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Town in Western Australia
Photo: Binarysequence, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Broome is the largest town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, with 14,660 residents in 2021. Established through the pearling industry of the late 19th century, it became a beach resort in the 1980s.
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Sales, hire and repairs.
Willie Creek sells pearls, but next to their showroom are two restored pearl fishing vessels. Visit by 90 min guided tour with an excellent presentation on the industry. The pearls come from their farm 38 km north, which you can also tour, see below.
This displays contemporary Aboriginal art for sale from Kimberley, Pilbara and beyond.
Local history museum majoring on the pearl fishing industry and the Japanese attack of 3 March 1942.
The Sisters of St John of God are an order of nuns involved in social and health care in Western Australia and elsewhere, and this centre exhibits their work among the local Aboriginal people. They're named for João Duarte Cidade (1495-1550), a Portuguese shepherd and soldier who founded the Brothers Hospitaller to tend to the poor and sick.
Fascinating close encounter with various croc species plus birdlife and other fauna. Feeding time is 3PM, wear old clothes, the crocs are messy eaters.
A working pearl farm. The tour shows you the pearl nursery, the creek where they grow, and harvesting and finishing to a showroom product. The access road needs 4WD, or take the bus excursion from Broome.
Opened in 1916, this is the world's oldest open-air cinema still in operation. It screens several films per night, mostly current releases. It's lost some of its original atmosphere, as since shore defences were improved in 1974 it no longer floods at high tide, the cue for he-men to scoop up their girls in bronzed arms.
The area has 300 bird species, best-known being the migratory waders that visit Roebuck Bay over the summer and then depart for Siberia to breed during the northern summer. There's a camping area, no pets or drones allowed. Crab Creek Road is dirt, passable with care by 2WD in the dry. Do not attempt to drive here by any other route, even the migratory birds have more sense than to trust the GPS or directions from Google Maps.
formerly Shady Lane Cafe
Relaxed cafe in Chinatown.
Good scores for food and service, just across from the Courthouse Market.
Decent Chinese food, sit in or take away.
Brewpub with good food, service erratic. What they brew is alcoholic ginger ale, as they reckon it's too hot for standard beer.
Good trad food and selection of beer.
Quality fish restaurant, relocated to Cable Beach from their edge-of-town site on Port Drive.
The first you encounter as you roll into town, this is a clean site with good amenities, open all year.
Pleasant resort in gardens 500 m from beach. Aircon, pool, bar and restaurant.
Friendly hostel close to Cable Beach with a small pool.
Right on the beach, this place gets mostly great reviews for comfort and amenities, but some guests encountered tatty old rooms or antisocial behaviour by drunken jocks. Some facilities are seasonal.
Spacious self-contained suites in extensive gardens on Roebuck Bay, with large pool and spa.
formerly Mercure
Good value place in tropical gardens on Roebuck Bay, with 136 rooms, restaurant, two bars, and pool.
Wonderful B&B in a 1910 pearling master's house, from 1982 owned by Lord Alistair McAlpine (1942-2014), grandson of the construction magnate. After a successful stint as fundraiser for the UK Conservative Party, he invested heavily to boost Broome as a tourist resort, but decamped during the downturn of the 1990s. His baronial crest sums up his legacy here, A Cubit Arm grasping a Chaplet of Pine fructed all proper, if anyone knew what that meant.
Smart central place with aircon, pool and restaurant.
By road
From Perth by road is 2360 km by the North West Coastal Highway via Carnarvon, or 2050 km by the Great Northern Highway inland via Newman. The highways join at Port Hedland.
By boat
Broome is on the cruise circuit, with passengers tendered in to Gantheaume Point (see below).
By coach
Integrity Coachlines operates a coach from Perth all the way to Broome with two services a week from East Perth Station, leaving on Tuesdays and Thursdays at .
Broome is spread out: from downtown on Roebuck Bay to Cable Beach is 7 km. You could do it on foot in an hour, but it's damned hot, and you won't be much use for anything once you get there.
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