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The Complicated Reality of Broome
A Tale of Two Cities
The horror stories filtered in slowly. Cars lost to the ocean, broken into, stolen, and burned to a crisp. The stories variated, but the message was consistent:
Watch your back in Broome.
Backpacker Heaven
When winter rolls around and it gets too cold down south, a great migration occurs. Due to its equatorial proximity, Broome never gets cold. Since Bali wasn’t an option this year, Broome was the premier vacation destination. Everyone and their mom was there.
Broome holds an almost mythic appeal to the backpacker community. If someone’s been to Broome, they’ll talk about it glowingly, until you either beg them to shut up or finally decide to see it for yourself.
The sheer volume of migrators was unprecedented. According to my local sources, Broome’s typical winter population hovers around 45,000. This year, there were an estimated 70,000 residents.
So what transpired? Absolute chaos.
As the high season progressed, Broome’s population continued to swell. Demand grew so much it eventually reached the point where it cost $400/week to park in a fucking caravan park.
