Broome

A couple of hours flight north from Perth, takes you to Broome. You notice the change in temperature and humidity getting up to mid/high 30s. To the west of Darwin, it has a similar feel although appears a lot smaller. It almost has a “wild west” feel to it and apparently the evening pub entertainment has got a lot more civilised over years, now advancing to a Wet T Shirt competition and vicars/tarts disco.

End November is around the beginning of the wet season and the town has a bit of a deserted feel to it. I knew before I came that I might be lucky to get on some of the day trips as the roads could be effected by bad weather and many of the tour companies close down around now. I managed to get on one trip to Cape Leveque – which was a full day (around three hours drive both ways - 50:50 on sealed rounds/tracks) and time to discover a few aboriginal setllements, Pearl Farm and Hatchery. The tour operator had given up banking around 6 years ago and gone for a complete change of pace/lifestyle – albeit was returning to his country roots.
(note to self : investigate North Kent tourist opportunities when I get back). Photos here.

Broome sees a mixed community of Aboriginal people and white european population. Most of the land around Broome is subject to various Native Rights claims which sees land being transferred back to Aboriginal ownership (although structure seems quite complicated). Relationship between the two ethnic groups seems fairly relaxed (albeit the fairly racist taxi driver that took me back to the airport had different views) which given the history of abuse of aboriginal people is quite an accomplishment. There are however still a number of issues. Around 80-90% of aboriginal working age population lives off welfare payments from the state and there appears limited employment opportunities (tourism but mainly in Summer, some mining activity but this involves significant travel) or much incentive to work. There also seems to be a signficant amount of general support services that look to combat some of the integration issues (alchohol having been a major problem for aboriginal communities). Overall the area appears to be making quite a bit of progress but until some more balance can be achieved in working population then the imbalance will continue.

Other photos of Broome here.

Ps managed to catch some of the first test which saw England recover from a first innings deficit and end the test with the greater momentum. On to Adelaide and its clear that the series is going to be a challenging and interesting one.