Good Light in Broome (with a quick stop in Fremantle)

[feezable]

'Good light in Broome' is a song I had never heard until this trip, my travelling companion, and dear friend, sang/hummed/drummed it at every opportunity over the 5 days. Now every time I think of Broome, this song starts playing in my head.

This trip report is lacking photos from flights or inside hotel rooms, hopefully what it does have will make up for this oversight.


Day 1: Newcastle - Melbourne - Perth

I waved the family goodbye and we headed off on our Western Australian adventure

JQ475 NTL/MEL 0825/1005
2E 2F
unremarkable flight (just the kind of flight I like, nothing of interest to report)

QF769 MEL/PER 1308/1526
A330
tech issue - flight departed 38 minutes late
another unremarkable flight
27A 27B

Perth temp 20'C

Our bags came out quickly, in the first dozen or so, and we were ready to go. Unfortunately, getting the hire car from Thrifty was not so easy and we had to cool our heels while the people in front of us took forever sorting our their rental issue. Once served, we were on our way in minutes. We headed for The Esplanade Hotel, Fremantle, a Rydges hotel in a colonial hotel. It was a comfortable hotel, good sized room, organic amenities and a large balcony overlooking the park. This image is from the Rydges website, I tried to get photos the next morning, but a bleak sky meant that photos didn't do the building justice

We headed across the park for dinner at Little Creatures Brewery.

We ordered a salad, a dish of fresh sardines with chilli, green apple, onion and coriander and a garlic prawn pizza. I absolutley loved the sardine dish, it is the first time I've ordered fresh sardines and I will definitely do it again. The Little Creatures Pale Ale was a great beer.

Below
- food shot was taken halfway through the meal, without a trip report in mind (sorry)
- brewery bar area
- selfie with beer

 

[feezable]

Day 2 - Perth - Broome

We walked from the hotel and explored the streets of Fremantle, no shops were open (the opening time for everything seems to be 10am). It was bleak and spitting with rain, which gave the streets of Freo an eerie, movie set feel. We came across Gino's Cafe and had breakfast. No pic of the breakfast, but here is their cake display and the view from our table.


We then drove along the river before visiting The Fremantle Art Centre in the old Fremantle Lunatic Asylum. There were a couple of excellent exhibitions on show, I was equally taken by the architecture.



Lunch at the Art Centre Cafe and then we drove back to Perth for our flight to Broome

VA1487 PER/BME 1515/1745
737
7E 7F
smooth flight
snack was unappetising - cheese and capsicum half sandwich

We were lucky with our bags again and they were almost first out on the carousel. We picked up the car from Thrifty and rushed over to the Stairway Night Market. The market operates for the 3 full moon nights each month. We had missed the moonrise which was just after 1730 and we were still in the air. The food at the market was great, the selection ranged through the various Asian cuisines to hamburgers and crepes.

 

[feezable]

Stairway Night Market

 

[feezable]

Day 3 - Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek

Up at 0530 to join our tour for the day with our return to the hotel expected to be 2200. This was a long day, but it passed quickly and the 800+ kms worth ever bump along the corrugated dirt Gibb River Road and more than half the kms were on bitumen. The tour was $300 per person and I believe it was good value for money.

The guide/driver for the day - James - was the best tour guide I've had. He was low key, but informative and told us some amazing stories of the history of the local area. He progressed through the life of William Dampier, the Japanese bombing of Broome in 1942 (a story of incredible heroics and sadly about 90 deaths), the $30million worth of diamonds lost and found during the war and the epic story of Jandamarra.

Our bus for the day -



We stopped at Willare Roadhouse for morning tea (included) and placed our orders for dinner (additional cost), before continuing towards Derby and a stop at the Derby Prison Boab, the history of this tree was another reminder of our poor treatment of the Indigenous people of the area.

