Day 82

Wednesday 27th May 2015, warm 32 degrees

Broome

We ‘do’ the Pearling Lugger Tour and sit in an old wharf shed learning about the romance and horrors of the pearling industry of the past. In its heyday there were 404 pearl luggers operating out of Broome harvesting pearl shells for mother of pearl and sometimes they found natural pearls. What a far cry from today’s industry. We were surprised to learn that like in Queensland, ‘black birding’ (a polite term for slavery) was practised to coerce the Aboriginals into doing the shell diving. This was prior to the invention of hard hat diving in deeper waters in which the Japanese divers were to excel.

All this talk of the sea gives us a longing for fish and chips and more exploration. We drive out to Gantheaume Point which is the site of the dinosaur footprints. You know the ones that some silly buggers took to with a concrete saw a couple years ago and sawed one off. There is no car park so we quickly find ourselves driving on the beach like locals. Not quite. It is a nice spot. The dinosaur prints aren’t visible at present as the tides are too high. In fact the tide guide is like a bible in this area. The Catalina Flying Boat wrecks from when Broome was attacked in World War Two can only be viewed on a particularly low tide too. The Staircase to the Moon happens on a certain low tide and the Horizontal Falls are best on a higher tide. Confusion reigns.

We buy our fish and chips at the Wharf Cafe and eat them on the nearby beach while we watch local fishermen launching and retrieving their boats. The rock formations are particularly interesting here and look like the gods have been throwing a tantrum.

Accom: $41.58

Travelling Kms: 0

Note: The fish and chips set us back $50 and we reeled in shock at being charged such a price. Until we tasted the barramundi and threadfin salmon. Never, before or since have we tasted better fish. And yes, it was worth it, my mouth is watering at the memory of it.