Adelaide once a week on Saturdays. The
trip to Broome from Sydney and other capitals is a lengthy affair via Perth or
Alice Springs.
Greyhound Pioneer ( & 13 20 30 in Australia) has a daily service from Perth
that takes around 30 hours. The fare is A$295 (US$192). Greyhound's daily
service from Darwin via Katherine and Kununurra takes around 24 hours; the
one-way fare is A$255 (US$166).
There is no train service to Broome.
Broome is 34km (21 miles) off the Great Northern Highway, which leads
from Perth in the south, Kununurra to the east. Many companies (including
those listed under Kimberley's “Essentials,” earlier in this chapter) run four-
wheel-drive camping safaris to Broome on the Gibb River Road, an unpaved
Outback scenic route from Kununurra.
VISITOR INFORMATION The Broome Visitor Centre is on the Great
Northern Highway (locals call it the Broome Hwy.) at Bagot Street, Broome,
WA 6725 ( & 08/9192 2222; www.kimberleytourism.com). It's open Monday
through Friday from 8am to 5pm. On Saturday, Sunday, and public holidays,
Search WWH ::




Custom Search