Gone Fishin'

So, what have I been up to? (Apart from housekeeping and waitressing, neither of which you need any details of...) Me and my roommate went fishing with one of the chefs here and his friend. We wandered along the shore of Willie Creek at low tide, barefoot and muddy, to catch mullet to use as bait. The bit of Willie Creek where the crocodile lives. As we walked along the bank towards the side creek where he basks, people on the other side of the side creek started shouting a warning that the croc was there, but it must have just slipped into the water as we arrived. Needless to say we were keeping a distance from the water and keeping our eyes peeled when our chef headed to the water to throw his net. We didn't realise quite how big the risk was until we asked what the 4 pronged spear was for. “For the croc” was the reply. After that we noticed that the guys were always walking between us and the water. We retreated onto a ledge a safe height above the water to fish. My bait kept being stolen, but my roommate caught a catfish and our chef caught a large Barumundi – a much sought after fish here – very expensive, so we were pretty excited, especially when he cooked it up for dinner and gave me and my roommate special staff meals (Thai style lemongrass and tumeric marinade) making everyone else who had beef curry again very jealous!

We were meant to be heading off fishing again, with two of the other chefs. But they never checked the tides, and it was always going to be more about beer than fishing, then suddenly it rained! So yes, I've been fishing, but there's not a lot else to do here... You work, you hang out on the beach, you play tennis (we can use the hotel facilities) if it's not too hot, you drink, you laugh at the hungover people trying to do housekeeping...

I guess the sharks weren't hungry?

Well I've been in Broome a few days now. I've started work, although I've only had the one shift so far, on the breakfast shift, so I started at 6.15am. That was quite painful...

I've also found my way around town a little and got to know the people in staff accommodation a little better. The big night in town is a Thursday night when everyone heads down the Roey for the wet t-shirt competition. Yes I really am in the middle of nowhere!

Yesterday it was wet. There isn't a lot to do in Broome apart from drink when it's raining. And seeing as they can't sell alcohol in volumes larger than 1 litre here, that means no goon. I'm going to have to be careful with my money. I'm guessing the alcohol rule is because they have a lot of problems with alcohol addiction here. As Broome is the regional centre, the street that I walk down into town has the police station and prison on one side of the road and the courts and “dry out centre” on the other side. I guess that pretty much says it all...

This afternoon a group of us are off to Cable Beach, which will be my first time on any of the beaches up here. I'm looking forward to the turquoise sea, even if I know I can't swim in it because of the crocs, sharks and stingers. The way that people talk you start to suspect that the sea is full of creatures with a taste for human flesh just waiting for you to get close enough. I suspect that this is a slight exaggeration, but I'll let you know if I see lines of eyes watching us as we wander along the beach, and if I see any holding salt and pepper shakers I'll be getting out of there pretty pronto. Maybe a little paddle along the shoreline – it is about 30C. A few of us played tennis this morning in the hotel. Or more specifically we headed to the tennis court with rackets and balls and proceeded to hit them vaguely in the direction of each other, but missing them more often than not. I for one need some practice. I certainly hit some balls, as evidenced by the balls that ended up outside of the court, but it probably would be more conducive to a rally if I kept them within the fences... The heat doesn't help either – suddenly hitting a ball doesn't seem so important if it means running for it, but we gave it a good go and I now feel that we deserve to crash on the beach for the afternoon.

Well, I still haven't posted this, so I'll say that we all went to Cable Beach, piled into 2 cars, we all swam in the sea, if only briefly and in the shallows. We bought beer and were just settling in to enjoy the sunset over the beach (Broome is apparently the only place in Australia that you can enjoy both the sunset and the sunrise over water), when three mobile phones rang as the hotel realised they were understaffed and called us in. Mine was one of them, so one of the guys drove the three of us that were working back to the hotel and I had my first evening shift in the restaurant when it was slightly chaotic and I'd already consumed 2 beers. So I have yet to see the sunset over Cable Beach.

Red earth, turquoise sea

So, I made it to Broome! All I knew when I left Perth was that I would be met at the airport and that accommodation was sorted. It was surprisingly easy for relatives who have never met to recognise each other and so I was delivered to the hotel. I'm in staff accommodation, which is a bit like a hostel, but everyone's staying for a while, and free food! In my room there's a German girl and an English girl, both of whom seem very nice, and I've gradually been introduced to many other people in the accommodation, although there are too many names for me to remember. It's someones birthday tonight, so we're all out to hit the town, which I've yet to explore – it was dark when I arrived last night. I start work tomorrow, although as yet I still don't know what work I'll be doing!

So Broome, what do I know of it so far? I know it's small (the airport's pretty much in the centre of town) it's warm (but you still need a jumper outside at night) and that there's a 3m croc in the creek, although I've yet to discover where the creek is... I think that may be the task for the afternoon.

Onwards and upwards

Today is the first day that I've been in Perth when the sunshine has been interrupted by a hazy layer of cloud. And I've been here for two weeks. Perth is coming into winter, it's low season, and as such there hasn't been any work for me here. Instead I am moving North to Broome on Wednesday. Broome is currently in its high season and I have distant family there (the son of my great aunt – I'm not sure what relation that is to me? Cousin removed, second cousin?) who say there is definitely work for me there. Money is tight, having finally got the tooth I broke in Singapore fixed, and now having paid for transport to Broome! So as much as I love Perth, I have to move on.

Therefore I've taken my last few days to explore around Perth a little and do the “tourist thing”. I went down to Freemantle – the first settlement around here. Whilst my guidebook says to allow at least a day for Freemantle, I allowed an afternoon. And I was very glad that I did, as I was bored before I'd been there for two hours. Not a comment on Freemantle so much as me. I just don't think it was for me. Whilst I found the shipwreck museum interesting, I was more interested in the temporary exhibition about early trade routes and navigation than of all of the artifacts that they'd pulled out of the sea near here. The history of Dutch shipping and their discovery of a faster route to the spices of Java was very interesting. The numerous bits of pottery, coins and fabric swatches less so...

I also visited “the roundhouse”. The oldest building and early prison. Again interesting, but no historical facts or concepts that I wasn't already familiar with. And then I notice a passing reference that this land was populated with aboriginals when the first ships arrived. And that's it. Just a passing reference. What did the Europeans do to them? Now that would be a story I would be interested in. Something that I didn't learn in school. But as always the interesting stories are glossed over for dates and measurements. In a way I was reminded of the audioguides in China, which put great emphasis on describing everything that is in front of you, giving you the measurements (which are pointless as you can see how big it is – it's in front of you!) and dates (which you can get from your guidebook), but no actual history or context.

After this I wandered around the famous Freemantle markets, which had a lot of interesting wares for sale, most of which were, for some reason, imported from Asia, and not a great place to spend time when you know that you have no money to spend (incidentally I chose the museums to visit that were free entry or entry by donation). I also visited the less famous E block markets by the quays. Which were similar to the Freemantle markets, but surprisingly with more tat at higher prices.

Apart from Freemantle, most of my tourist exploration has centered on the beaches, and these are by far the most satisfying option. Beautiful expanses of soft white sand that stretch for miles along the blue of the Indian Ocean. I only hope that Broome is as beautiful!