Broome Oct 8 Part 1

We arrived in Broome which was about 140kms north from Barn Hill Station around mid day and booked into the Cable Beach Caravan Park. After talking to a few people it seemed the best deal about with a reasonable rate and also a nice swimming pool which you need in heat of Broome.
It was also within walking distance of the famous Cable Beach and not too far from town. After getting organised we went into town to stock up and visited the visitors centre.
We did enjoy one of the best iced coffees I've ever had at the coffee kiosk there and had a good chat with the barista about what makes a good one. I am sure she was right when she said it had to be made with a fresh shot of coffee not a pre made coffee/milk mix left in the fridge which many places do.
Broome has a population of about 13,000 people and was made famous for its pearl industry as it has a very good quality oyster shell in the waters in the bay.In the late 1800s pearl divers from Japan especially were recruited to replace Aboriginal divers, there were about 400 pearl luggers operating in the bay and they supplied 80% of the worlds mother of pearl which was mainly used for buttons.
After the pearling industry declined tourism was developed in the 1980s with the restoration of buildings in Chinatown and the building of resorts.

A pearl lugger

We visited Cable Beach that evening to see the sunset over the Indian Ocean,the beach was named as the undersea telegraph cable linking Australia to Java and the rest of the world was laid in 1889 and came ashore  here. The beach has 22kms of white sand.

Lloyd waiting for the sunset at Cable beach

It was worth waiting for!