On the overnight sail to Broome we spotted plenty of whales - mostly too far away, but sometimes way too close. We did our best to alter course whenever we spotted them, but some of them didn't understand the rules and just wanted to pop over and say hi! And they can certaily swim way faster than we can sail or motor. One friendly giant circled and swam under the boat for our entertainment
We arrived at the outskirts of Broome in a dying wind after an unusually choppy night sailing down the coast. Gantheaume point, which bisects Broome’s two main anchoring areas, first appeared as a shimmering mirage. Then it resolved and expanded into a wide bay. Broome is a popular spot for tourists, mostly because of its immense beach and also as a stepping off point for tours of the Kimberley.
For us yachties, as they call us here, it is much more problematic, but it is the only place for several hundred miles in either direction to top up on any of boating’s necessities.
This is firstly because of the aforementioned beach. It is both long and wide, like the one in Blackpool, UK, but has the added appeal of not being in Blackpool, which means it can be strolled in the sunshine while wearing shorts. Since the tide range here can be as high as eleven meters, the high tide line and the low tide line are about 1/3 of a mile apart. If leaving the dinghy for more than a couple of hours, you will likely find it floating in deep water (if you remembered to anchor it) or way up on the sand a long drag from the sea. The only time you can really get around this is at neap tides, which are lowest midday. Then it is possible to ground the dinghy on the falling tide in the morning and plan to return in the afternoon when the water rises again to the same level.
This is except for the fact that there is nowhere safe to leave a dinghy unattended for very long, as petty theft and vandalism are not unheard of here. There are a lot of vehicles on the beach with either trailers or racks for carrying boats. It would be a pretty simple thing to shop for something nicer than what you have and trade up, so to speak.Thirdly, even if you can get to the beach, town is a long way away on a dusty, shadeless road with no sidewalks.
The only marine infrastructure available to us at Gantheaume Point was the use of a mooring ball. These come with a long list of things that aren’t included, like launch service, access to a laundry or shower block, fuel pump, water hose, electricity or a shuttle into town. What you do get is the authentic boating experience of watching loads of your money disappear to no effect. The price we were quoted for a week was one and a half times more than we paid for an actual marina slip in Darwin with most of the above-mentioned amenities. Uh, that’ll be a hard no, thank you. Anchoring is not that difficult.
Broome has a sunset cruise industry, and some lovely coastline and beaches
The picture shows us "helping" load up Nutshell's dinghy onto a trailer for the day (at low tide the beach turns into a parking lot
That being said, Broome also seems to have no shortage of really nice people. The first of these were Magnus and Wendy from Nutshell (whom we first met in Silver Gull Creek). They had arrived a few days before we did for what was not their first time through. Magnus explained that the only sensible option for going ashore was to get dropped off and picked up by someone who stays with the dinghy as the tide goes up and down. He then told us he would be happy to deliver and fetch us anytime we liked, so Maryanne and I could go together. We accepted on the provision that the agreement would be reciprocal, but for some reason, we never got to take them ashore in the pudgy.
Instead, when they wanted to go, they went through this huge kerfuffle of going to town while the other waits behind to borrow a truck with a trailer. Then they loaded their tender onto it with lots of heavy lifting and dragging. Then taking us to town with and the tender until it was time to return at a different tide state, where they undid the whole process. This seems to be par for the course here. Even biggish tour boats like Odyssey and Kimberley Pearl do the exact same thing every time they need to go to town. It was kinda fun the first time, but going through that every time you wanted to get to your boat would get pretty old pretty fast.
Magnus and Wendy dropped us off in town, where we rented a 4WD for the rest of the week. That way, Maryanne (mostly) could run around doing errands ashore while I (mostly) stayed aboard doing passage preparations. The next day, Maryanne met a local sailor, Ben, who offered us the use of both his car and his mooring in exchange for an Aussie cruising guide we would no longer need, and which Maryanne had already offered for free. He acted like lending us his stuff was the most fun he’d had all week and he seems like a particularly fun guy. Now we could return our rental a day early so we don’t have to worry about it being parked in the dark lot by the beach overnight.
