Day 13 - Broome to just outside Broome

Short day for some respite and beach swimming.

Quick Stats

• 1.5 hours on bike
• 160 km
• 5385 km total

Rise late in the morning and get dressed to go find some coffee. Ten minute walk and I get an iced latte, because its 9.30 am and 27°C already. Why are iced lattes more expensive than regular lattes? Its less effort...

I desperately wanted an extra day in Broome for some R&R and exploration, but my hotel was fully booked and the other options were over $500 for the night. Even tent sites at 80 Mile Beach (my next planned stop over) were booked out. So last night I booked a Villa at an eco resort a short jump out of Broome.

This at least gives me the morning to explore Broome. I pack up the bike and head out to the Broome Port Jetty. Not much here. Continue on...

Gantheaume Point. I head to the carpark when suddenly the road just disappears.

It doesn't bode well for me and my 300 kg of road bike if the Westerners think this is an acceptable road. Its only 500 metres, so I park up to avoid any embarrassingly public tankslappers and walk down.

Some examples of dinosaur tracks are apparently here, but it looks like they've been cast in concrete. I'm skeptical. The view in all directions is good though, so I relax under the shade of a rock formation and watch the humpback whales jump.

On to Cable Beach, which I'm fast learning "is" the reason for Broome. Its some many miles long and has some massive dunes, some camels to ride, and apparently a surf lifesaving club.

This all looks and sounds promising... this implies I can swim, just ignore those pesky warnings.

Bingo. Time to see what this Indian Ocean is all about. The air is already hot, but the water is ice cold. Sweet. There's an actual swell, time for some bodysurfing.

An hour in the water and I can feel myself cooking like bacon, better head up. I grab some fish and chips from the beachside takeaway and start working up the mental fortitude to put my riding jeans and jacket on in this heat....

An hour later I'm on the bike headed for my Villa. And an hour later after that, I'm at the turnoff 12 km from the resort.

Bugger. Alright this time I let the tyres down, put on my big boy pants and set off. Keeping up the speed to avoid going ass over.

There's roos jumping every which way in front of me, but if I let off the throttle there's decent odds I'm dropping the bike.

Cattle ahead. They better move cause I'm not stopping. They did. I arrive unscathed. Check in. Walk up to my Villa and immediately have a cold shower. This bloody heat.

Walk back down to the pool and beach.

Oh I'll be back here for sunset.

But this'll do for now as I watch the fishermen sprint up and down the beach chasing trevally that are jumping every which way.

Dinner at the restaurant tonight. Tomorrow I think I'll aim for Hedland, surely there won't be booked out?