Lord Robert Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green
– 14/05/1942 – 17/01/2014
British businessman, politician, author, and advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher – and thankfully, the developer behind Broome, as we know it today.
Bust of the Lord graces Cable Beach’s foreshore.
Lord Alistair McAlpine first came to Australia around 1960. He was responsible for developing many of Perth’s office blocks, and for building Perth’s first 5 star hotel, The Parmellia. Although a developer, Broome was not on his radar at that time.
Broome, once a thriving pearling town, had been decimated by world war 2, and virtually lay in ruins – not as a result of the conflict, but from being abandoned (more about Broome’s earlier history later). The ravages of weather, white ants, and time had taken it’s toll on old China Town and Broome.
Recently I published a blog post titled, Words. It was the type of post I’m a little nervous about posting as it involves opinions, and I fear being labelled opinionated. However, as the post was about labelling people, or passing judgement, I posted it despite my reservations. There were a couple of comments from a fellow blogger added to that blog that brought to mind the value of blogging. Amanda stated that fellow bloggers tend to be supportive rather than judgemental. As Amanda rightly pointed out, the comments added to a blog post by fellow bloggers usually lack the sometimes less savoury tone that can follow thought provoking posts on Facebook.
Amanda’s comments caused me to realise how important blogging has become to me, and the reasons why. ‘The value of blogging’. Here’s what it means to me:
Firstly, it’s a big technological learning curve, and one I’ve barely started to conquer. But I’m working on it. I’m starting to learn to wrap words around pictures, but I haven’t perfected it yet. During this post I’m attempting to link previous blog posts. I won’t know if I’ve succeeded until I’ve hit publish. I’m also trying to get added comments following on from my post. Most of the blogs I follow use this format, and it works well. I’m still working on that one.
After I joined the world of blogging I started following a number of other blogs. It’s opening up my mind to whole world of different topics. My interests are expanding, and I feel like I’m learning more than I’ve ever learnt before in my entire life. Insprational travel stories (and a wealth of other topics) from leggypeggy.com
Some amazing photos, and photography tips from Susan Portnoy at theinsatiabletraveller.com Thought provoking quotes from quiverquotes.com And I just love forestwoodfolkart.wordpress.com , in which Amanda writes about all manner of things – Scandinavia, proverbs, recipes, crafts…. There’s so much to learn from so many people.
I look forward to receiving emails alerting me to one of their new blog posts. Often after I’ve read what they’ve written questions come to mind. A recent post was on Cinque Terre in Italy. I had no idea where that was, so I looked it up, and now I know – another little bit of knowledge accumulated. Or sometimes a photo of a dish someone has enjoyed in a restaurant will get my taste buds tingling and have me searching the net for a recipe so as I can have a go at cooking it myself.
Originally my blog was just about letting my close friends and family know where we were, and what we were doing. I never had any intentions of expanding beyond that. However, I’ve always enjoyed writing, and when people I’ve never met started to get value out of some of my posts, expanding my topics seemed logical. And so my blog has evolved from just being about our Australian road trip, to being about absolutely anything that stimulates my desire to write. It’s recommended that blogs predominantly stick to the one theme, but I tend to be a bit eclectic, so my blogs a bit eclectic too.
I love it when something stimulates my interest enough to write about it. Take for example my post on Bower birds last year, https://lifeofrileyow.com/2016/09/14/the-spotted-bower-bird/
The lilac crest displayed on a male Spotted Bowerbird.
or my more recent post in Broome Tides, https://lifeofrileyow.com/2017/07/20/broome-tides-explained/
The tourists have arrived, and so has high tide.
I knew very little about both, but my interest had been tweaked enough that I wanted to do a blog post on each of those topics. I needed to know more though, so I spend several hours both researching, and observing. In the case of Broome tides I spend several weeks observing the ebb and flo of the tides before I could begin to write about them. Now I have a good basic knowledge.
There are times when I’ve realised I haven written anything for a while. With the realisation that I haven’t written anything comes the realisation that it’s because I’m not doing anything. That then prompts me to get motivated and do something, or to go somewhere. I’ve always loved learning, loved reading, loved writing, loved cooking, and loved my garden. There’s so much to do, so much to learn, so many things to write about. Somehow blogging keeps me motivated, keeps me stimulated, keeps me moving, keeps me learning…
So for anyone considering starting a blog, I’d thoroughly recommend it. For me it’s taken my life to a whole new level I’m sure it will be for you too.
What an unusual phenomenon greeted us at the beach today. Firstly at 8am when we went for our morning beach walk, and then again at mid-day.
I was disappointed when I hadn’t taken my camera in the morning. There had been several people out walking, but we could only see around 30 metres in front of us. It was weird to see people suddenly appearing out of the dense, thick, pea soup fog. The ocean looked eerie – the type of ocean you see in movies into which ghost ships, or Spanish Galleons suddenly materialise, seemingly out of nowhere. Continue reading →
A friend recently posted on FB that she hates judgemental people. It brought to mind something I’d heard sometime ago – the minute you label someone as being judgemental, you are being exactly the same. Yes, I’m as guilty as the next person of being judgemental. I think we all are. We all have our values that we live by, and when someone does something that doesn’t sit right with our particular values, we can become judgemental.
A friend of ours, Wendy, has just left to return to her home in rainy Perth after having spent five delightful days here with us in Broome. My Face Book friends will have been noticing a lot of Face Book posts in which Wendy’s been tagging me. I’m not very technically savvy, nor very technically aware, and I suspect some of my friends in a similar age group to myself are the same. I never knew that when someone tagged you on face book, the post ends up sort of looking like the person tagged contributed in some way to the post. From some of the comments added to Wendy’s posts by some of my own Face Book friends, I’m sure some of you must be thinking I’ve gone well and truly Face Book mad. Stop worrying, I haven’t. The posts have been made by my dear friend Wendy, and, in case you hadn’t realised it – Wendy is completely and utterly, Face Book mad! But I digress, this post is supposed to be about, Why Broome! Why do so many come back here, year, after year, after year, and why we will always try to incorporate Broome into our winters away from Busselton.
The Kimberley Coast has the biggest tides in the southern hemisphere. The difference between high and low tides is up around 10 metres in Derby which has the highest tides. Broome, with the 2nd highest, is not far behind.
Whilst the giant tides add to Broome’s unique charm, it’s important to know both the times of the tides, and how high the tides are going to be if you plan to drive on Cable Beach, or want to try your hand at mud crabbing in Roebuck Bay. Continue reading →
The colours of Broome grace many an artists palette as they try and do justice to this amazing Kimberley wonderland. The red of the earth creates a stunning juxtaposition Continue reading →
Don’t ya just love it when several generations get together having fun together and bridging the age gaps. Recently, Kaye and Brian’s daughter, son-in-law and their three children flew up to Broome to join them for a week of the school holidays.
Life of Riley - on wheels (with a dog) 