I have been told by everyone that has seen the photo below that it is a bit 'rude'. People, this is a tree, it is your minds that are 'rude'


From the boab we headed north for a few Km before turning onto the Gibb River Road. A couple of hour passed when the walls of Windjana Gorge came into view. I have dozens of photos of Windjana Gorge, but will limit myself to posting just a few.

 

[feezable]

Lunch was provided, a tasty picnic with a good selection of meats, salad, bread, fruit. We left Windjana Gorge and drove about 40 minutes to Tunnel Creek. This is a limestone cave/tunnel, it is very dark so we were provided with head torches. It is difficult to get good photos inside the tunnel, but it was truly spectacular. At the end of the tunnel is a waterhole that is croc free and a number of our group went swimming.








When we emerged from the tunnel the sun was low in the sky and the red earth was on brilliant display

 

[feezable]

After tunnel creek we raced as the sun set to the ruins of the homestead/police residence that was significant in the story of Jandamarra. Another spectacular scene.



We left as the sun disappeared and started the long journey back to Willare Roadhouse for dinner and then on to Broome. We arrived back to our hotel - The Mangrove Hotel - at about 2230 and fell into bed.

Day 4 -Broome
When I woke in the morning I was stunned to see the view from my room for the first time. This photo was literally taken from my pillow



This is the view from the door to our room



We spent the day relaxing and preparing to enjoy the stairway to the moon. We took up our front row position for the moonrise just in time, we nabbed the last two chairs at the front.

There were a couple of hours til moonrise at 1947 so we filled in the time the best way we could

 

[feezable]

Photos don't do the stairway to the Moon justice. I had a strong emotional response to it and felt quite stunned by the beauty of what I had just witnessed. Here are a couple of pics to give an impression of the stairway, don't take the photos as a true representation - it is so much more than these photos show.

 

[JohnM]

Great TR!

Not meaning to offend, but I've just asked a mod to correct the spelling of Fremantle in the title. As a WA person, it's bugging me!

 

[feezable]

Great TR!

Not meaning to offend, but I've just asked a mod to correct the spelling of Fremantle in the title. As a WA person, it's bugging me!

Oops I shall correct throughout the TR tomorrow afternoon when I get to my computer again. I wonder why I had that spelling in my mind when I know it's one e. Apologies

 

[love_the_life]

The Mangrove used to be "The" place in Broome some time ago. Great location but we have used it for work a few times over the past 8 or so years and it has been going downhill steadily with poor staff and just generally run down. We were told it had changed hands a few times.

Appreciate your views on the hotel. Hopefully it has turned the corner.

Great pics. There is something really special about the red earth and the stairway looks amazing even though you say it was so much better. And...that looks like a pretty good way to while away the time before moonrise. Yum!

 

[feezable]

Appreciate your views on the hotel. Hopefully it has turned the corner.

We were in an area that I believe is the new wing. It was on the north side of the hotel. Rooms were large and quiet. I don't understand why hotels sometimes put see-through or partially closing doors on bathrooms. There are things I consider private and I felt very uncomfortable doing those things in our bathroom. The cleaning was not up to the standard I expect, it seemed to be done without care with towels left on the bathroom floor and fridge door left open (twice) among other things. I didn't spend enough time at the hotel to get a strong feeling about the staff, although I got the impression that most are backpackers. I walked around the south side of the hotel and it was definitely looking tired.

 

[feezable]

After the moon had finished its show we decided we were on too much of a high to head back to the room, so we, two old ducks (me 46, my friend, Julie 70) wandered down the road to Matsos to party on, LOL. We arrived at 10pm and were the only customers. Julie, immersed herself in drawing in her art journal and I took photos and dodgy selfies to amuse myself. They kicked us out at midnight.

 

[love_the_life]

Thanks for your impression on the hotel. That seems to tally with our experience. The staff did seem to be mainly backpackers and service (for a conference) was definitely poor. Some rooms had no aircon working and in others the power would go off for extended periods.
Glad your room was better.
Sounds like you are having a good time.

