Broome's Market & Angie's Birthday Eve at South Hedland

Courthouse Market***** Open every Saturday (all year round) and Sunday (from april-oct), it is a nice place to stop by for a walk to see what Broome has to offer. There are stalls selling pearl jewelleries, handmade products, soaps, paintings, and even asian food stalls. 

Nice handmade earrings using the feathers of the Kookaburra!

Pearl shells

Beautiful carvings on Boab tree nut and Emu eggs (right). The dark blue colour on the egg is actually natural colours! 

Salt mining @ Port Hedland

From Broome, we drove all the way to Port Hedland and found the visitor center. But they were closed, it wasn't even 4pm when we arrive. And so we found a town directory map from outside the office but all caravan parks were full when we call. Because many mining workers stay in these caravan parks long term =.= We tried to find a golf course where campers can stay for a night but some roads around South Hedland were closed and we didn't know where to find the golf course. There were no signage at all. Driving round and round, we got so frustrated and went to Black Rock Tourist Park at South Hedland. They were closed as well, as early as 5pm. But lucky us, we called their 'emergency' number on the reception door, and the owner came to check us in. SO it really was a lot of hassle to get a site at Port Hedland without any booking. 

Since it's a massive (one of the largest) mining town in Australia, the roads are really busy with road trains and trucks. The people in this town wears the same yellow, blue safety uniform, and all the 4wds have yellow stripe on them. Gosh, what a sight. And all caravan parks and businesses don't seem to cater for tourists. We wouldn't stay in this town but it is the middle stop between Broome and Karijini National Park. No choice. And it is Angie's birthday eve, so we thought we might stop in a city to get a cake. =)

Really long LONG coal train.....

So finally we get to set up our tent and cook Bak Kut Teh for 'supper'. The Bak Kut Teh efficiently washed down all the accumulated frustrations today! So good!

Angie's tiny mini tiramisu birthday cake =) A night to remember...

Beautiful gorge @ Karijini NP

Broome

Only about an hour drive, we arrived Broome and we had plenty of time to see the beautiful town. Apparently there are some expensive things to do here like joining the pearl lugging tour or charter fishing.

Broome is famous for their pearls! The harvesting of oysters for the 'mother of pearls' starts in the 1880s and many of the pearl divers back then were Japanese. Malayans also came to work as deckhand.

But we just had a relaxing walk at Gantheaume Point**** to see the Dinosaurs' footprint! However, the footprints can only be seen during low tide. 

Cable Beach***** A relaxing place to watch the sunset!

The most beautiful sunset we have ever seen in Australia so far! Can see the colour layers clearly, and the shape is quite oval =)

Around March - October, Broome is famous for it's staircase to the moon phenomena. If you are around the coastline from Broome to Onslow during full moon of these months, you might get the opportunity to view this beautiful moon. When the moon rises, it's quite close to the horizon, and the rays reflected on the sea looks like a staircase. 

Broome & Port Hedland