We landed in Broome to a balmy 30 degrees, waiting at the carousel for luggage that didn’t arrive. No staff at the counters – shortages meant they had to track back and forth alternately processing departures then arrivals. Meanwhile flights were being cancelled and according to the announcement, a solo staff member had the task of trying to rebook all guests on a competitor’s flight, the last one for the day.

Air travel, like many industries is a long way off getting back to anything remotely normal. As the saying goes “the whole world is short staffed, be kind to those who showed up”.

Thankfully our bags had just jumped an earlier flight and arrived before us. So, the clothes we were wearing wouldn’t be our outfits for the Broome Cup.

After checking into our accommodation at Moonlight Bay Suites we headed 300 metres up the hill to the Mangrove Hotel (with hundreds of others) to witness the phenomenon that is the staircase to the moon. From there we wandered into town in search of food, ending up at the ‘Roey’ Pub for a fabulous feed of barra and chips before being directed to the Sports Bar where I can safely say two middle-aged white girls are not the target demographic. But hey, they served cold wine!

Broome Cup, and why we got here when we got here. Obviously, the greater attraction was to visit the Kimberley Region but hey, if you can throw in the Broome Cup as a starter to the venture, why the heck not! So here we were, dressed fortunately not it the clothes of which we arrived, headed to the Broome Turf Club at Gantheaume Point. A very hot 20-minute wait until the gates opened and finally into a spot of shade. Once again, it can be advantageous being in the cheap seats.

We ended up in the open grass area, tables, shade, a couple of bars, tote and bookies conveniently located and just a short high-heeled stroll the finish line. I mention all of that because there were a couple of ticket categories to choose from, general admission and member for the day. The later got you no preferential treatment queuing in the heat, no early entry, no better bar, or amenities.

You weren’t allowed in the ‘real’ members bar, upstairs but were effectively placed in a pen with everyone else that didn’t do their research. Paying nearly $100 more to get access into a packed, hot, understaffed bar beneath the members bar and worse off than we in the general admission, pleb zone.

Races over sans successful punting we jumped on the Roey Party Bus headed back into town. At one point thinking we might need to get out and push but the bus struggled on, off-loading us all at the Divers Hotel. A quick dash to the bottle store before catching the Broome Explorer back to Moonlight Bay Suites for a second viewing of the stairway to the moon, and a dip in the fabulous pool.

Sunday morning, we were picked up by Broome and Around Tours and for a two and a half hour highlights tour. First stop was to view the white sands and turquoise waters of the famous Cable Beach. This included a short history lesson about the area including Baron McAlpine’s efforts to turn the remote town into the tourist destination it is today.

Gantheaume Point’s stunning red sandstone rocks overlooking the same blue waters of the Indian Ocean was our next stop. This is where you find millennia-old fossils and, at the right tide dinosaur footprints. Then a drive around the port and a look at an old pearl lugger, a visit to the largest Japanese cemetery outside of Japan, on to Town Beach with the old jetty and 9 zeros, 9 stories artwork commemorating the WWII air-raid on Broome.

The tour continued around Chinatown, passed the Sun Pictures Cinema, one of the world’s oldest operating picture gardens then to Streeters Jetty where the original old pearl luggers would dock to unload their cargo of Pinctada maxima.

Tour over we ventured to Matso’s Brewery for a ‘Tropical Heat’ tasting paddle which wasn’t exactly to my taste because I’m not much of a beer drinker anyway but the ginger beer was delicious and the perfect antidote to the hot Broome winter. A couple of tasty tacos from the Fumiko Japanese food van parked on-site and then it was off for our nights accommodation at Broome Time Resort.