Broome Guide: Lynnie Ralston
Lynnie Ralston has lived in Broome since the early 90s but her love affair with the town goes back much further — to before she’d even visited, when she read about Broome in a book while living in her native England.
“(The author) said, of all the places she’d been to, Broome was the one place that stuck in her mind,” she recalls. “I thought ‘One day I’m going to go there’.”
Lynnie first visited in 1986 and moved up full-time in 1994 to work in the tourism industry — most recently with the luxury cruise ship Kimberley Quest before her recent retirement.
“The first memory I have of Broome was Staircase to the Moon. It was down at the old Town Beach and I just went ‘Oh my god’. I wanted to start walking up the ‘stairs’ — that’s how amazing it was. I’d never seen anything like it in my life.”
Moving to town also gave Lynnie a taste for Broome pearls, along with pearl meat, which she always encourages visitors to try.
“They’re always amazed and always love it,” she says. “The best way to have it is marinated with lemongrass, chilli and lime — it’s gives it a refreshing taste.”
And while Lynnie says the lightning storms and “wow factor” of the summer months make the wet season her favourite time of year, she loves the social occasions of the dry, particularly Cable Beach Polo and the racing season at the Broome Turf Club.
“I love the first day (of the races) because the whole town turns out — and you see people you haven’t seen all year. That’s my favourite.”
Indeed, all these years after she first heard about Broome from halfway around the world, Lynnie remains a passionate advocate for her adopted home town.
“It’s almost like a drug, it really gets to you. I love going away, don’t get me wrong ... but I get very excited when I get home. And I think I am so lucky to be living in one of the best places in the world.”
The Broome Turf Club racing season begins on May 30, culminating in the Broome Cup Carnival in August; see broometurfclub.com.au. For Staircase to the Moon dates, see australiasnorthwest.com.
