After being dropped off from our Horizontal Falls return
flight we hitched up the van and headed out of Derby toward Broome. We stayed
at a free camp on the way, which was a rest stop and well used. There was a
hippy sort of guy there called Sonny who had his guitar there and he encouraged
me to pick up mine again. So I pulled it out of the case and dusted it off and
had a bit of a play. I did enjoy playing it again but am very rusty after not
playing at all for about five years. It did go back in the case again as we
were heading up to Cape Leveque for seven days and we were limited for space
and convenience, but it will come out again soon.
Next day we moved on to Roebuck Plains Roadhouse and stayed
there for two nights. First night was the third state of origin match. What a
disaster. We dropped into the bar there during the first half to watch and the
blues were already twenty two points down, by half time so went back to the van
to avoid the misery. Amazingly we got some rain the next day. We have not had
rain since about mid April when we were in Broken Hill. I closed some windows
but wondered what to do when it rains, as it has been so long since it has.
On the Friday morning we hitched up and took the van to a
storage place in Broome. We did some shopping for our seven day trip to Cape
Leveque. Then met up with our friends, Blake & Veronica who we helped
change their tyre near Bell Gorge and headed up into the Dampier Peninsular. They
were staying with us only overnight as they had work commitments but joined us
to take us crabbing.
The first 80 km of the road up the peninsular is all gravel,
but a sandy gravel. It can be very rough but it seems to have been graded
recently. Some of the roads into the various beaches and campgrounds were a lot
rougher. The overnight rain was good as it kept the dust down big time. The
broken down car just got pushed up out of the road by the grader I would say.
We drove straight to their crabbing spot and went crabbing.
We caught three crabs straight away and a fourth that we had to throw back but
nothing after that for two or three hours.
We then went to Banana Wells campground and set up camp for
the night. Veronica cooked up a fantastic chili crab dish and Linda had
precooked a pasta dish. It was a great feed. Linda had organized a birthday
cake for me as it was my birthday the next day.
Next morning Blake and Veronica packed up and headed off and
we kept going up the Peninsular toward Middle Lagoon. On the way we pulled in
to Beagle Bay which is an Aboriginal town. This is not a place to stay but
everyone visits there to have a look at the Catholic Church that is made from
pearl shells.
Then onto the turn off to Middle Lagoon. It was like a
roller coaster ride for one kilometer and a little rough for the rest.
Checked out Whale Song and had a coffee and cheesecake which
was a nice treat considering it was my birthday. We then drove to Middle
Lagoon. It was very busy there and we had a bad report about it because of the
all night drinking that some of the fishermen get up to there so we went to the
next campsite south which was Gnylmarung (silent ‘G’). Most of the Peninsular
is aboriginal owned and run by people leasing the various camps. This was a
great spot and the caretaker was a friendly bloke. The beaches were beautiful.
It was so peaceful looking out over the water at dusk. There was a reef that
gets exposed at low tide. There was some nice coral growing there.
After two nights at Gnylmarung we headed toward Kooljaman at
Cape Leveque where we were booked in for four nights. On the way we visited
Lombadina. It is an Aboriginal community with one of the only two bakeries on
the peninsular so we bought a beautiful high top and slapped on a heap of
peanut butter, beautiful. There is also an old church built when the original
mission was established which is still standing.
But the real attraction of the place is the turquoise waters
and white sand of the beach. It was absolutely gorgeous. So what do you do when
you find a beach so beautiful that goes on for maybe 10km and you are the only
ones on the beach. You skinny dip of course.
Then onto Kooljaman and set up camp. It was a really nice
spot. Beaches on both sides of the point. The beach on the western side has red
cliffs and it makes for a great sunset, not so much to be looking out to sea
but seeing what the sunset does to the colour of the red cliffs. There is also
reflection on the wet sand in some of the cliff photos.
We took a drive to Cignet Bay Pearl Farm and did a tour of
the farm which was very interesting. Then stayed there for a delicious lunch of
prawn, scallop and pearl shell meat linguine and some beautiful wine.
The Cignet Bay lunch (and wine) was so good we went there
again the next day. After lunch we went up to One Arm Point and visited the
fish and shell hatchery there. At the change of tide the water comes rushing
through out of King Sound to the Indian Ocean or back depending if it is going
to low or high. It is amazing to see how fast the water is rushing through.
Unfortunately I did not get a good video of it.
The Dampier Peninsular is a beautiful place and we had a
great time but after seven nights in the tent we were ready to go back to the
comforts of our van. So on Friday the 17th we broke camp and headed
back to Broome, gave the van a big hug, did some shopping and went into
Tarangau Van Park where we were booked in for the next two weeks.
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