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RTW: Broometime
Broome is the kind of place you could easily get stuck in. Fortunately I had a flight out of the town already booked so I couldn't stay more than four days, but if I hadn't had onward plans, I'd still be there.
It's on the slanty north coast of Western Australia, about half way between Darwin and Exmouth. This means that in March, it's hot and humid. Luckily there's a pretty awesome YHA in town that makes a good home base for exploring the gateway to the Kimberleys, and an even better home base for lounging by the pool.
I got to Broome after a 20-hour bus ride from Exmouth, and even at 7 pm, the humid 10-minute walk to the hostel left me dripping and eying up the pool from the front desk.
The open concept resort of a hostel has a palm-fringed pool accessible from a beachy bar that never seems to be empty. The beach volleyball court, on the other hand, was always empty, probably because the pool posed a much more enticing option. My 12-bed dorm was off an elevated African gazebo.
Over my four days in Broome I managed to spend a heck of a lot of time in the pool, or not too far from it. I rented a scooter to check out the nearby beaches including Cable Beach - a 22 km stretch of sand and brilliant blue sea a few minutes by car from the town centre. I hit up the town's small but air conditioned museum, which documents the area's pearling history (once the producer of 65% of the world's pearls). I rode out a Cable Beach beach party til the wee hours and, a few days later, I rode out a Cable Beach sunset on the back of a camel.
Rumour has it it gets even better here in the high season, aka the dry season, which arrives around May and lasts til about October. The temperatures and humidity drop making being outside a bit less of a sweaty ordeal. The stingers and jellyfish leave the shores making swimming less of a risky ordeal while tours around the area and into the Kimberleys kick into full gear.
Kimberley Klub YHA is a short walk from the town centre - complete with a fantastic pool, a poolside bar, hammock swings, air conditioned rooms and loads of friendly, sweaty people to make you wonder why you're leaving. That is, if you ever do.
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My camel was called Rhaja. They're super chilled out and very cute but that sound they make when they stand up made me think I was asking it to do something awful. I think I make a similar sound when I get up in the morning though.
I loved Broome - super hot. Cable beach is so amazing, sometimes the tide would be out for what seemed to be miles. Its so so wild and natural. I'm happy to here that the YHA has a new hostel up there, the last one was not choice. I found that if you were in town that the transit was extremely accessible which enabled you to get to the beach ASAP. I spent 2wks on that beach, I met some wonderful backpackers - really mellow (b/c it's so hot you are constantly sweating). How crazy are those camels? You didn't get one called Imran by chance? Yeah adventure!
Heather, Just caught up on all your blogs. Great job. Keep it up.See you in Oct/Nov.
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