Broome Guide: Kim Peirson-Jones
Kim Peirson-Jones doesn’t have to think twice when asked about her favourite time of year in Broome. She can even pinpoint it to a specific 24-hour period — “the day it changes from the wet season to the dry season”.
“It’s funny but it actually does change in a day, virtually — you can tell, all of a sudden it’s the dry season,” she says.
“And it’s not as though I don’t like the wet, because I really like the wet as far as the storms, when we get them, but I like the start of the dry.”
The change of seasons, she says, gives everyone a boost in terms of mood after the months of hot, humid weather. It’s heralded by the appearance of large numbers of dragonflies around town, an annual phenomenon that signifies the end of the wet.
Having lived in Broome for 18 years, Kim these days owns and operates numerous hospitality and tourism businesses around the Kimberley with her husband Martin, including the Hotel Kununurra, the remote Berkeley River Lodge and, in Broome, Moonlight Bay Suites (where I stay one night of my trip) and Bayside Holiday Apartments.
Perhaps the most famous, though, is Matso’s, the brewery and restaurant housed in the old Union Bank building.
“Sometimes you go to restaurants and it could be anywhere in the world, whereas here, it’s pretty typical Broome,” Kim says.
Her favourite meal at Matso’s — barramundi with chips — also has a distinctly Kimberley flavour, as does her preferred beverage, a Smokey Bishop Dark Lager, named for the local bishop Christopher Saunders.
“He’s been a friend of ours for a long time,” Kim says. “He’s such a Broome character.”
For more on Matso's, go to matsos.com.au.
