Broome & beyond

After 6 days spent completely self-sufficient on the Gibb River Road, we’re heading to Broome, a remote city on the North-West side of Australia. Hopefully, we’ll find fresh food, showers, people (we haven’t seen many lately!) and get a bit of rest! But we’ve also got objectives to meet…

Objective 1 – Earn some dollars

Broome is a small tidy city on the Indian Ocean, far from everything, but offering nice outdoors, beaches and landscapes for those who love to venture outside. Famous for its pearl farms and culture, Broome is often called Chinatown as it used to attract Chinese workers in the pearl industry, which built the city as it is today.

But no pearl necklace for us, we might drop a CV to the pearl farms but won’t shop in their fancy showrooms… we need some cash to pay for the massive amounts of petrol our car consumes every day!

So we run to the library to look for jobs and create new CVs, custom-written to match the offers we find online: housekeeper, bartender, laundry worker, sandwich maker, car cleaner… We’re far from our New-York background but hey, there is no such thing like an unworthy job for us, we’re ready to sweat a bit and handle some unqualified tasks as long as it pays of! The difficulty is to show some relevant experience on our resumes but we’ve got imagination… The next two days, we run the city and drop our freshly printed resumes in all the hotels, caravan parks, Subways and other shops in town.

As Oscar almost got hired in a mechanical shop to take care of car cleaning duties, I got a morning trial in a commercial laundry, folding and counting hotel sheets… but unfortunately, 5 days later, we still don’t have any concrete job offer. Why? Because that’s the end of the touristy season in Broome and we cannot commit to stay there for more than 3 months whereas employers are looking for long-term staff

Well, that’s unfortunate but we can’t say we haven’t tried. Maybe we’ll be luckier on our way south and find farmers looking for help with their harvests…

Objective 2 – Enjoy a sunset on Cable Beach

Located on a peninsula, Broome’s got beautiful beaches. The most famous one is Cable Beach, claimed to be one of the most stunning beaches in the world (says the local visitor center…) with 22 kilometers of white sand, pindan cliffs and turquoise water. We really wanted to enjoy this place at sunset as camels ride on the beach at that time every day.

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What a beautiful scene to admire! The warm orangey lights of the sun reflected on the water of the ocean that slowly pulls back at low tide. And, approaching gently, the dark profiles of a group of camels standing out of the bright colors of the declining sun.

Such a magical moment, where time seemed to last longer, just to let us enjoy it fully. We stayed there, enjoying the sunset, the smell of the ocean and the graceful gait of the camels until the last ray of light disappeared…

Objective 3 – Explore Cape Leveque beautiful sceneries

For the weekend (waiting for employers to realize we were the gem they were looking for) we decided to go to Cape Leveque peninsula, 200 kms away from Broome. It was one of our best ideas ever!

Secluded turquoise bays, pristine white sand and deserted beaches, stunning crimson cliffs with no one around, we had the impression the beauty of the nature was there, just for us to admire and enjoy.

We didn’t miss any sunrise – wake up time at 5.15 am to work out before it’s too hot – nor any sunset, as those moments are our favorites of the day!

We got lost in this amazing wilderness for 3 days, camping in the bush, swimming, letting us roll by the ocean waves and admiring the wildlife around us.

The best spot was Pender Bay where we had the chance to spot humpback whales playing in the horizon while we were drinking our morning coffee. I’d love all my Monday mornings to feel like this one!

Objective 4 – Figure out our upcoming itinerary

Back in town, we had some decision to make: should we keep looking for jobs and stay another week in Broome or should we go on with our travels and try our luck on the road?

It’s gonna be the road and hopefully some harvests to help farmers with on our way!

So, over the next couple of weeks, we will hit the following destinations: 80 miles beach – Port Hedland – Karijini National Park – Exmouth/Coral Bay – Carnavon.

 

Keep following us, I’m sure we’ll have some new wonderful places to introduce you to!

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