DAY 44 – Broome

Good Morning Broome!
 
Low 13°c (55°F) – High 30°c (86°F)
30km
 
It was a chilly start to the morning this morning with a low of 13 at 6.00am which is around the time I was getting up.
 
I decided to get a few loads of washing done this morning before we headed out to get a couple of jobs done before any sightseeing.  First stop - Bunnings to exchange a gas bottle for the van where we were greeted by an unpleasant checkout woman who could have easily been less officious about explaining the process.  The M&M company could have employed her for the “Get in the bowl’ advert the way she was telling people to get in a line to be served that certainly wasn’t clear to any patrons who weren’t regular shoppers at the store.  After paying for the bottle I also went looking to see if I could find a shelving solution for the clutter that always seems to be our bathroom but couldn’t really see a reasonably priced option and came away with a set of fairy lights instead.
 
After dropping the gas back to the van we set out about finding the local ice-cream shop.  There have been some amusing discussions about Broome, as it is definitely a favourite of ours and a place we could definitely live.  While Shane has been, well let’s face it – a little obsessed – with Darwin and would move in a heartbeat – I’m not a huge fan of the humidity.  Broome has been slowly winning him over and while the humidity still exists here, I love the feel of the place.  Another good reason to move up this way is the milk bottles – “What??????” I hear you ask?  As you pour the milk out of a 2 litre milk bottle it doesn’t feel as though the handle is going to collapse in your hand as they do at home.  It’s the little things…..
 
We had aimed to go to see the sunken armada of Catalina World War II Flying Boats at Roebuck Bay that are fully visible at tides less than 0.86m. No other place in the world has such a collection of rare and historically significant flying boats as the mud has done a very good job of preserving the aircraft.  Perhaps the tide wasn’t low enough when Shane went for a walk across the mud flats to take a look at them as he didn’t get to see much.  He did however come back with boots so caked with mud they had to continue their journey in the back of the ute.
The wrecks are heritage protected and respected by the local community, due to them being 'war graves' of the over 100 lives lost when war came to Broome.  Broome and the pearling industry were impacted by both World Wars. During World War I pearling trade lapsed and hundreds of tonnes of shell were left in warehouses and were ruined. The industry continued after the war, though it never fully regained its earlier momentum.  In February 1942 Allied personnel were ordered to evacuate Indonesia as an attack by the Japanese was imminent. During February and March over 8000 refugees passed through Broome en route to Perth and Sydney using whatever aircraft was available.
On the 3rd of March 1942, nine Japanese Mitsubishi Zero fighters left Koepang, in Timor, and made a daring air bombardment of Broome. They destroyed fifteen flying boats on Roebuck Bay and six aircraft at the Broome airfield. It is estimated over 100 people died during the attack. Heroic rescues by locals and aircrew saved many lives. The attack left no useable aircraft in Broome.
 
As we were about to leave the carpark, Bob & Wilma (yes their real names!), a couple who had been camped next to us in Katherine and were also at Timber Creek when we were there, pulled in.  Aside from chatting about our trips so far, they recounted a very sobering story about staying at Derby which is about 200km north of Broome and having left their chairs out overnight.  Apparently around 2.00am their neighbour was outside his own van having a cigarette when he noticed someone trying to steal Bob’s chair.  He confronted them and was attacked by three men.  Wilma heard the scuffle and sent Bob out to assist.  One man ran off, a second grabbed a handful of rocks and threw them at Bob, and the third discarded the chair after hitting their neighbour over the head with it repeatedly.  The police were called and the neighbour taken to hospital.  You read about these things but never really know what’s behind the story.  We were grateful though that we didn’t venture into Derby if things are that bad at the moment.
 
We stopped in at the local Subway to pick up lunch.  I stayed with Kitty in the car while Shane went to buy the food and by this time the sun was relentless on the car.  Despite having a silver reflection shield up and all windows down I was quite distressed by the time Shane got back although surprisingly Kitty wasn’t too bad in the shade of the back seat with the breeze.  It wasn’t helped by the fact that the people serving made 5 mistakes in a row with orders and took forever to get to our lunches.
 
A bit of a drive around the town centre and checking out some of the statues and monuments, unfortunately parking was difficult to find and so a lot of my photos were out the window of the car just to get an idea of the lush foliage and wonderful colours this town has to offer.
 
The Cultured Pearl Memorial depicts three key people involved in the Kuri Bay pearl industry, Tokuichi Kuribayashi  originally from Nippon Pearl Company, Tokyo, Keith Dureau and Hiroshi Iwaki from Pearl Prop. Ltd.   The memorial also contains tribute plaques to all those who sailed the sea and dived for pearl, as well as a plaque paying tribute to indigenous pearl divers. 
 
We returned to the van for a bit of a rest and some air conditioning only to find that we had an invasion of ants running up the wall, into a cupboard and had managed to penetrate the seal on a container with cream biscuits.  After cleaning that up and putting the now dry washing away we relaxed for a while.  When the time came to feed Kitty I went to pick up her bowl that had a little bit of dry food left in it and it was absolutely full of little red ants as well.  Out came the spray and both inside and out got a bit of attention in the hope of stopping them.
 
A little exhausted by the day, we opted for takeaway for dinner and spent another evening sitting outside under the awning.