Hi Ma
My interest in Broome goes back to 1975 ... it was my first teaching appointment. Like many others, I had no idea whatsoever of what Broome was. I got off the plane, in January, in shirt and tie and long, thick, woollen trousers.
My new principal turned up in footy shorts, T-shirt and thongs!
It was a bittersweet time for me ... met, loved and lost a girl who meant the world to me. Had one or two motorcycling adventures
... there were only about 2500 people living there!
I didn't go back for 25 years ... the changes blew me away. The new house I lived in, in a new part of town, is now called "Old Broome". Where I was offered two blocks of land ... and turned them down ... is roughly where Cable Beach Club Resort is now
The worst part of town was the meatworks ... a stinking blot on the landscape. The area is now called Demenco and is, arguably, THE most desirable land in Broome. How times change.
My now wife taught in Derby, at the School of the Air. She would drive to Broome just for a swim
Derby has character, but physically it's a bit of a hellhole, on the mudflats as it is. Not my favourite place.
Is Broome overpriced? Yes, of course it is ... always has been, even way back then. But ALL of WA is overpriced; we are suffering from the northwest mining "boom" which sees a lot of people with a lot of cash to spend who drive the prices up and up ... but still pay those prices. And we "ordinary" people simply don't have the salaries to keep up.
Our very good friends now live in Broome, so we go back quite a bit now. We've found if we go in the off-season, we can share a double bedroom unit at somewhere like Seashells Resort or Bali Hai Resort very reasonably. And we get our flights on Frequent Flyer points, so it's not too bad. Otherwise, Asia is far cheaper.
Even so, there's just something about Broome that, once it's in your blood, it never goes away. Hard to explain ... but I feel different when I'm there.
As for the boobs
, you're supposed to be looking at the jewellery! The boobs belong to our friend, Jen, from Broome.
There are still reasonable places to eat in Broome (the jetty's not one of them!), but you need some local input to find them.
Anyway, glad you didn't really hate my photos ... I was just about to take the link away when I read that.
Cheers Ma
Bruce