Bits of Broome

Our time in Broome wasn't spent just riding camels and flying around in sea planes.  We tried to see as much as we could, while still trying to take it easy. 

On our first day in Broome we went to Cable Beach for a swim.  The beach was gorgeous and the water was clear and warm, with nowhere near the riptides and waves that we have experienced in Queensland.  The downside, however, was that the water was absolutely FULL of red jelly fish, also called sea tomatoes.  These jelly fish are not highly toxic like the blueys that we get in Queensland (JB actually got stung by one and she ended up with a small welt that stung slightly, and disappeared after about half an hour) and have pretty short tentacles.  We opted to go swimming in the pool instead, but experienced a sea of them again the next day when we went sea kayaking.

Lots of sea tomatoes!

Sea kayaking was great fun.  We paddled very little but seemed to get all around the harbour near Gantheaume Point.  We saw sea turtles, discovered little pools in the rocks and, a few days later, realized just how high the tides get around here.  On our last morning here we walked almost the same route that we kayaked.  Where days earlier we had floated well above the rocks, we walked on the exposed beach.  One goal on this walk was to find some preserved dinosaur tracks that were underwater on our kayak trip.  We missed seeing them as the tide had already turned by the time we got to the site, but it was a great walk on the beach anyway.

The beach at high tide

And at low tide

The most relaxing part of our stay here was our hotel.  It had a beautiful pool area and an amazing spa.  All the rooms are little cabins, with their own kitchens, barbeques and a fabulous outdoor shower.  The first time we used it, we noticed that the drain was populated by some green frogs.  They would grab onto the top of the drain and stick their snouts out.  We didn’t think there was any way they could possibly escape through those little openings in the drain cover but, sure enough, the next time we used that shower one of the frogs made good on his escape.  The others followed over the next couple of days until there were no frogs remaining.  We have no idea where they went once they got out, but we weren’t too sad to see them go.  Having a frog pop out of the drain while showering is a shocking and unwelcome experience!

Froggy getting ready

Freedom!