 

[feezable]

Day 5/6 - Broome - Perth - Brisbane - Newcastle

Julie, like a twenty year old, jumped out of bed at dawn and yelled 'dinosaurs, let's go'. I groaned and got up, but it didn't take long for me to warm to the idea of heading out to see the dinosaur footprints. The tide changes by 8 metres from low to high and we were caught by surprise how quickly the footprints are covered by the rising tide. We clambered down the cliff and managed to see three prints before they went under water. It didn't matter though, the scenery was worth getting up for...









We drove around to the port side of the peninsula, then it was lunch and time to pack for the trip home.



I waved goodbye to Julie, who was joining an 11 day cruise from Broome to Darwin, and caught the shuttle bus to the airport. Arrived nice and early, checked in and received my boarding passes through to BNE.

QF1929 BME/PER 1850/2130 3F
I don't normally like to sit in the window seat, preferring the freedom to move that the aisle seat provides. But, given a choice of the back of the plane aisle or forward window I will take the window every time.

I was feeling exhausted and looking forward to my first experience of the refurbished A330 J cabin. Feeling tired makes me a nervous flyer, but I was reassured to be sitting next to a paramedic and an outback pilot. The flight was smooth and arrived into Perth Early.

Made my way to the Perth QC, which was filling up with pax for the red eye flights heading east. The food offering was nothing special, I had soup and salad because I knew I wanted to sleep as much as possible on the flight to BNE.

QF652 PER/BNE 2310/0530 2A (points upgrade)

We boarded on time and departed about 10 minutes late, we had a good tailwind and landed at 0515. I put the seat into the reclined take off position, put British India's new album on, closed my eyes and stayed semi-conscious to put the seat into its lay flat bed position when the seatbelt sign was turned off. I had a couple of hours good sleep and dozed for another hour, then the lights were on and a light breakfast was offered. I had a cup of tea and the fruit salad which was exactly what I felt like, the fruit was ripe and had all the right flavours.

I can't comment on the cabin crew because I barely exchanged a word with them. I can say that I loved the lay flat bed, pillow and doona, it's been a while since I have flown in a true business class cabin and it made me remember all the things I love about it, especially the lack of engine noise, it will be very hard to move back to economy for my upcoming trip to Japan.

VA1102 BNE/NTL 0945/1105 (bid upgrade)

My bag came out quickly, I have no complaints about baggage handling on this trip. I checked in for my VA flight and headed up to the lounge. One of the main reasons for the upgrade bid was to have some extra comfort after a long night, I can't say it was really money well spent. The VA lounge was so busy and noisy it was difficult to find a seat, get a coffee or food and feel any level of relaxation. I eventually moved to the VA cafe, which by then was quieter and I had about 45 minutes there before boarding.

On boarding I realised I was the only J passenger. All I wanted to do was sleep and lucky for me the aircraft had come in from Bali and there was a pillow and blanket available. I thanked the CSM and shut my eyes.

As we were coming in to land at NTL I was delighted to be looking out the window and see 2 humpback whales breach just below us.

We landed on time. The CSM thanked me with a smile for being the easiest business class passenger he'd ever had. My bag was the first out on the carousel.

Hubby and kids were waiting to meet me, a wonderful way to end an adventure in the west.

 

[RB]

A great read and thanks for sharing. I love how distinctive the colours of Aust are

 

[love_the_life]

Thanks for the TR. It was great. Must try and get over to Broome for a non-work trip when we have time to do some of the tourist things.

 

[Mattg]

Interesting trip report and some great photos there. Getting some ideas for my trip to Broome.

 

[Bindibuys]

Another location to add to the bucket list (for the Winnebago trip) thanks !!
I have VA J booked for NTL-BNE_NTL 5 - 8 Nov. Will be interesting to see how full those flights are.

 

[Cessna 180]

Great read, I love The Kimberley.

 

[JohnM]

Great read, I love The Kimberley.

And who couldn't? . One of the world's great places - and right on our doorstep.