Broome

From Hitchwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

<map lat='-17.967956' lng='122.217751' zoom='11' view='2' float='right'/> Broome is a beautiful, laid back, friendly town in tropical northwest WA and is the gateway to the Kimberley region. If hitching from Perth to Darwin or vice versa, Broome is definitely a worthwhile stopover for at least a week if possible. In the dry season (April - October) it's full of travelers, tourists and seasonal residents, making it easy to get a ride to just about anywhere (challenge yourself with a hitch on the Gibb River Rd, or up to Cape Levique!). There is abundant live music, markets, beach parties and gatherings of all kinds happening almost every night of the week.

In the wet season (November - March), Broome's population decreases by about two thirds, and although it is much hotter and wetter, there is still enough going on to warrant a stopover. Just avoid swimming at the beaches during these months as the jellyfish are in. Hitching to and from Broome in the wet season is not as easy as in the dry, but still very doable.

Hitchhiking out

You can probably get a ride from the middle of town if you tried, however if you head to the end of Old Broome Rd to the junction at Gubinge Rd (See the map for exact spot), you will get double the amount of traffic. Make sure to start early (5 or 6am!) if you want to get long distances! You will possibly offered a ride out to the Roebuck Roadhouse 30km from town- take it, as this is a good spot to ask truckies and travelers for rides north or south.

North to Darwin

Don't listen to Wolfe Creek!! If you get a ride with a truckie, it is likely they will take you all the way to Darwin (if they are heading to Wyndham, which many are, tell them you are trying to get to Darwin, and they will drop you at the Kununurra turnoff).

Gibb River Road: Joel and Lisa hitchhiked from Broome to Kununurra along the Gibb River Road in September 2016. We took about 1 week, and got in total 20 lifts. The road is definitely a challenge! One day we did not move from our spot on the side of the road, we waited there for 40 hours - in that day only 15 cars were going our way. The main problem you will find is that a lot of the cars do not have much space as they cram all their stuff into the back. We hitched in the 'shoulder' season where the traffic is dying off as the wet season approaches, for that reason you need to get quite lucky - which we did - but in the more busy periods of June-August you will probably find it easier. Take lots of water - we started with 6 litres each, and if you do get into trouble you can flag people down as people along this road will most likely carry extra water and will stop - it is definitely not common to hitchhike the Gibb. Roebuck roadhouse is a good place to start to get to Derby. Most people will be going gorge-to-gorge - there is the difficulty of getting back from the gorges as some are a few kms from the road - this is something you need to watch out for - El Questro is about 20km from the road and you could be waiting a while to get a lift back up to the main road. There is no phone signal anywhere along the road; you can wild camp in many places and you'll get used to seeing a recurring cast of characters drive past (again, we got lucky and got a couple of lifts with the same awesome three travelers from the USA/Netherlands). Be careful and take it seriously! It gets hot - but find a shady spot, start at sunrise and most of all enjoy that dirty road!

South to Perth

Again, the Roebuck roadhouse is a good place to start (unless you get lucky in town.) It is at the turnoff to the highway heading south, so plenty of people are heading that way.