I’ve moved, but only a few minutes drive away:
I wanted to try the cabins in this caravan park, which is just across the road from the Bali Hai where I’ve often stayed in the past.
It’s cheaper than Beaches, the only downside being its further away from Cable Beach. Apart from that, it has a lot going for it. My studio cabin is about 3 times as big as at Beaches. It’s very quiet, situated right at the back of the park. The kitchen is extremely well equipped and the big TV actually works - though up here you only seem to get Channel 7.
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| Breakfast in the sun |
My plan was to visit the Museum, where my friend Alison used to volunteer on Sundays. It has been enlarged since her day, with several additional rooms. The verandah has also been enclosed , with a display about Broome in wartime. I was mainly interested in the history of pearling:
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| Pearl buttons |
These pearl shell buttons were popular before the advent of plastic buttons.
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| Pearls growing in the shell |
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| Aboriginal designs carved in the shells |
I learned some interesting facts from the volunteer. At first, pregnant aboriginal women were used as divers, because they had greater lung capacity. When they were forced to go out into deeper water, they started to get the “bends”. This is when the expert divers from Japan were brought in.
The Japanese divers couldn’t live without soy sauce and started producing their own locally:
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| Soy sauce flagons |
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| Japanese tea set |
An annexe to the museum is the Sailmakers Shed, where skilled craftsmen prepared the canvas sails for the pearl luggers as well as other items:
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