Cape Leveque

Today was our looking around Cape Leveque day. We started at the Kooljaman Resort where we had coffee and cake then a walk down to the beach and a look at their beach shelters. This is a pretty place and looks good to stay at, but the beach was not quite as friendly and also rough due to the wind. The beach shelters are quite unique and offer a good alternative to a normal campground experience. After Kooljaman we went onto Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm which produces Cyngeture Pearls and is the oldest working Australian pearl farm. We went on a tour and learnt some history of the farm and the area, and also how pearls are cultivated. We were then shown some of the pearls for sale and the various shapes and sizes. The girls tried on a $52,000 pearl string and we also saw a single 22mm pearl valued at $72,000. From Cygnet Bay we then went onto Bardi Aboriginal Community at One Arm Point. They have a fish hatchery where they breed various local species of marine life including barrimundi, green turtles, clownfish, mangrove jack and trochus shells. The man running the hatchery loved to get people to feed the barrimundi. He would tell them they would gently take the small bits of fish from their hand when in fact they would suck the fish in with a load "boof" noise scaring the bejesus out of everyone. We brought a locally produced polished trochus shell which are unique to this area.

Middle Lagoon

We left Broome this morning about

8.00am for Cape Leveque. We had decided to stay at a place called Middle Lagoon - Nature's Hideaway. Unusual drive firstly on bitumen for 40k's then dirt / rock / clay / sand for the next 90k's. Back on to bitumen temporarily and then a 30k's journey from the main road to our camp on a very sandy track. When we arrived late morning, we chose a campsite on the ridge overlooking one of the beaches and taking advantage of the fantastic view. The kids had a swim in front of our campsite and enjoyed a play for the rest of the afternoon. It was very relaxing and we also got to unwind and do some reading. We also managed to walk around the campground and checked out the actual lagoon beach which was a beautiful horseshoe. The sunset was spectacular with a very vivid orange sky. Curried sausages for dinner with rice. It was idyllic and seemed to good to be true - which it was. Around 3.00am the wind picked up and tried to blow us back to Victoria. It bent the heavy duty sand pegs and we had the tent tied off to the trailer to prevent it blowing away. By morning we couldn't believe how much sand had managed to get into the tent and our beds even though it was sealed up tight. The wind was still howling so we ate our breakfast cereal sitting in the car because we couldn't keep the bowls on the table. It was a good day to not be at our camp on the ridge.

Broome

Travelling between Derby and Broome we eagerly waited for mobile phone reception. About 10k's out we hit the phones looking for accommodation. We tried the biggest caravan park near Cable Beach and was told they had one or two small unpowered corner sites and the second park "didn't have a blade of grass available". We quickly went to Cable Beach Caravan Park and viewed the site with the intention of squeezing ourselves on it at any cost. They had offered us a site that someone had booked but not yet turned up for. As Fiona returned to the office to pay, the people who had booked the site turned up. They got the even smaller site of the two left. After cramming the tent and trailer onto the site, we treated ourselves to a McDonalds dinner. The next few days were spent swimming at Cable Beach, looking around Chinatown, visiting the Sunday market, eating ice creams, drinking proper coffee and watching sunsets. We were most impressed with Cable Beach and spent a couple of afternoons there. An enterprising local offered umbrella, sunlounge and boogie board hire by the 1/2 day at very reasonable rates. Re-charging the batteries was the aim before we headed north up to the Dampier Peninsula and Cape Leveque.

Windjana Gorge

Another early start (7.30am) with a 6km walk through Windjana Gorge. We had started the walk the day before but decided to come back the next day and do the whole walk. We saw lots of wildlife including crocs, birds and bats. The gorge is very picturesque but not as dramatic as some of the others. The towering rocks above are very imposing. The kids enjoyed the croc spotting until we decided to deviate from the path and return walk along the beach. We came across a rather large croc (freshwater) sunning himself on our side of the river bank. He was quite happy to pose for pictures with the kids and at that point we decided to return to the path some distance away. After the gorge walk we headed to Broome via Derby hungry for some greasy deep fried food. Unfortunately the $13 cheesburgers didn't quite hit the spot and it was quite obvious that the locals enjoy this high tourism time of the year as all of the prices had been rubbed off the menu at the takeaway shop. Highly unlikely we will ever visit Derby again. Looking forward to taking it easy at Broome and catching up with washing etc. We are also hoping we will be able to find accomodation as we haven't booked anything.

Mel's Blog To 3/4 JP

Hi 3/4 JP,

I've been having a great time up in WA. We've been to heaps of gorges, waterfalls and swimming holes. We've seen heaps of wildlife and nature including huge wetlands at Kakadu National Park. We have been to Katherine, Kakadu, Darwin and Broome and we are on our way to Cape Leveque. I've posted a picture of me hanging from a vines at Tunnel Creek which is a underground river that we walked along for 2km's each way. It wasn't tiring at all even though we had to walk through the river at times up to our waist and it was dark and at first scary but fun. We took headlamps to see where we were going. We been at Broome for 4 days and basically been to the beach every day. You can't see a single speck of seaweed and the water is as blue as the sky. We went to the cinema at Sun Pictures which is the world's oldest open air cinema and features in the movie "Bran Nue Dae". It was a good movie because it had lots of funny characters. We are going to be home in a couple of weeks and I'm looking forward to seeing you all.

Love Mel.

Lach's Blog To Prep MO

Hi Prep MO,

We are having fun up in Western Australia and do you like my photo standing near the crocodile? That was fun standing in front of the crocodile. That crocodile had very sharp claws. I've been jumping off rocks into rock pools and Dad, Bec and me dived off a waterfall. When I jumped off the waterfall I thought a crocodile might have been underneath me. The last few days I have been buying stuff like a hat and a crocodile t-shirt, and I have also been swimming at Cable Beach and surfing with a boogie board. I'll be back at school in a few weeks and I'll be able to tell you more.

Lachlan Hall

Bell Gorge To Tunnel Creek

At this stage we are tired, dirty and exhausted from the last 10 days or so travelling across the Gibb River Road. It has been a journey that has been well worth while and I would recommend it to anybody to do it. We are in desperate need of a shower and a washing machine as we have run out of clean clothes and we look like absolute grubs. We had a relaxed start to the day today and we left the campsite at 9.15am heading towards Windjana. Along the way we made a stop at Lennard Gorge. This gorge was most impressive. Looking down on it from the top was amazing. We arrived at Windjana early afternoon and started to do the walk to the gorge as we thought it was a short one. We really liked what we were seeing and got to the first stop off point and decided that we would do the whole 7km walk the next morning instead. So we then headed to Tunnel Creek pictured above. This was almost scary to start off with. Mel did not want to let go of my hand. It was pitch black in places and you could only see as far as your torch light would shine and you were wading through water waist deep in some sections. Apparently fresh water crocs inhabit the area but we did not see any and thought that the water would be too cold for them anyway. Part of the tunnel collapsed a few years ago and sunlight filters through into the water and Chris captured a nice shot of the reflection as seen above.