Chapter 9 - Cape Leveque and Broome

Day 64 - Wednesday 24 July – Cape Leveque                    Previous Chapter

Today seven of us headed to Cape Leveque, in three groups:
-  David and Wendy are taking the caravan and camping.
-  David and Bev are glamping in a log cabin.
-  Shirley, Fay and I are also glamping in a nearby log cabin. 

We departed Broome about 8:30, just after David & Wendy and just before David & Bev. We had around 22 km of sealed road, then around 80 km of very ordinary sandy/corrugated road.

Soon after seeing more sealed road we met up, a few minutes apart, in Beagle Bay. Beagle Bay is noted for the Catholic “Sacred Heart Church” which is predominately decorated with Mother-Of- Pearl shells, particularly the altar. It is a lovely church in an otherwise plain town.

Sacred Heart Church

We had morning tea in Beagle Bay, which is mainly an aboriginal community.

Back on the road and we soon turned down another side road, this time another 35 km, and even more sandy and plenty of corrugations. The 4WD capability of our car was very handy.

Road in to Middle Harbour

At the end was Middle Lagoon. Where Wendy and David decided to camp the night.  We had a stroll along the lovely beach then lunch overlooking the water.



Above & Below: Middle Harbour

Water at Middle Harbour

The water was a beautiful colour and very clear.

I took a photo of the “Thong Totum”, and a sign of interest to us all.

Thong Totem

Interesting Wording

A return drive of 35 km of sandy road and then around 60 km of excellent sealed road took us to the Kooljaman Resort, which is right on the point of the peninsular. We checked in at reception on the western side of the point then drove to our log cabin on the eastern side of the point. In between was a working lighthouse. We definitely needed the 4WD to get through the sand  to our cabin.

Leveque Lighthouse

 

Our Log Cabin - With Leveque Lighthouse in top right corner
Amenities block behind and to the right of the cabin

Our cabin had sleeping for four, NO windows, but two shutters on each of the four walls. Each bed had an overhanging mozzie net. David and Bev were in the next cabin and we shared the external bathroom. Our cooking facilities consisted of a four-burner BBQ that had an extra gas burner for the kettle.

Mozzie Net

We spread our stuff all over the cabin, had a coffee, then happy hour, then moved to the lawn beside the restaurant for live music and wood-fired pizza. The five of us shared two pizzas:

Peace Pirate – Barramundi, Squid, Prawns, Garlic, Red Onion, etc
Bushwacker: Pepperleaf Emu Mince, Slow Cooked Lamb, Kangaroo, etc

They were both excellent. The sunset was also impressive, above the adjacent red cliffs – that we are yet to explore.

Kooljaman Sunset

 

It was a tiring drive of 275 km, but a great evening.

Day 65 - Thursday 25 July – Cape Leveque

I had a reasonable night’s sleep considering the unusual situation of a mozzie net that tried a couple of times to strangle me. The beach beckoned and I was there at 6:15 am ready for the sunrise. I was not disappointed.

Above & Below: Sunrise from near our cabin 

 

I turned around and took the photo of our own beach – which is about 200 metres from our cabin.

By 7am it was shorts and shirt and sunscreen weather. However, after breakfast, Fay, David and I donned bathers as the beach was the first destination. The three of us swam between the rocks as Shirley and Bev trolled the beach for treasures. The water temperature was about right.

After a shower it was time for a coffee and some visits from local birds. They even sat still for me.

Black Faced Cuckoo-shrike

Noisy Minor

Bowerbird

We then walked over the hill, passed the lighthouse to reception and the gift shop. Purchases were made.  I got another bird photo.

I took photos of the road to our cabin and the view from it.

The Road to our Cabin

Ocean View from our Cabin

We walked 50 metres to the café that sold milkshakes and bought five – and took a photo of another bird.

Straw Necked Ibis

Yet another bird, a Kite, posed for me.

Black Kite

Then another bird did his mating dance in front of our cabin. I am not sure if it worked as he had some competition.

David submitted this photo for the blog.

Wrighty with Silver Snapper

At the end of the day we visited the magnificent red cliffs and took a few photos. This involved some serious 4WD sand driving from your correspondent.

Above & Below: Sunset on the Kooljaman cliffs 

The five of us had a joint BBQ at our place. It was a balmy evening, maybe nearly 30 degrees, and we loved it.

It is 8:30 pm as I sit here typing these words outside our cabin, listening to waves crash on the beach. Shirley, Fay and I have bare feet and bare arms, and need a cooling shower before bed.  There is a hint of a cool breeze that should make sleep OK. Although we have not encountered any mozzies the mozzie nets will add some insurance to our sleep.

Day 66 - Friday 26 July – Cape Leveque

After breakfast the five of us (Shirley, Fay, Bev, David and Chris) piled in to our car and went for a drive. Our first stop was “Ardyaloon One Arm Point”, where the local community wanted $17 per person to enter their town. We said “no thanks” and departed.

