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.
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