Cable Beach, Broome, Western Australia

What a gem Broome is, at the end of several days in the dry and hot Kimberley area, we hit the ocean late afternoon. The ocean and civilization that is. How soon we fall back into our easy going ways. Boy that big hotel room looked pretty darn good. A shower big enough for eight people with all the amenities you can wish for. Spoiled we will be after a few days of this.





Our Road trip from Darwin to Broome took eight days, passing through some of the most spectacular and rugged scenery we have ever seen. We travelled 3053 k's in that time. It was fantastic. Relatively speaking there are not too many people that do the "Top End", even among Australians. There are some places in the world that one feels like an explorer, and this is one of them. [Even though we "explore' in a $700,000 Mercedes Air-conditioned bus!]

The pioneers in Canada had it tough, but these poor souls had it tougher. The weather up here is unbearable, the dry season is the cooler winter, without rain, the wet season is the hot rainy season. Not rain like we get anywhere in Canada, but monsoon-like rains that turn dry rivers into torrents 5 to 15 k's wide and rise up any where up to 60 feet in extremes. I cannot understand why settlers, I suppose of British extraction, convicts or free men, would try to farm in the middle of a blessed desert. I can only suppose that records and details of conditions in various areas of the country were not available. Anything probably looked better than what they left behind in England.

We separate from the rest of our Bus Tour Group today. 13 are leaving in Broome, 26 are pushing on to Perth, at least that distance again down the road. We had a farewell cocktail party last night, I had put together a slide show of the trip to date, 168 pictures of people and the trip. It was very well accepted. It was also a bit of fun to do, it certainly got me to meet the people a bit more.






Fellette and I are looking forward to a little "alone time" the next few days, we enjoyed the tour and closeness with the people immensely, but we are now on our own, and looking forward to it. If anybody is thinking of touring by coach in Australia, I have no hesitation in recommending APT Tours, Australia pacific Tours. Well established and extremely well organized. Make sure that you fully understand the weather conditions and distances in Australia before committing.