Thread: Broome - living there - opinions?

DONT DO IT I CANT!!!!!!
Holidayed there a couple of times during our winter.PARADISE!!!!
Expensive rent/housing wise.
Very busy place during tourist season.
You need to be able to handle the tropics and the build up to the wet season,very hot very humid.
There are a couple of Broome members on here.
Andrew

Originally Posted by LandyAndy

DONT DO IT I CANT!!!!!!
Holidayed there a couple of times during our winter.PARADISE!!!!

Hey Andy! So come visit! Black Betty can stretch her legs
Heat, well I had thought more than once about moving out to the Alice but I'd miss the ocean too much! Humidity doesn't really faze me.
Yep - kinda worried about the rent situation though - especially as my place has been on the market for a while now, so I'm thinking I'd be paying mortgage and rent (the job probably wouldn't pay that well! Maybe around 50-60k Not like a mining job that's for sure).
But I'm thinking, hmmm D2 for touring that beautiful red countryside and camping and nasty rockcrawling Wrangler for big-fun trail rides
Cheers
Mike

not in Broome but close to the area.
The pilbara can be a harsh experiance for those who dont know what to expect. But if you are ready to make the most of it you will more than likley enjoy it up here.

Some great fishing and camping area's all around the pilbarra area.

Maybe a pre-move trip would be a good idea.

BlackBetty knows Broome VERY WELL!!!!
Her previous owner runs the SES up there.See him on the news from time to time during cyclone season.
Got a very good mate in Derby,once the camper trailer is completed a trip up there to plunder the Barramundi has got to be the go.
Andrew

Well, I'm just down the road in Fitzroy Crossing and have been to Broome countless times in the last few years for training and passing through to the airport. We also have friends there and get to hear about what's going on.

It's really a small town of about 15,000 people but to us it's the big city compared to here and it's got anything you need. The tourist trade runs the place so it's got a bit more going on than a similarly sized town would elsewhere. There are a lot on concerts and markets and services.

It is very much up itself because of this, which can be quite funny at times at it struggles to maintain this facade. I mean, where else are the bus shelters done up in the "local" style? There was also an ongoing saga as they argued about putting in a roundabout instead of traffic lights as some people there believe that when lights go in then Broome will never be the same again. However, old Broome only hangs on in remnants now and it really is a big suburb in many respects. However, the more time you spend there the more you can see the old town and ignore the McDonald's and Blockbuster and so on.

It also seems to be the laziest place in the country. Building a house there can be entertaining, to say the least. Housing is a massive problem and has been for a long time. It simply hasn't kept up to the demand. It's so bad that while we're thinking of shifting over there soon, it simply can't happen unless it's a job with a house, (fairly common), or a rent subsidy is part of the contract, (also fairly common). Rents are known to use up the entire weekly salary of one of a working couple. So if you look into moving there, get some assurance of housing assistance. We're actually glad that the big gas project looks like going to Darwin instead because that sort of thing makes a bad housing situation impossible.

Because everyone thinks it's paradise, there's a steady supply of the sort of odd and interesting characters who are attracted to these places. Tourist season is crazy but I find that - ahem - speaking for myself, as a married man - that hordes of young women in skimpy outfits make up for the grumpy Germans driving down the wrong side of the road.

Socially, the town seems to be split up between the newbies, who can be anywhere from impoverished hippies to retired boomers with some serious money, to the old hands who have been there for many years, and then there are the old families who date back to before the place was "discovered". The Aboriginal population often gets ignored as the town becomes more like Perth or Adelaide, which is a shame as there are some great people amongst them. It's like a sort of parallel universe or something and it's very interesting.

The climate varies from fantastically warm and breezy during the middle of the year to very hot and humid now to tropical when the Wet gets going. Cyclones do visit at times and no-one seems too worried about them. The region itself is fantastic to explore and worth moving up to just for that. Broomites tend to think Broome is the only place worth visiting in the Kimberley but it's also good just as a base for travelling to all of the other towns right across the place.

I hope this helps and I'd recommend you go for it - only so long as the employer does the right thing and helps with housing, relocation, and so on.

50/60k wont cut it , if you work in the norwest you do need subsidised housing + power for air conditioning , food & petrol costs a bomb .

Better off to keep badgering the Mining Co for a FIFO or a residential position.

Good luck if you go

Al

Lived there for 6 months in 1998...not bad in the off season but tourist season the pop blew out to thousands..if you like fishing great, couple of night spots and lots of good eating out...short term great long term not for me..bit too isolated.

We lived there for a few years and found Broome a "Love it - or Hate it" type of place.

Cost of living, shopping & rents are expensive, shocked "How F@#%ing Much" are often answered with 'It's Freight Mate'!

Build Up & Start of the Wet are pretty uncomfortable and take some getting used to (deodorant) and Pindan Dirt stains pretty much everything.

We joined the Fishing Club, RSL & Golf Club on arrival and found all the people pretty friendly and easy to get along with, social circle increased ten fold in a matter of months.
(Only 3 types of Fish - Billfish, Barra or Baitfish - fishing with local knowledge is awsome, Golf score can be measured by trips to the Drinks Cart)

If you can manage the $$$ you'll find Broome (in fact the entire Kimberly region) has a collection of great characters is the gateway to some of the best parts of Australia.

There is a saying in Broome "Nowhere Else But Here" We didn't understand what it really meant until we moved back to Darwin....

All the best

(By the way your halfway to being a local when you where a Flanno in the Dry Season)