Next we visited Gumbanan, where David & Wendy had stayed the night. It was a lovely remote camping spot right on the water. I took a photo of the interesting rock formation.

 



Gumbanan Rock Formation



Next we visited Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm which has been opened up to visitors.

Above & Below: Cygnet Bay Waters 

Pearl Lady

Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm produced magnificent pearls. Luckily none of the ladies wanted to buy. However, some coffees and mother-of-pearl oyster shells were purchased.

Last stop was the Lombadina Community where we were charged $10 per car and given detailed instructions on what to see and do. We smiled. 😊

The  “Christ the King Catholic Church” was very impressive.  The modest structure was lined with paper bark.

Christ the King Catholic Church

Paperbark Lining on Church

Holy Water Font - A Shell

We had lunch in a picnic area and I found a parrot prepared to have its photo taken.

We drove back to camp comfortable in the knowledge that we had seen most of what there is to see in the area.  It was around 34 degrees.

Around 3pm the five of us headed to the beach for a well deserved swim. The temperature of the water was superb.

After a shower we headed down to the grassy reception area and joined David and Wendy for happy hour. I took another sunset photo.

Cape Leveque Sunset

Dinner was BBQ sausages for five, and a bottle of red.

Day 67 - Saturday 27 July – Broome

We are back in Broome after a magnificent three nights on Cape Leveque - maybe the highlight of the trip so far. One disappointment for Shirley was the lack of wild donkeys, that are reputed to be a part of this world.

That disappointment was satisfied soon after leaving our sandy home.

Wild Donkeys

Once back in Broome the caravan was retrieved from storage and camp re-established. Some jobs were done, others were deferred.

Bev and David moved in to their cabin, due to caravan issues. Wendy and David were delayed as they had been invited to go mud crab hunting by a friend at the Lombadina Community. They arrived back in Broome about 4:30 with the following addition to Happy Hour.

David & His Catch (before being cooked)

Mud Crab from Crippsy (after cooking)

Happy hour happened, with the nine of us. Later Darryl cooked some of the magnificent fish that he caught in Coral Bay - for Fay's last night in Broome.

To manage the numbers Bev and David offered me a bed in the cabin, while Fay headed to my normal bed. All was OK.

Day 68 - Sunday 28 July – Broome

The day started hazy with a fog covering the caravan park. However this did not prevent the washing being on the line by 7:15 am, while Shirley and Fay slept.

Eventually we all got going and we took Fay to the airport for her flight to Melbourne.  Shirley and I then went to the market, followed by some shopping.

Lunch came and went. So did the afternoon. Some computer re-construction was involved, as was a swim, as was relaxation.

Tomorrow is our last day together for the eight of us, so Happy Hour was a practice run for tomorrow. Our dinner was BBQ hamburger with the lot. Similar fare was consumed by the others.

Day 69 - Monday 29 July – Broome

The day again started with a haze. The main noise in the park at 7:30 am was the birds looking for that early worm.

Around mid-morning Shirley and I went for a drive around Broome. Around 11:20 we picked up Heather and Lindsay (parents of our son-in-law Matt) who were in Broome for car repairs. They are travelling around Oz in the reverse direction to us.
After lunch together we took them back to our/their caravan park.

The afternoon consisted of a swim and making of scones for our last scone arvo tea for the complete Kelly Gang. Today there were 10 for scones.

After happy hour we had a salad for dinner.

Day 70 - Tuesday 30 July – Broome

It was the end of a major phase of the holiday today as four of the Kelly Gang left Broome, with the other four to follow tomorrow. Although our routes home are fairly similar, the timings are different.

We had lots of hugs and kisses as David, Bev, Wendy & David departed.

Before they departed we all had a laugh about the antics to remove the green tree frog from the toilet in Bev and David's unit. Bev seemed to be quite attached to the little guy in the photo below.

Bev's Green Tree Frog

Shirley and I stocked up on diesel and food, including a 1.9 km piece of roasting pork for a camp oven fire one night - with Kay & Darryl.

It was hot in Broome as we headed to the pool.  Before doing that I did have time for another fight with Telstra, the second for the day.

We had afternoon tea with Heather & Lindsay (with left-over scones), then headed to Matso's Brewery, with Kay and Darryl, for dinner.

We all drank brews from the brewery. The ladies had barramundi, while the guys had a trio of curries and rice. It was a superb balmy evening.

Dinner & Drinks at Matso's

Tomorrow we leave Broome and you get a new chapter.

So far we have:
-   Travelled 10,062 km over 70 days (10 weeks).
-   Spent an average of $34.72 per day on caravan parks, etc.
-   Bought 1842 litres of diesel at an average of $1.62 per litre.
-   Cooked damper 7 times and scones 8 times.

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This post was last updated around 8 pm on Tuesday 30th July 2019