Gerty, have you been to Broome before? We were there for 10 days at the begining of June and places at parks were still easy to come by for short term i.e. up to a week stays.

I had always wanted to visit Broome as it had a mystique about it but I must admit that we were quite underwhelmed by it. Very commercial with lots of boutiques and shops selling expensive clothing or pearls. We enjoyed the small museum and had a very good afternoon at the Malcolm Douglas crocodile park in Cable Beach. The rate at Cable Beach Caravan Park was $50 per night which is the most we have ever paid - be warned, Broome is expensive.

I would suggest you phone around the parks and I am sure you will get in for a few nights at least. From what we can gather and by speaking with other caravanners, Broome is off the list for future travel because of the prices.

I do think Broome is worth experiencing. I like the older Chinatown section; the museum; Matsos cafe and brewery; just looking at some of the older style houses; the Courthouse Markets on Saturday morning; the Willie Creek pearl farm tour; the shell gallery; the Japanese cemetery. Riding camels is not my scene, and whilst the sunset at Cable Beach is very photogenic, there are other places just as good, if not better. Admit that I like to look at the expensive pearl jewellery in the up market shops - and dream.....There are some art galleries that are interesting and have items reasonably priced, including very good aboriginal art. There is a wonderful bead shop if you are into that sort of thing, and last time we were there, a great second hand book shop in the same area.

I suggest you try to get in at Barn Hill - south of Broome. This is worth a stay in its own right, but it also puts you within reach of Broome for a day trip or two, when you could sample some of the best of Broome.

It is 3 years since we were in that area, but I believe that the Roebuck Plains Roadhouse opened a caravan facility since we were there. This is about 25km out of Broome and you might get in there?

Agree with Min that the Broome caravan parks are costly. If you really want a stay there, it is worth phoning around. Our last visit coincided with the big festival in late August/early Sept.(accidentally). When we knew our schedule, a couple of weeks ahead, I phoned around, on the offchance, and was lucky to get onto a Cable Beach CP just after someone else had rung and cancelled. The only drawback was that we had to take a full week, where we had only wanted 3 days, having been to Broome a couple of times before that.

Do you do dirt roads? If so. you might want to go up the Dampier Peninsula. Lombadina/Cape Leveque etc. We had a powered van spot at Middle Lagoon when we went up there and it was a great place.

Broome is a must do if you are in the area and have not been there before, then you do not need to go back there ever again, mainly because of the expensive CP parks at this time of the year.

If anything closer can't be found, try the new caravan Park at the Roebuck Plains Roadhouse, it was $30 a night when I came through about this time last year, but it is about 30kms east of Broome on the main highway to Broome and turn off to Perth. You will need to book ahead though as it was quite busy when I was there. Several were staying there are just doing day trips to Broome etc. See this link;

http://www.exploroz.com/Places/101563/WA/Roebuck_Plains_Roadhouse__Caravan_Park.aspx

I think it would be false economy to have spent your fuel getting that far and not going to Broome to have a look at least, you may regret it later having been so close. Like Dunco and others have said here, visit and make up your own mind, at least you can say you have seen it.

First time we visited Broome (1980) we parked up out at Cable Beach. No one elese was there - no resorts, or caravan parks. We just threw our swags (we were also younger then) down on the sand & spent the night. Fantastic. Any Broome in those days was great - just a small interesting fishing/pearling village. Oh well we can't stop progress?? Cheers Alice

Nope, I'm a golfer as well

I like Broome - it was an experience - saw most things available, and stayed in an "overflow" at the Rifle Club - which also offered entertainment - the Customs guys came in to do target practice, and Thursday night was skeet shooting night - good fun to watch. Nice people running it too - and not overcrowded at all.

We were in broome about 6 weeks ago & loved it.The town is festooned with frangipani, bougainvillea & palm trees giving it a lovely tropical feel.

The pearling history of the area is much on display especially in  Chinatowns decor & shops plus a couple of pearling tours available for a small fee.

Cable Beach we found unique with its festive atmosphere, camel rides & amazing sunsets. There always seemed to be happy people at play or just enjoying taking in the whole scene.

We stayed at Roebuck Bay Caravan Park which was a bit cheaper than the cable beach ones & was a 500m walk to the viewing beach to watch the stairway to the moon.

Broome is a town not to be missed so as to at least give you the chance to form your own opinion of it.

Cheers

Jon

How many of you watched on TV the iconic "Grey Nomads" program, back in the 90's? Those who did might remember Mary, the solo lady traveller. She actually settled in Broome, which is perhaps a measure of the draw of the place. We met her at the bowls club there, in 2000. Asked about her when there in 2007, and were told she'd died.

I have a great book, called "Broometime", published I think around 2004? A couple of lady writers spent a year in Broome, almost became "locals", and wrote of their year there. It was rather controversial at the time, as the first print run had to be pulped when some of the people featured objected. I found it fascinating reading; to me it really conveyed much of the Broome "atmosphere".

Broome also featured in a wonderful TV series last year (SBS?) - was it called The Circuit? Focussed on legal aid service based in Broome and the circuit court. Pretty realistic. I thought. That too conveyed a lot of the atmosphere of Broome.

Thanks everybody! We are now in Halls Creek, back on line after an exhilarating couple of days on the Bungles. Yes that was definitely worth all of those 29 muddy water crossings and the 50km of rough road to get to!!

We'll try the various places to stay in Broome, or the roadhouse. We already have a booking for a flight to the horizontal falls from Derby, plus we have to wait for mail and wont be able to leave until it arrives. I'm sure we'll enjoy Broome just once, we are not really "city" people, but will make the most of whatever we find. 

 

Edited to change a mistake... had said "Halls Gap" should be of Halls Creek at the other side of the country! Sorry!

-- Edited by Gerty Dancer on Saturday 2nd of July 2011 06:00:00 PM

Hullo Everbody!

Now in Port Hedland, and back on line for the first time since leaving Broome 8 days ago.

Had a great time in Broome! The caravan park we were in was quite uncongenial, so we went out as much as possible. Did the "Stairway to the Moon" thing and the Cable beach sunset thing (fantastic!), wandered Chinatown and found that "Old Broome" was really interesting, but very crowded. Just to add to the chaos, a cruise ship with 2,000 passengers docked for the day and there were bus-fulls of cruisers everywhere! Best part was that the shops put on special prices for them so I had a bit of retail therapy!
We also went to the pictures in the old outdoor picture theatre there, and saw "Bra Nu Dae" which was filmed locally and included a scene in that same picture-theatre! It was great fun when planes coming in to land roared low overhead, sparks spraying from their engines.

There was the Pearl luggers, with some less than uplifting history, and the Pearl farm out at Willie Creek, which we went to after moving out of Broome to the Bird Observatory. (Nice place)

Definitely worth while!

Didnt see any Granny.