Mon, 25th April, 2022 Kimberley Coast Cruise to Bayside Holiday Apartments, Broome, WA (Town Beach)

Anzac Day - the crew were holding a dawn service on the Bridge Deck Aft but decided to stay in bed as it was at 5.40am.

I took some sunrise photos from our room at 6am then went outside to get some more.

The pilot came on board to guide us into the harbour.

Went down for our last breakfast with the remaining passengers. We were told last night that Group 1 - the ones still out and about would be departing the ship at 8.30am and the WA Police will be there to check out WA G2G passes and the Health Dept to check on the Covid situation. Group 2 - the ones confined to their rooms wouldn’t leave till 1.30pm so they could be taken directly to their accommodation to finish their isolation etc.

Around the point into Roebuck Bay to the deep water jetty.

After breakfast we finished packing out suitcases and put them outside the room to be collected. I decided to pull off the sheets etc to give housekeeping a hand as they have a bigger job today with having to give the ship a full clean and still having a lot of guests on board till after lunch. The new guests will be boarding late this afternoon for the journey back to Darwin. I hope all goes well for them. 

We collected our hand luggage from our room - farewell B11.

We joined the rest of Group 1 in the Lounge. The last moving map picture. I missed seeing Cable Beach but we will explore it later.

The tide is going out but not much movement today - High 6.3m and Low is 5.1m. We watched as the gangplank was added. A new staff member arrived as Ilana was leaving to go for a holiday then she will go onto another ship.

I’ve become a bird watcher now and spotted this hawk carrying something. Not that I can identify any of the birds!

We are expecting to be RAT tested by the Health Authorities but as time went by nothing happened. Patti came to say goodbye. She finished her isolation today but her husband has one more day to go. It was so sad they missed so much but they are planning to work out a way to go back and see the bits they missed. We are all sad to not be able to say goodbye to the rest of the guests as we had a great time with some of them who have only just gone into isolation. 

Someone read on the ABC news on their phones that we had made the headlines as the first cruise boat to enter WA and we had Covid. They said 10 passengers and 2 crew so not sure where that info came from. Eventually the Captain announced that we were free to leave and the coach on the pier was ready to take us to our accommodation.

We filed upstairs and said farewell to the head crew and captain then boarded the bus and headed along the long jetty to Broome.

Some people are fishing off the rocks on Port Beach.

Dropped off the first couple at their hotel then around to where half of us were staying in either the Moonlight Units or the Bayside Holiday Apartments. We dropped off our bags as we can’t get into the rooms till after lunch. Decided to go for a walk. Lovely Frangipanis out the front of reception.

We walked down Hamersley St checking out the history information as we went. We had booked a history walking tour for tomorrow but it looks like there is good history trails to follow too. Certainly still hot here - 36 degrees and very humid and no wind.

Looking across the mangroves to the jetty near Town Beach and over Roebuck Bay.

At the end of a big park we read all about the Japanese Zeros attacking Broome in 1942.

Big Boabs with lots of nuts on the edge of the park.

The park had a war memorial and there were lots of wreaths laid today for Anzac Day.

There was a bust of Baudin under the tree. The inscription was very hard to read.

A chest commemorating William Dampier’s contribution to this coastline.

More history trail plaques to read as we headed to Town Beach.

Interesting statue of a woman holding up a pearl shell. The inscription was hard to read again. It was commemorating the value of the women in the pearling industry - waiting for their loved ones to return.

More history. Looks like Town Beach parkland has just been given a facelift as everything is very new.

We are heading out to the jetty to see if we can spot the wrecks of the flyboats as the tide is low.

Lovely swirls in the sandstone rocks.

Site of the good shed back in the pearling days.

We will be back to see the Staircase to the Moon.

More history about the old jetty this one has replaced. That’s why this jetty looks so new it was completed last year.

Looking across Town Beach to the ship still waiting patiently to offload the rest of the guests and to greet the new ones.

Sonia from Mataranka Homestead walked towards us to I said hello. She was here to see off the first Broome to Darwin trip for the ship she looks after - a smaller one than ours. They had been doing Broome to Broome trips because of the WA border restrictions and also dealing with Covid issues too. It was just departing so we waved and chatted about things for a bit. She said they were very busy at Mataranka and had opened up another campground and the entertainment they had was proving to be a good success with the visitors. We will stop in on our way back next year to check it out.

Obviously the tide isn’t low enough to see the wrecks. Will try to time it better when we return.

Looking back towards where our accommodation is then over the beach to the red sand hills.

Near the beach carpark is a lovely memorial to those who perished when the Zeros bombed the flying boats.

Up under the shade of the trees (it is very hot in the sun) is the pioneer cemetery. Note there was no jetty when the photo was taken on the info board.

Lovely big trees through the park and kids are having fun riding up and down the paths through the gully.

One of the original building which we will find out about more tomorrow. Another board about the goods shed.

Headed back to our accommodation. Matso’s Brewery (originally a Pearling Master's home) is in between the reception and our unit so we stopped there for lunch. Other cruise guests were there too - forgotten their names as we are not wearing badges now. Don’t even want to wear our caps due to the news about the ship having Covid. Nice finger food lunch.

Reception rang to say our room was ready so after lunch we picked up our bags and walked around the block to the apartments. Very nice with a pool. Lovely big rooms and airy with fans so we don’t need the air conditioner on.

We settled in then walked down Hamersley St to find Coles so we could get some food as we have a good kitchen etc. Another lovely Boab then the Cable Station (now Court House) where the morse codes messages were sent back and forth once the undersea cable had been connected to Java at Cable Beach (which is how it got its name).

Nice art work.

Into Chinatown - the name changed from Jap Town after the war of course. Lots to check out here. Might have to come back and watch a movie at Sun Pictures when we return.

Got some things from Coles then headed back to the apartment. Bit hot for a long walk but it was good to be out and about. There is a laundry here and it is free to use so I put our washing on then used the drying frames provided to hang it out to dry in our lounge room.

We rested for the afternoon then listened to the news about the Covid infected ship that entered WA - you would think we had come from some foreign country.

We still feel we are at sea as when we sit our bodies feel like they are rolling.

Had frozen meals for dinner as we didn’t feel like going out. Watched some TV then into bed early after our big day.