Pilbara Coast

Monday 21st and time for us to leave the beautiful Broome area and head southwards.  Our destination is just over 100 k's away at Barn Hill Station.  This is another huge cattle station that has found a lucrative side line in the tourist season with a caravan park.  This one is very popular as it is right on the beach. In the 600 k's between Broome and Port Hedland there are very few places on the water where you can stay,  in fact there is very little of anything.

They generate their own power here, and have an unusual way of charging for sites.  For non-powered it is $22 but for power you can choose 4, 6 or 10 amp which go up in $5 increments.  As none of these are enough to run a kettle or toaster, non powered in the solar section was the best option for us, and a bargain price to boot.  This section also has more room and is the closest to the beach as well.  The park looked large until we went for a walk the next morning and discovered the generator section is as big as the park again.  There are many semi permanents here, some come for up to six months and we see them watering their patches of lawn and vegetable gardens (yes, really).  I heard one say he has been coming here for fifteen years. 

A vegie garden - and he had another one out the back

Probably 98% of those here are "oldies", 1% families travelling with children and another one percent backpackers who stay for a night after thinking they have stumbled into a retirement village.

The station bakes a few loaves of bread each day, and we lined up one morning to claim ours.  They also do a very nice vanilla slice as well as lamingtons.  There are also some special nights such as a three course roast dinner on Sundays, and a BYO BBQ on Wednesdays. 

Station fresh bread

There is really nothing here but the beach and beautiful weather, but what else do you need.  We've gone for walks on the beach, Jim's tried fishing but only got throw backs, and we've generally had a lovely, quiet relaxing time, as everyone else here seems to have.  

Rock features on the beach

Red cliffs

From the pathway.  Our van in front.  The treed area behind are the powered sites

The generator area with cliff top views

From the beach at Barn Hill

But it is time to move on again as the fish aren't biting.  Next stop is Eighty Mile Beach.  This is a very popular place and they don't take bookings.  If you want power you may have to take an unpowered for a night and then queue up at 8 the next morning.  Our timing was good and our luck with good sites continued as we got a very good powered site.  We thought Barn Hill was good, but it is quite ramshackle compared to here.  It's beautifully set out, spacious sites and good amenities.  There are some places that just have a good feel about them, and we both thought this place did.  So we very soon added another two nights to the original two I had paid for.  The beach here stretches for miles with pure white sand.  Breathtaking when you first walk over the dune.  

White sand of Eighty Mile Beach

We have seen a lot of sunsets and have thought we have seen as spectacular as you can get.  That is until we went to the beach here.  We headed down about fifteen minutes before, and our first shock was the number of people already there.  They were on the beach and also tucked up in the dune with their drinks and nibbles waiting for the show.  And what a show.  The beach here isn't direct west as most of the ones lately have been, but more south westerly.  This produced not just the usual beautiful red/orange sunset, but when we turned around and looked along the beach, we discovered that the miles of white sand had turned pink as had the sky in that direction.  There was colour in very direction we looked.

Unbelievable sunsets

This is the first time we have had power in nearly ten days, so Friday morning was spent catching up on lots of washing.  Very few fish are being caught at the moment, but it has been very windy which would have affected it.  The other thing the beach is famous for is shell collecting.  The beach is just littered with shells and there are always people walking around picking them up.  Unfortunately the lovely big ones are few and far between.  Jim picked up a beautiful large conch shell on Cable Beach which we have wrapped in bubble wrap.  This has spoilt me for anything I might want to keep.

Part of the park from the walkway to the beach

Saturday morning high tide was around ten, so a good time to fish (supposedly).  After a few chores I walked down about 11 to see how Jim was doing.  I came over the sand dune, and just stopped dead.  It was wall to wall fisherman what ever direction you looked.  I tried ringing him to see what direction he was, but fortunately he spotted me and gave a wave.  Like all the others, he was having no luck.  We also realised why there were so many cars missing this morning - the smart people had driven much further down the beach.  

The view in either direction from where Jim was

Sunday morning was supposed to be optimum for fishing and this time we took the car further down the beach.  However, that still didn't do us any good, and it was even more frustrating when someone about 70 metres away brought in a huge fish, it looked like a salmon.  

The tides are amazing here.  When we parked on the beach there was just over an hour to high tide and we were probably 70-80 metres back from the water line.  We couldn't believe the speed the tide moved in.  In one wave the water would be two metres behind where Jim had been standing.  We ended up moving the car back twice, probably another 50 metres.  And just as fast as it came in, it went back out again.

