From Exmouth To Broome

Sorry for the delay in posting boys and girls. It’s hard to find free internet while camping. Oh how I miss the days of hostels with free internet and free breakfast in Europe and South-East Asia. I also miss air conditioning. Oh my goodness it is hot in Australia!

In my last post I ended by saying that Jesse and I were planning on hitting the road again the next day which I believe would have been a Wednesday but unfortunately shortly after updating the blog I started to feel like garbage and wasn’t able to help pack so things were postponed for a day. I hadn’t realized that Jesse thought it would be fun to unpack absolutely everything so loading the truck took forever and a day and we ended up hitting the road about 3 hours later than anticipated on Thursday morning.

On our way out of Exmouth we came across a large emu with her babies crossing the highway. Exmouth is known for having emus and the have been known to wander the streets of the town just like people. We were in town for almost a week and I was quite disappointed to be leaving town without seeing one. I was beyond excited about this sighting and I think I yelled so loud it caused Jesse to swerve.

Our original plan for the day was to make it to Port Hedland but not without a quick stop in Dampier first but since we left so late in the day things didn’t quite pan out that way. Jesse wanted to stop in Dampier to see the statue of Red Dog (a dog famous in Australia for wandering all over Australia and allegedly making his way to Japan in search of his master who died in a motorcycle accident) and possibly the hotel where the movie about him was filmed. When we arrived just before dusk we found that the town was completely full of detours due to construction and since it was almost dusk and we still didn’t have a place to stay for the night we decided to keep moving.

We ended up spending the night at a caravan park a few kilometres down the road in Karratha. This was our first experience sleeping in the tent in the heat and let me tell you it wasn’t pleasant. While we were driving earlier that day the temperature reached 45 degrees and while it cooled a little after the sun went down it was still in the high thirties and the tent was more of a sweat lodge than a place that any sane person would like to sleep. Both of us had a pretty restless night only getting a few hours of sleep and woke up drenched in sweat. We packed up the car, took a cold shower and by the time we had returned to the car we were already roasting again.

We started our day by backtracking slightly to Dampier and had a quick visit with Red Dog but decided to skip the hotel, we were on a mission and needed to hit the road. I had wanted to spend some time in Port Hedland because it is a known area for turtle nesting and it was the right time of year to try to get a sneak peak of the action but we were on a mission to make it to Broome before the post office closed so when we made it there a few hours later we only had time to refuel. We ended up arriving in Broome half an hour after the post office closed so we should have taken our time that day but we were determined and stubborn.

Our first night in Broome was fairly low key. We had been on the road all day and hadn’t slept much the night before so we set up our campsite, went into town for some fast food, and returned to the sweat lodge for the night.

The next day we decided to head into China Town where most of the town’s shopping is located. Our first task for the day was to buy a fan for our tent. Once we had crossed that off the list we browsed a local market held every Saturday that was full of food and handmade goods as well as tour information and a few other random stalls that didn’t really seem to fit. After our shopping needs had been met we returned to the caravan park and headed to the pool. The temperature was in the forties again so the dip was quite refreshing. After our swim we walked to the beach (full of jellyfish this time of year if you’re wondering why we didn’t swim there) and booked our camel tour for the next day.

We woke up bright and early the next morning since our new fan did little to ease the melting sensation caused by the sun shining directly on our tent and headed back into town. Our first stop for the day would be the Pearl Luggers where we learned about the history of the pearling industry in Broome. Apparently some of the best quality pearls in the world come from Broome and collecting them was once a very deadly job.

By the time we finished looking at the old boats and posters on display I was ready to liquefy but Jesse wanted to check out a local brewery so I prayed they had air conditioning as we made our way there. They had several large fans but no seating left and none of the meals on offer seemed particularly appealing to us so we decided to head back for a swim. We spent most of the afternoon either in the pool or lounging at our campsite until it was time to head down to the beach for our camel ride.

I had been waiting for this moment for ages. Riding a camel was the number one thing on my bucket list when I went to Marrakech last year but I couldn’t make it happen so I was pretty stoked for this opportunity in Broome. We signed in at the big yellow tent then had some free time to check out the camels before the tour started. I took this opportunity to sing ‘Alice The Camel’ to Jesse who had never heard the song and it would later come back to bite me, literally.

We were assigned to a camel named Bully. We had noticed him before the tour started and thought he had a funny personality and even though he wasn’t our first choice (that would have been Harley the old, wise looking camel right in front of Bully) we were happy with him. About two minutes into the ride the camel behind us decided to walk beside us rather than behind us, which wouldn’t have been, a problem except she was incredibly fascinated by me. She licked me, sneezed on me, even bit my shorts a few times. About 20 minutes into the tour I learned that this camel’s name was Alice. She must have been so thrilled that I had been singing a song about her (even though this Alice only had 2 humps not 10) that she wanted to show me some affection. At the end of the tour when our camel had to sit down Alice was all over me and I screamed loudly while everyone else laughed at me. I was already covered in camel snot but now I swear she was trying to eat me as well. All in all I think my camel ride was successful and worth the wait, and only slightly traumatizing.

We said our goodbyes to the camels and the tour guides and headed back up the beach towards the parking lot. We had now accomplished our list of things to do in Broome so we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to bed early because the next day we would be starting the long journey to Darwin.