Sat 9 July
The day began with Peter arising at 6 am to take a Hovercraft flight on Roebuck Bay to view the dinosaur footprints calcified in the rocks.
I sallied forth later to watch the camel train arriving for its day's trek. How I wished I had booked myself in before everyone else had. The resident population of Broome is 15,000, but at this time of year it swells to 50,000. And they all want a camel ride.
Peter returned from his trip in time for us to enjoy a coach tour around Broome and environs, then 5 of us were dropped off in town for the Pearl luggers tour. I was astonished that only 3 men and 2 women were interested. The rest were just driven back to the resort.
Broome rose to fame from the popularity of pearl buttons and many hundreds of divers died in the quest for same. Aboriginal were herded from the Inland and forced to dive for the Pearl shell in the late 19th century. It was not until the 20th century that huge suits , weights and helmets were devised so that divers could be forced to go down from sunrise to sunset collecting the shell. Many divers died of the bends, but Japanese and Malays were eager to try as they were well paid. Virtually no improvement was made in the gear until the 1950s when plastic buttons were invented and the bottom dropped out of the market.
The diving life span was about 5 years before the effects of the bends took toil on the men and forced them into a miserable retirement.  Some men lasted for 10 years. The hero of the industry was Norrie who dived continuously for 25 years with no ill effects whatsoever. No medical explanation was ever made as to the reason for his thriving career in what had killed or maimed hundreds of other divers.
Now pearl farming has become a much more sophisticated operation with no human loss of life.
After the tour I had budgeted for the purchase of some Broome pearls. But first, some lunch. By the time I got myself into the main street to start seriously looking, all the shops had shut. Of course. It was race day. The town had emptied.  I was lucky enough to be able to catch myself a public bus back to the resort for a swim. This was my first since the years of my ulcerated leg so was actually a great occasion to be marked by Pina coladas by the pool like posh people do.
Luggage outside the door by 6.45 tomorrow morning.