Fist bit of sightseeing - and a meal out at Matso's!
Further up Cable Beach tourists have the option of a camel ride at sunset (we went to watch)
After repositioning Begonia to Ben’s mooring, Magnus and Wendy took us ashore again, all while acting like they couldn’t be more happy to do so. Since Maryanne had managed to get almost everything we needed on her solo day, she insisted we see just a few of the sights the tourists are enjoying.
We ate at pubs and strolled both along both the waterfront and through Broome’s surprisingly big Chinatown district (the Chinese were very involved in Broome’s early pearling industry). We skipped the seaplane flight to Horizontal Falls, but we did head to Cable Beach, just north of Begonia, to see the camels.
Yep, they do camel rides on the beach here. It’s a pretty big draw. The industry was set up by a woman who crossed Australia by camel before settling down in Broome. We didn’t sign up because we could never be sure we would be ashore then. After seeing the lines of camels plodding across the sunset in front of us, we both agreed that it looked like a lot more fun to watch than to do. Going 1mph on a long and uniform beach for half an hour could get a little tedious by the end.
Before we returned the car - we did a loop of the coast road scenic stops.
The area is famed for its miles of dinosaur tracks to be found on much of the coastline - but we didn't spy any
The town has plenty of nods to its Aboriginal and Asian history and pearl diving industry. And there are little touches everywhere to make it very pleasant to hang about in
Finishing our shore list early left us with a much-needed day using the last of our cellular data. Emails to officials had to be sent, charts had to be updated and podcasts had to be downloaded. I did a trip up the mast to scrutinize our rigging, which looks good, if a little dusty. The last big item is to go ashore the day before we leave to meet Customs, who said they would come out to the beach for us. After that, I’ll put the dinghy in lifeboat mode and we will be ready to go.
{Maryanne: We are now provisioned with fresh veggies, a fancy new stove top toaster (that actually seems to work - thanks Wendy!), we had our 2nd COVID booster shot and think/hope we are all set with the formalities for our planned route ahead.}
Our track around Australia - Courtesy of Following Sea
We have now been in Australia for just over thirty-three months and 20,000 nautical miles. Most of it, we have loved, including many of the friendly characters we have met along the way. It is a vast and beautiful country and the people who live here really are some of the world’s luckiest. I don’t think we could have spent the last almost three years in a better place.
Australia is so varied that it is hard to pick our favorite parts of it. On our short list would be Lord Howe Island, Tasmania, the Recherche Archipelago (on the southern WA coast) and, of course, the Kimberley region. To be fair, most of Australia is pretty amazing in one way or another. It would be pretty hard to go wrong picking places to visit here with a dartboard and a map. We have been so fortunate to see so much of the continent’s outline from our own floating home - except for the Tweed Head bar; we are happy to never see that place again.
[Maryanne]Australia - We’ve had an amazing time. Thanks for the memories!!!
We depart on Tuesday to start crossing the Indian Ocean - THANK YOU to all the many people we met along the way and the MANY kindnesses you have gifted us. It's tough to leave.
Wineries, whales, wombats, and lots of other wildlife. Snorkelling, sunsets, caves, cities, beaches, its all been marvelous. What a wonderful place!
Begonia has spent 2 years and 9 months in Australia, we circumnavigated with the boat and the boat has seen JBT, Lord Howe Island, NSW, NT, QLD, South Australia, Tasmania (3 times), Victoria, and WA (including the Kimberley).
That’s 213 separate anchorages, 2 careenings (both times in NT), 2 paid wall/dock, 6 free docks, 15 Marinas, 4 paid mooring balls, 39 free moorings, 2 private mooring balls (many thanks!) and 2 different boat yards (both in QLD).
Additionally we took a few side trips by car to see the ACT, and numerous national parks.