Back at the park after our unsuccessful fishing foray, it was time for the Sunday market.  They also have it on Wednesdays.  The stalls are from the long termers here, I guess they need to do something to fill in their time.  I had noticed an annex set up with sewing machines the day before.  As well as the sewing items there was jewellery and fishing gear and lots of second hand books.  There was live music as well.

The music seems very popular here and entertainment happens frequently.  On Friday afternoon we started to think that someone was a bit rude playing their country and music so loudly, then we realised it was live.  On walking over to the beach, we saw lots of people with their chairs lined up to listen and enjoy.  Then mid Saturday afternoon someone else set up just behind us with their music.  But come evening, and the place is dead quiet.  All those oldies go to bed early.  

Cape Leveque and the Dampier Peninsula

We were up early Tuesday morning to pack the van and then drive out the 30 kilometres to where I had organised for it to be stored.  It's only $7 a night there compared to $13 at a storage facility in town.  Plus we are storing it on a site, so no need to move it when we return.  The park is reasonably new, and a new concept.  There aren't any powered sites, but all the sites are very large so you aren't on top of everyone else.  In fact, we were able to put the van sideways to avoid the sun on the fridge.  I think I read they are 20 metres by 20 metres, a big difference from the traditional old van parks.

After securing the van, we headed back 19 k's to the turn of to Cape Leveque.  After 14 k's of sealed road, we then had nearly 90 of gravel.  We were pleasantly surprised that it was no where near as bad as we expected, but we did pass three graders working on it.  We could have easily driven the van on it, but the main reason for the tent was no vans allowed at the very top.  We have been told since that there were other camping areas at the top where we could have had a van.

Shortly after getting back on the bitumen, we stopped at Beagle Bay and its famous church with the altar made from mother of pearl.  It was really beautiful inside and very unique.  There was very little else of note in the town however.

Mother of Pearl everywhere, even on the floors

A little further on was our turn off to Middle Lagoon.  The top of the Dampier Peninsula had received nearly ten inches of rain a few days before.  This is quite abnormal weather for the dry season, and a lot of rain even for the wet.  The dirt road in had many areas still underwater, so a slow trip in.

We got to Nature's Hideway at Middle Lagoon around 1.30, so had lunch before setting up.  I had booked a site on The Ridge, as I had heard they were the best with a beautiful outlook over the beach.  Unfortunately she hadn't quite kept control of where everyone was going, and all the marked sites were taken, so she put us right in the front of the No Camping sign :)

On the Ridge

Can never get sick of these sunsets

It was a glorious spot and Jim caught a fish from the beach just in front of us.  The sunset was superb, and we were sitting outside after dinner commenting how beautiful and still it was.  As I've learnt in the past, it doesn't pay to get complacent.  Talk about the calm before the storm.  Just after our heads hit the pillow, the wind started.  By 1.00 am, and we were still awake, we got up to hammer in some more pegs to try and stop the tent from leaning in on us.  No luck there and we moved the bed into the centre of the tent to try and avoid the walls lying on top of us.

We kept thinking as morning came the wind would abate, but no, it got even worse.  At 5.00 am we heard the crash of poles, and went out to discover the awning attached to the car had torn off an arm and flipped over the top of the car.  We retrieved the pieces and rolled it back up as best we could.  Back in bed, and I turned over and there was Jim with the tent leaning on his head and the look on his face!  I just burst out laughing, although he couldn't really see my humour.

It didn't help when someone told Jim the next morning that it is nearly always like that.  So off to the office to get a more protected site, this time in The Gully.  Peace at last.

After resetting camp, and my amazing husband managing to fix the broken awning, it was off to explore the lagoon area with a swim and a fish, and in the afternoon, the beach again.

Thursday morning, time to pack up.  We are getting used to this now with our bonus pack up the day before.  We were surprised to discover that even with a cooked breakfast we were on the road by 8.30.  But we were to discover that this didn't help us.  We got to Kooljaman just after ten, to be told we had to wait until 11 before they would give us the camp site.  At least there were nice walks down to the western beach, where Jim met a fellow fisherman on his way back.  He hadn't caught anything that day, but reckoned he got around 30 the day before, all catch and release as he doesn't eat fish.  Jim could not wait to get set up and back down to the beach.  He was rewarded with a lovely Spangled Emporer, very tasty indeed.  Meanwhile I went off exploring the other beach, a walk up and down quite a lot of stairs, but gorgeous when you got there.  This side also has a lot of the expensive accommodation and private beach huts.

Cape Leveque scenery

We had also caught up with the couple we were next to at Derby.  We had got on really well with Pat and Wayne, and knew they were also booked in the same time as us.  Poor Pat had caught a gastro bug, and wasn't very good at all, but picked up later in the day and we sat around with them for a while after dinner.

