Broome

We arrived on the outskirts of Broome knowing the challenge that lay ahead.  Free camping in Broome is an oxymoron well known by van owners.  On line forums regularly post being moved on by Rangers or woke locals.  Theft from vans was also a hot topic.  Ironically, water and a dump point at the Visitor Centre and no trouble parking the van nearby, across from Coles in the heart of the CBD.

We had heard that the local industrial estate was a good bet for a free camp so we drove back along Broome Rd for 6 klm and then disappeared from view.  The industrial estate was largely empty and we set up at the end of the road and stayed for the next 10 days.  Well, I did.  Tamika flew out to Melbourne the next day for some friends catch-up time.  I decided our van needed a spring clean, desperately.  Over the last few months, items had found temporary homes and our outback adventures resulted in a fine layer of red dust on every possible surface. It took four days, with breaks, but by Friday, the van was lookin’ schmick. 

We had an issue with abnormal tyre wear on one of our van tyres.  Brand new to steel in 3000klm’s, just on one edge.  You can’t do a wheel alignment on vans unless it’s independent suspension, so it was going to be something bent or broken.  It was the same side as our little rim disaster back on the Stuart Highway in NT. Hmmmm…

There was only one guy in Broome who could fix the problem and he wasn’t answering his phone.  Tracked his address and even though he was heavily booked, squeezed us in the following Tuesday week, just to diagnose the problem and MAYBE fix if it if it wasn’t complicated.  In the meantime, the replacement hot water system had turned up at the Post Office (less than 10 days from Brisbane –amazing) and our pre-booked installer had her in and purring like a kitten in under 2 hours.  

Also managed to get a cheap fix for our car fridge saga.  Seems our second car battery is trying to run both the car and van fridges and there ain’t enough love to go around.  So when we’re driving, 95% of the charge goes to the car fridge, so trying to run both, drains the battery.  Installing a second line to the main battery was expensive. Easy answer was making sure the car fridge is off unless in use and a SETEC 240v battery charger to charge the battery when we stop at a van park.  This will at least give us the best if both worlds for most of the time.

I checked into a Broome Caravan Park on the morning of Tamika’s return, figuring she’d need some quality recovering time and to make sure we could watch our Swannies cause a massive upset ( turns out only the fans were massively upset and that’s all I will say about THAT).

We had time to round up the usual suspects, Town Beach, Cable Beach and Chinatown, a very classy and understated part of Broome, with cafes, restaurants and of course, many pearl retailers. After grand final day, the van felt like a crime scene, so we took a run out to Gantheaume Point, just south of Cable Beach.  You don’t read that much about it and clearly the locals want to keep it that way.  There were at least forty 4WD’s scattered along the wide sand, some set up for the day.

  We drove further out to the point looking for, and finding, a shallow rock pool under a rock ledge, where we escaped the fierce sun.  It was one of those “I wonder what the poor people are doing” moments, the sea crashing just metres away, topping up our little nirvana every few minutes.

The Monday was spent quietly packing up, washing on the line, water in the tanks.  We wanted to head out the next day, but that was all dependent on what Cameron from Kimberley Trailer Parts had to say. His diagnosis only took 5 minutes.  One of the rear set of springs was broken and the other side about to go the same way. Now while that sounds terrible, it could have been far worse.  A bent axle would have seen us marooned in Broome for six weeks (yeah I know, boo-hoo, suck it up). 

But the wet season was closing in and the RV lemmings were running hard towards the south.  We too had sniffed the wind, and were keen to head the same way. Luckily Cameron had the parts and with minimal encouragement agreed to do his best to have us on the road by close of business……and he DID, including replacing all the magnets in the van braking system and some minor repairs while he was at it (who knew brakes had magnets?)  I was a $1400 day, but all vans should be serviced every 10,000klm and I guess this was just part of an overdue one anyway.

The sun was very low on the horizon before we had driven back to the turnoff to the Great Northern Highway.  High in the sky, nestled in the orange glow was a sliver of moon. It was quite a sight.   In that moment I imagined what it could be like looking up from the surface of Mars at Phobos or Deimos. Clearly it had been a long day….