My Love Affair with Broome Western Australia

Broome, Western Australia, has the ability to hook a heart at first glance and then never, ever lets it go. It sure is a special place, a little patch of heaven.

I first experienced my initiation of this world wonder when I waltzed into town full of sass and excitement in the late 1980’s. That day saw my heart become lost in a town of such epic beauty, warm weather, stunning beaches and down-to-earth people.

I fell in love instantaneously. I was suddenly introduced to the concept of ‘home’.

I spent two glorious weeks in this far north town in Western Australia and when I left, I abandoned my heart, left on the table of a tiny flat, for one to do with as he wished.

I wandered alone in the real world, pining, knowing I wasn’t where I wanted to be and it soon became obvious I was not where I was meant to be.

I soon returned to Broome and for a while lived happily ever after — well until it was necessary to leave again. That second leaving eventually broke my world apart.

A year later I tried to go back, spending two weeks of mixed blessings but unfortunately it wasn’t my time to stay and I abandoned the tiny patch of paradise once again.

During this trip I even had the honour of catching my first ever Marlin, which after fighting it for 8 hours, I tagged and released this beautiful creature.

But once again my heart was left behind in a place that felt more like home than anywhere I’d ever visited. Goodbye Broome.

And now, 32 years later, I decided to visit once more and with much excitement and anticipation, I boarded my flight and began my adventure back ‘home’.

Just over 9 hours later, I landed in the perfection of blue skies, red dirt, teal oceans and white sands. 31 degrees of pure bliss.

I found my accommodation, checked in and decided to put off exploring my past love affair and settled in for the night. The anticipation building.

The next morning, as the sun broke the horizon, found me wandering red pathways until I found the beautiful beach from my past memories…..the glorious Cable Beach. A beach that held so much magic for me, from past experiences of romance and soothing emotions to the bounty held within the pristine waves that lapped the shoreline.

I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face as I walked the length of the beach that day. A smile that was reciprocated by each person I passed as a good morning was exchanged.

I had finally come home.

For the next 10 days, I allowed the love of my life to serenade me with all she had to offer.

After getting horribly lost wandering back to my accommodation on leaving the beach, I hired a car and journeyed to one of the most iconic structures that predominantly features in my memories….the Broome wharf.

I had spent untold hours on this wharf once upon a time, fishing, flirting, loving in pure happiness and couldn’t wait to experience the concrete under my bare feet once more. Imagine, to my greatest disappointment, to find you’re no longer allowed to freely wander upon this structure. I was heartbroken. I had to relive my memories from afar as I gazed at what the future had done to such an important part of my past.

You can still fish from a small walkway that runs down the side of the wharf but it’s not the same. It doesn’t have the ambience that I had experienced in the real thing.

However, the waters surrounding the wharf did not disappoint. Teal blue and crystal clear. Absolutely stunning!

The next morning I arose from my bed in the early hours of the morning and headed down to another favourite beach from my past….Town Beach.

This beach was just as beautiful in its own way, whereby it was missing the pristine white sands of Cable Beach, the contrast of its red sands against the teal water was just as spectacular.

Here I found a newish jetty built and from the end of this jetty I was able to watch the stunning power of the sun rising over the ocean. It filled my heart with joy.

I spent some hours on that jetty over the coming days. In awe of the many turtles swimming in the crystal clear waters, joined by Eagle Rays and at one point, a six foot shark. I threw a line in the water on a couple of my mornings and caught fresh fish for my dinner.

The waters of Broome never disappoint.

As Broome is one of the very few places whereby the sun rises and sets over the ocean, I didn’t miss the opportunity to travel out to Gantheaume Point to watch the stunning sunset.

I was also honoured to find an Osprey’s nest while at Gantheaume Point and witnessed Mum feeding her two babies.

Next I toured out to Crab Creek, known for its delicious mud crabs, one fine morning of a 34 degree day — remember Australia is currently in the middle of her winter, so these temperatures I was experiencing were just glorious. Sheer perfection from the love of my life.

Three mud crabs later, and I was eating a lunch of freshly cooked crabs in a chilli sauce on the boat, as it headed back to shore. My taste buds were singing once again. Absolutely delicious.

After disembarking from my trip out to Crab Creek, I boarded another vessel and we cruised the deeper ocean in search of the fabulous humpback whales that migrate to Broome every year to mate and birth their young.

Again Broome did not disappoint, with numerous new Mum’s showing us their babies. Absolutely adorable.

I spent 11 hours on the water that day and I was happily exhausted, sleeping the sleep of the dead that night.

After a day of rest, quietly exploring the beautiful countryside in which I was immersed, I boarded another seafaring vessel once more. We headed out to Cygnet Bay’s Pearl Lease to pull an oyster, on the off chances of finding a Pearl and tasting the delicacy of what is known as Pearl Meat……a delicious morsel that retails at $200 per kilogram.

We were in luck and found both a beautiful luscious Pearl and the tiny crab that helped form it. The Pearl would head into the shop but the crab would be placed over the side of the boat, to continue on with the rest of its life.

We had an extremely talented chef on board who prepared an amazing 7 course meal for us and one of those delicious courses was Sashimi Pearl Meat. Perfectly sumptuous.

This trip out on the ocean garnered more sightings of our beautiful whales and their babies. An added bonus to my trip.

But then the day had arrived, when once more I had to say goodbye and once more my heart broke. Tears abound, I boarded the plane and returned to the real world. My heart once more left behind me.

Will I ever have the opportunity to return? That’s out of my hands for the time being but I am throwing it out there to the mighty Universe and if she deems me fit, I’ll make that glorious town my forever home once more.

If you ever get the opportunity to visit this beautiful rare gem, please be forewarned that Broome has a habit of collecting lost and lonely hearts. Will yours be one of them?

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Originally published on Medium