The forecast for Friday had always been dicey.  The week before it had been forecast for rain, and as the week went on the forecast amount kept dropping.  Friday morning turned out overcast and steamy.  We walked over to the eastern beach and felt a couple of raindrops, but that was all.  By late morning the sun was out and blue sky abounded.

The rest of the morning we spent in the car exploring the area.  We called into the Cygnet Pearl Farm, but opted against the tour.  However, it was interesting looking through the gallery at the pearl jewellery and the huge prices to match.  We had a quick look at the nearby township, but found it very unwelcoming, discrimination in a different form.

After lunch we drove the car down to the beach.  This was a spectacular area, white sands and blue, blue water to match the sky.  Jim tried fishing while I worked on my neglected blog.  We had a swim in the clear calm waters, and loved that finally we had found some water that was warm.  The tide was starting to come in, so we packed up and headed for an area closer to the exit.  We found Wayne and Pat also on the beach here.  While the men fished, Pat and I tried the water again, but found it rough here. We even attempted to walk further back to where we had been swimming, but as it was now getting on to high tide, we decided the water had changed.  Our last ditch effort was to drive off the beach and back to the designated swimming area of the resort.  It didn't take us long to discover that this was no longer the nice beach of the day before, and after getting dumped twice by strong waves, it was time to give in.  Next stop of course was the showers to try and get all that sand out.

On the beach at Kooljaman

Despite our dumping, we loved Kooljaman and its beautiful scenery and beaches, and were disappointed when we found we were unable to extend a further night.  So we weren't really surprised the next day to discover so many cars coming towards us.

We took the road back to about 14 kilometres from the Broome highway, and turned up the road that runs along the west coast of the Dampier Peninsula.  I had read quite a lot about all the free camps along that coast.  People used to go there for weeks or even months, by a 3 day limit has now been put on the area.  There were quite a lot of caravans already there, and as most of these sites are on the top of a cliff, we were wishing we also had ours.  But we kept looking and were rewarded with a spot a lot lower down and some cliff behind us as a wind break.  We weren't going to go through a tent on top of a ridge again.  It also had quite good access to the beach below.  However, the surface was pretty much rock so the tent pegs were only going in half way.  But even so, they weren't going anywhere.  Any other types of holes were just as difficult to dig.

A little shelter at Quandong Point

Secluded beach spot

In no time Jim was down there trying his hand again.  But all that kept happening was he was losing his tackle especially after a bite.  When we got up the next morning it was low tide, so we soon found out why.

But we had a lovely evening.  It was so peaceful, there were so many stars they were like clouds, and the sunset was breathtaking.  How lovely it was to sit there watching the sun go behind the water and the colours that produced.

More sunsets

Originally we had thought we might stop three nights, as I had enough supplies.  But once we saw the exposed rock the next morning, we realised that apart from fishing, even swimming could be difficult, so opted to pack up and finish exploring the area.

Our lovely beach at low tide - not quite as lovely

 Where we had camped was Quandong Point.  We drove further on to look at James Price Point with its spectacular red cliffs.  This had been a proposed area for a controversial 40 billion dollar gas hub.  Last year many conflicts of interest were exposed, and I believe the project has been stopped.  It would be terrible to put something like that in this wilderness area.

Campers at James Price Point

The beach at Barred Creek.  A lot of people in there fishing

We continued exploring, driving in to inspect a lot of the beach camping areas.  At the very south was Willie Creek.  Suddenly right in the middle of nowhere was this lovely building with helicopters flying in and out.  Willie Creek Pearl Farm we discovered was a popular tourist destination.  It also had a very nice cafe where we laughingly bought our $5 coffees that came with free tourist mugs.  They are obviously trying to clear them as they still had their $7 price labels on the bottom.

The creek area was the most magnificent colour and there were quite a few people set up camp here.  It was a little tempting to set up our tent, but we were close to the van now, so time to head back.  We detoured into Broome for a fuel and food stockup and back to the van, where we were very pleased to discover that the solar had kept the fridge running while we had been gone.  We worked until dark repacking and cleaning everything, and the next morning Jim even managed to wash the car, as this was one of the few places that allow it.  After five days in the tent, it was nice to be back to our bed.

Beautiful Willie Creek with the northern part of Cable Beach on the other side.

Broome

After an easy two and a half drive from Derby, we arrived at Broome late morning.  It is school holidays in WA, which is peak season for Broome, probably not the best time to visit, but that is how it worked out.  But there was a plus.  All the caravan parks are booked out and once this happens they allow the overflow places to open.  We got into the Broom Pistol Club, which only opened less than a week before but was already very full.  We still managed to get a powered site and fitted into it reasonably well.  The camping is basic but all we need, and is considerably cheaper than the expensive caravan parks here.

