I reckon Broome has a certain mystique. Might be the pearling history, the isolation, the fabled Cable Beach (sorry, didn’t mean to make it rhyme) or even the dry heat and the wet heat.
But whatever, it’s one whopping big town. The population is 15,000 and they’re spread far and wide, with the airport bang in the middle of town – just like Darwin, the airstrip was once well outside the township. The main shopping area, Chinatown, has been well preserved with matching facades to all the buildings.
We started our Broome visit with one of my favourite pastimes: having breakfast out! Right here at Cable Beach.

The beach seems to go forever. The water is the bluest blue and the sand is white as can be. You can drive on the beach north of a certain point, most of the time, except round high tide.
The boys spotted a wave, much to their surprise, so they dusted the red dust off the board covers and pulled out the wetsuits.

I went “pearling” but the shops were mainly closed – it was Sunday. The local market was a relaxed affair in the shade of the big trees near the court house. The usual mix of crap you find at every market, but still worth a browse.
In the late afternoon, John and the boys went for a paddle in the Mango from just near the jetty, rounding the point with the outgoing tide. After that it was a bit of a slog, round the Lighthouse point and meeting their Taxi Driver (me) at the southern end of Cable Beach.
It was Sunday evening at low tide, and this is clearly where the locals like to hang out. There’s also no beach police, as you can see in the photo below, everyone drives onto the beach, pulls out the chairs, beers and barbies. They seem to move forward as the tide goes out. Otherwise it can be a bit of a hike for a swim. There would easily have been over 50 cars that evening.