When people realise you’ve not lived in Western Australia long (under three years), they always ask two things in one way or another…

1. “Have you travelled out of the state yet?” (somewhere else in Aussie)
2. “How far North/South/in-land WA have you been?”

To date, my answers have always been…

1. Yes (just Sydney – but desperate to visit Melbourne & Tassie)
2. Jurien Bay, Pemberton and York.

Now, as I’m sure you can imagine, I’ve been given A LOT of recommendations for places to visit and things to do since moving here in February ’14. From camping under the stars and exploring incredible National Parks, to walking along some of the most picturesque beaches and swimming in the bluest waters I’ve ever seen. I’ve visited old WA towns, spent the night with Monks (oh, get your mind out of the gutter), climbed to the top of ancient trees, and crossed rickety old swing bridges in the middle of no-where. I’ve snuggled up with kangaroos, swam in waterfalls and lagoons, and even explored old abandoned theme parks. Yet still, my list of places to visit in amazing WA probably accounts for about ten years worth of vacay alone, before I even get out of the state!

Since moving here, there are several places which have just kept cropping up in conversations, travel recommendations and of course featuring on the old ‘gram, which I’ve wanted to visit the moment I set eyes on the stunning photos I’ve seen of these places. Broome has always been firmly at the top of my list. Neck to neck with Esperance actually. So when my girlfriend Sam (you may recognise her from some of my previous blogs – she’s kind of a big deal to me) decided to celebrate her thirtieth birthday in Broome for the long weekend this year, I was googling shit to do before you could shout ‘camel toe’. But more on that later.

For those of you who don’t know, Broome is a vibrant, beachy town located in the Kimberley region of WA, 2,240km north of Perth. So that’s a 400hr walk, a 100hr cycle, a 24hr drive or a 2.5hr flight… Yeah, go figure. Alongside its Indian Ocean coastline, the stark white sands of Broome’s iconic 22km-long Cable Beach offer a stunning backdrop for some of the most dramatic ocean sunsets WA has to offer. Yes, with history, culture and adventure all as colourful as it’s landscape, Broome has so much to offer… Including toasting your bits. Yes, Cable Beach plays host to one of Australia’s most famous nudist beaches – located north of Cable Beach, stretching right up to Willie Creek. Yes, I’m serious! I bloody love Aussies. 

It was beginning to feel like forever since I last took a vacay – so it was amazing to visit such a chilled out part of Western Australia, to kick back in the sunshine with a cocktail or seven at our gorgeous Kimberley Sands resort… But that would have been a little boring. Well, apart from the cocktails. They’re never boring. We actually enjoyed a long weekend packed full of amazing adventure – which started the moment I touched down on Friday afternoon when I met Sam at Broome airport. She waved off her lover after spending three days together in Broome and we jumped into the car, headed straight down to the beach. Whilst not everything went to plan on the trip (Jesus that frickin’ beach looks shorter to walk than it actually is), I’m pretty darn impressed by how we spent our 78hrs in Broome together…

We lazed by the pool sipping Matso’s ginger beer (my fave!) when crocodiles closed the beach that afternoon, but still caught a gorgeous beach sunset followed by F&Cs and Espresso Martinis at Zanders – and enjoyed far too many drinks and giggles with the local constabulary later that evening at the Divers Tavern.

We nursed delicate heads the following morning with delicious brekkie at Zanders, before hiking 8.5km of Cable Beach’s 22km stretch to Gantheaume Point, passing through the gorgeous Riddell Beach which was home to some of the most turquoise waters I’ve ever seen… and about 8,327,149 awesome little hermet crabs. Before getting just a little bit Wolf-Creek lost, we accidentally ended up rock climbing (scrambling, shrieking, and hoping for the best) some stunning red cliffs to snap the dinosaur footprints waiting for us at the top, before heading back to Cable Beach to enjoy a swim and picnic on the iconic white sands with some seriously chilled out tunes. Later that evening we watched the exotic (and okay, maybe a little bit smelly) camels strut their sunset walk before enjoying crab salads (sorry guys!) and salmon at Sunset Bar & Grill.

The next morning was Sam’s thirtieth so after presents and dancing we went to local favourite Good Cartel for brekkie and browsed the Sunday markets before heading for some SUP and surf on the bumpy, turquoise ocean off Cable Beach where Sam swears she saw a bull shark zipping through the clear waters beneath us… Then we ventured down to check out the bright yellow and orange mud crabs underneath the looooooong Streeters Jetty and the fishermen at Town Beach before enjoying a pre-sunset camel ride on Marley, the fluffiest camel on Cable Beach by far. We headed back to Gantheaume Point for our last, and by far the prettiest sunset which we enjoyed with cheese and bubbly pink champagne. We never did make dinner that evening… Little did we know that everywhere closed at 9pm which was ironically the time we click-clicked out of the hotel in our heels and off to Matso’s for steaks and cocktails. But we did manage to squeeze in a cheeky Espresso Martini at the Mangrove Hotel before picking up Thai takeout (literally the only place open aside from Macca’s) and bottle of pink on the way back to our hotel which we enjoyed on the balcony in our jammies whilst singing to Tina Turner. Well, a girl only turns thirty once, you know… 

On the final day, we woke up feeling far more refreshed than we’d expected – which was lucky given the 7:30am yoga class we had at the Blue Body Buddha Sanctuary, which was a full 90mins of hard work, followed by some blissful meditation. We then headed to Matso’s for brekkie (and a touristy hoodie for me) before walking (well, actually sitting) in the footprints of dinosaurs at Port Jetty, and checking out a sexy little pink 56 Pontiac before heading back to the hotel to check out. We spent lunch lazing on loungers at The Mangrove Hotel, nibbling on a cheese platter and bucket of prawns whilst sipping chilled wine, overlooking the absolutely stunning Roebuck Bay – where we decided the crocodile from the first day must have lived. Probably. We then drove over to the coast to check out the ancient Lurujarri Walk which was home to some of the most incredible caves, blow holes and bright red rocks, which literally looked to be on fire against the vibrant blue sky and rolling ocean. We decided on one last swim at Cable Beach (after snapping a standard yoga pose on top of all those beach stairs), before enjoying an awesome 4×4 cruise along Cable Beach, where we enjoyed pre-sunset champagne & strawberries… and just making our flight with 9mins to go – which was conveniently the perfect amount of time to squeeze in one last Matso’s.

So there you have it. 78hrs in Broome well spent, don’t you think? I’d say we, ahem, swept up…

Oooh, and the cherry on top? The beauties at Popcherry helped get me vacay-ready by styling some of the outfits I wore on this trip. My fave has to be the cute Boho Getaway Playsuit I wore on the rocks at sunset… Broome-ing gorgeous. You can shop the looks at the end of the SIXY-FIVE snaps below…

Enjoy xx

FEATURED: Popcherry Boho Getaway Playsuit – $79.99 // Popcherry Anouk Dress Top – $59.99
PHOTOGRAPHED BY: Katie Rebekah Osborne, Sam Marx