After lunch we drove back into Broome to visit the information centre and grab a few brochures.  We then decided we had to see the famous Cable Beach.  It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon and the patrolled surf beach was absolutely packed.  And what a gorgeous spot it is!  No wonder it is in the top beaches.  We then discovered just past the surf club is beach access for cars, and we drove down there and found you can drive along this gorgeous beach for kilometres.  This is also the part of the beach the camel trips leave from, and all three companies were there with their camel trains.  It was just on sunset as we were leaving, and it was amazing the number of cars and people already there or just arriving to see the sunset.

In front of the surf life saving area at Cable Beach.  Heaps of people there

Broome's famous camel rides at sunset

Friday morning we discovered that Broome even has a Bunnings, which also happened to be not far from us.  There were a few items we had been trying to buy at Derby, so we were pleased to get what we wanted at Bunnings.  A few more minor repairs and improvements were done when we got back.

After lunch it was off to explore.  We headed south to the deep water port, which isn't far from our camp.  From here we took the sandy road to Gantheaume Point, stopping at Reddell Beach on the way.  While looking at the fantastic scenery in the area, we were amazed to see a large whale jump out of the water.  Our first sighting for the season.

Rock formations at Reddell Beach

View from the point looking back along Cable Beach

Gantheaume Point was quite spectacular with beautiful views down Cable Beach.  After walking to the point and looking at the rock formations, we made our way back to the car access at Cable Beach, where I happily sat while Jim tried his hand at fishing.  Only one small one, which became bait in the hope of something bigger.  Alas no, lucky I took something out of the freezer.

Saturday was something of a disappointment.  Here we had got so used to endless blue skies day after day, and suddenly we have cloud and threatening rain.  It didn't stop us from more exploration, firstly going to Town Beach.  This is the area that everyone comes to see the Staircase to the Moon.

But the weekend markets are on and we spent quite a bit of time walking around looking at the stalls.  Next on the walking agenda was Chinatown. We were a couple of hours walking around looking at the shops.  Many sell the pearls that Broome is famous for.  The good ones were well out of my price range, although I did like the necklace at $18,000.  Lunch was naughty fish and chips at the famous Blueys.

On our way back to camp, we stopped at the park that has a number of memorials to WW2.  Again we have been surprised to discover that Broome had been bombed and many had been killed.  A large number of these were women and children who were on flying boats that were sunk in the harbour.

It was a cool and miserable day, but Saturday was the only day with a low enough tide while it was still daylight to see the dinosaur footprints.  So we rugged up and ventured back to Gantheaume Point, to find quite a few other brave souls with the same idea.  Lucky there were other people there or we might never have found them.  We went prepared for sand, wearing thongs, but didn't anticipate climbing over slippery rocks.

Dinosaur footprint

That night it rained quite a bit, but we were amazed to read that Cape Leveque had received 242 mls, that's nine and a half inches, on the Saturday.  We are booked there to camp with our tent later in the week.  That is very unseasonal weather and a lot of rain even for the wet season.

By lunchtime Sunday the clouds had started to blow away, and we decided to head back to lovely cable beach.  I was quite happy to sit back reading in my comfy chair while Jim again tried his hand at fishing.  Only one little one, not good enough to keep.  But we stayed for the sunset this time and it was amazing.

Fishing at dusk

No wonder so many people come to see the sunsets

Monday morning and it was time to head to the supermarket and do a big stockup for the coming week.  The van is going into storage and the tent is coming out as we head to Cape Leveque.  I really didn't expect that it would take us most of the day to get everything sorted between the caravan and the car.  We have put the back seat down in the car to fit things in better, but there still seems to be a lot in there.  Hopefully we won't run out of food. 

So to end our time in Broome, we were lucky enough to be here for the Staircase to the Moon.  This natural phenomena occurs when there is a full moon and low tide.  It is a big tourist drawcard here and they also have a night market.  There were heaps of people but the majority of the market stalls we had already seen on Saturday.  Unfortunately no good photos.  We went up early and positioned ourselves behind people sitting in chairs, thinking we would see easily over them.  However as soon as the moon came up, they stood up with their cameras.  But it was a spectacular sight.

Windjana Gorge, Tunnel Creek and Derby

Thursday morning we left Derby for the National Park campground at Windjana Gorge.  To get there you have to travel 125 kilometres on the Gibb River Road.  Fortunately this has to be the better section of the road as around 100 k's of it is sealed, even though some is only one lane.  The unsealed sections were in good condition and easy travel.

