Off to See the Wizard - Willare Bridge Roadhouse to Broome.

As we left Willare Bridge, we finally got to drive over Willare Bridge.  It is a long, single laned, bridge over the Fitzroy River.

The river is much wider here than at Fitzroy Crossing and has plenty of water in it at this section.

It was only a relatively short drive to Broome, taking just over two hours.

We are staying at Cable Beach Caravan Park.  It is huge, with 450 sites.  Having said that, the sites are large and the park well laid out. 

There are loads of people from southern Western Australia who are staying here for months at a time to avoid the cold winter weather.  I can understand that, as the weather is beautiful, reaching the low 30s C  during the day, but cooling down to a pleasant temperature for sleeping during the night.  It isn’t humid here like it was in Darwin, which is a very nice thing.  Don’t you love the sign one fellow set up at the front of his site.

Once we had set up and had lunch we went exploring to get our bearings.  Firstly, we had to check out the famous Cable Beach.  Finally, we see the Indian Ocean. My, oh my, that water is so beautiful and blue and the sand so white.

After a general wander, we ended up at Town Beach and the Town Jetty.  

It turns out that this Jetty was only built last year as a recreational jetty.  There was a jetty on this site from late 1800s until a new deep sea port was built nearby in the mid 1960s, after which the old jetty was demolished.

The tide was quite low when we were there and the jetty was nearly out of the water.  However, we did enjoy watching an octopus moving around the rocks in the shallow water.  As it moved along it kept changing its colour to suit the background.  Too clever.

This is the area where you see the Staircase to the Moon, which unfortunately we will miss.  That is a phenomenon where the full moon rises over the mud flats at low tide, creating the illusion of a staircase to the moon.

There is a rather new art work near the jetty. “Nine Zeros, Nine Stories”.  In March 1942 Broome too was bombed by the Japanese.  

This war memorial doesn’t focus on the leaders or deceased, rather the human stories.  These include the Dutch, Japanese and Indigenous.  

At the time there were more Japanese than Europeans living and working in Broome, due to the pearling industry.  At the time of the declaration of Australia being at war with Japan, they were all interred as foreign aliens.  It tore apart families, friends and businesses.  When they returned after the war, they had nothing left.

There were many Dutch people, particularly women and children, being evacuated from Dutch East India.  They were in 15 Catalina flying boats, refuelling on their way to Sydney.  There were also 8 Allied aircraft on the airstrip.  All were destroyed during the attack.

It is unknown how many lives were lost, but it is estimated at being over 100 people.

I heard on the local new this morning that the Japanese Ambassador to Australia was to officially open the installation earlier this year, to mark the 80th anniversary, but due to Covid-19 and a cylcone it was postponed.  It was officially opened today.

Near the area there is also a small pioneer cemetery.

In a park nearby there were some night markets.  I forgot to take a photo.  They were nice, but small when you compare them with Mindil Beach in Darwin. We were rather spoiled there.

Our final thing to do yesterday was to go to the movies.  Not just your normal movies at the cinema, but a movie at the World’s Oldest Operating Picture Garden - Sun Pictures.  The buildling was constructed in the very early 1900s as an emporium, but the owner changed it to Sun Pictures in 1916, as he had a love of the movies.  Originally, it showed silent movies with live accompaniment and showed its first talky in 1933.

There are some of the old projectors in the foyer.

Looking back from in front of the screen, some of the deck chairs are under cover, while the rest are out in the open. We chose to sit under the stars.

All good cinemas have a kiosk.

“Choc Bomb” for Mick. (Not choc tops over here?)

Popcorn for me, as I haven’t had any for years. (Because it is the movies and I can and because Mick can’t stand the smell of the stuff - nasty aren’t I.)

The movie was Top Gun Maverick.  Rather appropriate as we have been seeing fighter jets so much.  The funniest thing was that when they were having a dog fight (no spoiler, of course they had to have a dog fight) a plane flew overhead.  You had to laugh.

The building looked so different in the dark.

The highlight of the day was the movies.