Friday, Nov 11, 2005 at 10:50
Steve
I fear your posting would be agreed with by a fair number of visitors. The reality as I see it (as a resident - although I live 20 km north of the town) is this.
Broome was and still is essentially a pearling town. Until quite recent times it was visited only by the most determined tourists as the only access road was dirt. All this changed when that road became bitumen some years ago.
This created a huge influx of tourists virtually the day the road was sealed that
Broome found virtually impossible to accomodate. In the past two years the situation has become very serious. As you are probably aware the Shire opens every conceivable overflow facility it can - simply because the town is so far from anywhere else one cannot tell people to go somewhere else - but these are very substandard facilities intended only to asssist those otherwise stranded.
During the four or so peak months this year,
Broome had over 200,000 visitors - totally overwhelming the local
population of around 13,000 (of whom about 50% are indigenous and many of whom live in outlying communities). So with a
population that suddendly expands somewhere between 5-10 times, it is not only tourists who run in to problems.
This huge influx means that restaurants, motels, shops etc can only be staffed by backpackers (there are simply not enough locals who can afford to work only four months/year). As a result, service can be hugely variable - and often close to unacceptable. It does or course allow locals to have two hugely bigger supermarkets - that are virtually deserted barns mosty of the year.
The locals are usually very friendly but most tourists are likely only to meet them at the
Post Office. Here, the tourist season causes really serious problems.
Broome is unusual for a largish town in having no mail delivery service - all busineses and locals have Post Boxes. All business mail likewise has to be taken to the
Post Office - where queues for four months a year extend to the street outside.
You are certainly going to find grumpy locals there (maybe even me) having to hump kilos of mail for hundreds of metres under a hot sun and then stand in a queue for half an hour. Some days I need to post over 50 kg of books - and it becomes a truly serious problem. And that's a problem only Aust Post headquarters can fix. Even if they agreed to do it - there's just no room to expand the existing one - nor land in the central area to build another.
There is also a major problem in that as the tourist season is so short, those in the tourist business are virtually idle for 65% or so of the year. Caravan
park and other prices simply have to be higher that in other towns. Further, due to
Broome's geographical isolation, transport costs for everything are higher. Even our newspaper is twice the normal price. Tourists are not being 'ripped off ' in the sense that anyone gets overly rich from them. The high prices are paid by us to - and year round. It'sd the price one pays for choosing to live here. And I fear the price tourists must pay if they want to visit what is believed to be the most isolated town in the world. Please bear in mind Steve that almost everything you bought here was trucked 2500 km.
The town has few tourist 'attractions'. People either come here to appreciate the natural beauty of the
Kimberley or they don't. It is likely to stay this way as if/when the local Yarawu and Bardi people obtain Native Title, there is a probabality that the whole coastline aroiund
Broome will become a National
Park. At least half the town supports this. There is also a strong move to restrict access to
Cable Beach, and eventually ban cars there altogteher.
At present major expansion is close to impossible. Whilst there appears to be plenty of available land, most of it is under
water at king tides. There are plans to build a satellite town north of
Broome, but that's in the future because there is no
infrastructure to support it.
Broome is however a lovely town to live in, particularly if you appreciate a truly working multi-cultural society. Its beaches (apart from
Cable Beach that has become the world's biggest waterfront car
park) are stunning. I walk our dog most mornings for a few km up and down
the beach and rarely see another person - let alone meet one. The climate is stunning outside the wet season, and there is always something going on in town.
I sympathise with your view, but can only really say that
Broome is a town that tourists clearly love to visit - but it is by and large not a 'tourist town' - as for example is Noosa.
On the whole I agree with your comments - but the locals and the Shire are
well aware of it too - and seriously seeking solutions.
Perhaps I should just add that the problem primarily affects those driving in and seeking to stay in a caravan
park (there is no
free camping anywhere within 35 km or so). People who fly in and stay in resorts seem substantially happy.
Finally, you may dislike the town as a tourist - but you'd probably love living here - at least for eight months of the year!
Collyn Rivers
AnswerID:
138951