Dreams...: Broome

During the night we had a little battle with a big cockroach (6cm!!)...it had surprised Christine when she wanted to take something from the table... :) The next day we left for Broome.

After a short 350km drive (yes, that's short for us now :)) we arrived on the coast. That was a relief, after emerging from the desert into this sort of oasis, without having broken down with the car, hit a kangaroo or dying of dehydration :)

Broome is a typical tropical outback town. It's a gateway to Bali and it has a busy deep sea port. After a day on the road in the heat, we decided to head to the city's famous Cable Beach (this is the beach where the first telegraph cable was led from Java, hence the name) for a refreshing swim. We were warned that there might be stinger jelly fish, but since everyone else on the beach was in the water, we decided to do so too...when in Rome, do as the Romans do...It felt like a warm bath. The water was at least 30 degrees warm. But let's not complain :) It felt really good.

The following morning we were picked up to go kayaking in the Port of Broome. The couple that acted as the guides were absolutely amazing. :) As we paddled away near the pier, looking out for sea turtles, Christine suddenly shouted out and pointed to the right of our kayak. She thought it was a sea turtle coming up to see us...but noooooo...it was a yellow venomous sea snake, stiking its head out and hissing at us...needless to say that we were a bit freaked out. But it was a WOW-moment. We went on to have some refreshments on a nearby beach and picked up one hermit crab per couple in order to race them against each other. We came in 2nd place :) On our way back we saw stingrays gliding like giant shadows in the water under our kayaks. It was another great experience to come close with all this unique marine wildlife.

In the evening we went to an open-air cinema to watch an aboriginal film called Samson and Delilah...the first time we were at a cinema where large bats would come fly over your heads and about 5 geckos would crawl up and down the screen over the actors faces :).

Since apparently 80% of the world's saltwater pearls come from Broome, we couldn't leave without a trip to Willie Creek Pearl Farm. We were shown how an oyster works, how it is "inseminated" with a little pearl to make a bigger pearl, etc etc. Also, the main farm lies 20 miles out at sea and backpackers from all over the world come and spend 6 months working on them. They work for 2 weeks on the little boats and then they get 1 week off on land...what a job...finally, we finished our visit trying free pearmeat...yummy!

For the last evening we indulged in a 1-hour sunset camel ride on the beach. It was quite an experience, being sung from one side to the other one these huge desert ships. And of course, the sunset views were stunning.