However, turning off onto the road into the National Park was another story.  We do have to wonder if NP are actually trying to deter people from visiting as this and the one into the Bungle Bungles are horrendous roads.  With the caravan on the back, we just took it slowly and everything seemed to survive the trip intact.

We set up camp, had lunch and then around 2.30 headed into the gorge.  We had resisted going earlier as we were concerned that it might be too hot.  But the gorge was shaded for most of its length.

The entry is impressive as you walk through a split in the rock.  The gorge itself was quite nice, but nowhere near as impressive as others we have seen lately.  But the big feature was the number of freshwater crocodiles in there.  We had read that the gorge has a population of around 70, and in a short time we had counted to 37 of varying sizes.  We walked almost to the end of the gorge (the last kilometre is closed due to flood damage), so did about 5 k's all up.  It was a much easier walk than some we had done lately.  By this stage it was late afternoon, as we had spent quite a lot of time crocodile watching.

Freshies

Huge rock in the middle of the gorge has significance for the local indigenous

Early Friday morning we drove the extra 30 k's to Tunnel Creek.  When we were in Fitzroy Crossing we had booked a tour at the information centre there.  You don't need to take a tour to see the caves, but we were so glad we did as we found it a very rewarding experience.  The tours are run by Bungoolee Tours a local indigenous group. There were ten in our group which was a good number and the tour was taken by two young and very talented indigenous boys.  Without doing the tour there would have been so much we would have missed, such as the marks in the wall where spears used to be sharpened.  Our tour started with a traditional smoking ceremony where we passed through the smoke before entering the cave.

Narrow opening

The entry to the tunnel involves climbing up and through some very large rocks, and once you are in there, a lot of the walking is through the water.  Fortunately at this time of year the deepest was only just above knee level.  The tunnel is about 750 metres long, and half way through the roof has collapsed, so although torches are needed, it isn't a great distance until you can see light again.  At the end of the tunnel, we were taken on a path that lead to a rock overhang with ancient rock art.  We all sat around here and listened to the story of Jandamarra, an aboriginal from the late 1800's who was caught between the two cultures and used the tunnels as a hideout.  He has become something like our Ned Kelly to the local Bunuba people and has taken on a mystical  presence.  At the end of the story, we were privileged to be entertained with three songs and dances by Emmanuel, one of the guides.  We then discovered that they were all going to Sydney the next week to perform the story of Jandamarra at the Opera House.  When we had internet again, I found an article on them, and discovered that he is going to be the star of the show.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-02/jandamarra-stage-production-set-for-opera-house-debut/5566766

We made our way back through the caves and discovered that two hours had gone very quickly.   On the way back we took the short detour to the Lillimurra police ruins.  It was interesting but heart wrenching to read that there had been around 10,000 Bunuba people in the late 1800's but within three years there were only 1500.  This and other atrocities are parts of our history we don't hear much about.

Later in the afternoon we took another walk into the gorge for some crocodile spotting.  The next morning, around 7.30, we walked into the gorge again and could only find one crocodile.  So we wondered where do they go when it is too cold for them.  Not many places for them to hide, so they had to be there somewhere waiting for the sun to shine through.

Pack up time and then back on the terrible road and into Derby.  We had already booked three nights at the same caravan park, but within a day we had decided to book another two.  It's a nice little park, with only twenty sites and all grey nomads like us.  Children aren't allowed here, which has drawn some flack, but I can understand it as there aren't any play facilities for them, and as the park is only one road and quite small there is nowhere safe they could play.  I had promised Jim some fishing, but so far we have spent all our time with cleaning and maintenance of the car and van after all the dirt roads, so that was another reason to extend for another couple of days.

So far we have spent quite a bit of time cleaning (again) and some maintenance.  That red dirt certainly knows how to get into all the nooks and crannies.  We've been to the main tourist sites such as the prisoner tree, the cattle trough that is the longest in the southern hemisphere, and Frosty Pool.  And of course the jetty goes without saying.  Yesterday we were there when the tide was out, so today or tomorrow I  hope to see it when the tide is high.  Derby has some of the highest tides in the world, up to 11 metres.

Boab prisoner tree, but it can't be confirmed that is what is was used for, unlike the one we saw at Wyndham

The longest cattle trough in the Southern Hemisphere

Frosty Pool, used by serviceman in WW2, and filled from the same bore as the cattle trough.

Something else Derby has that we haven't seen for a long time is FLIES!!  They are driving us crazy.  As soon as you open the door it seems a dozen get in.  We don't know why they are so prolific here when we have had so few of them up to now.