Broome and Cape Leveque

The obligatory sunset on Cable Beach shot - Thanks Jules!

Broome is one of those places that it is easy to get stuck in.  After a couple of weeks on the Gibb River Road, Broome’s cafes, restaurants, shops, and beaches are a very welcome distraction.  I’ve heard that people either love or hate Broome.  We loved it. 

It was Daniel’s eighth birthday whilst we were in town and we celebrated with, amongst other things, a trip to the late Malcolm Douglas’s Crocodile Park.  Malcolm played a defining role in our childrens’ upbringing (not as defining as Bear Grylls, obviously, but defining none the less) - How else would they have learnt how to cook a recently caught Mangrove Jack over coals on the beach, or how to whip up a quick Pavlova in a camp oven, or any number of other essential bush survival skills? –  so we were all keen to visit the park. We weren’t disappointed.  The guided tour is a must-do, and rates higher than many similar experiences for us.  The whole thing is well run and full of laid back WA charm, albeit, as one guide put it; “very quite now that Malcolm is gone”. 

The road to Kooljamam

I’m not quite sure what else we did to fill our time in Broome but it seemed to pass very pleasantly.  Eventually (on day 6) we summoned up the motivation to pack up the trailer and head off on the 200km journey north up the Dampier Peninsula to Cape Leveque.  About half of the road is nice flat bitumen, but the other is a sandy and roughly corrugated track which, due to its convex nature, easily fills with water and is often closed after rain.  It was in fact closed for part of our time in Broome, but after a few days of glorious sunshine it opened again. The road is known to be a tough one, but the earlier rain had taken the edge off the corrugations and so with the exception of one or two heart stopping dives into deep pits of bulldust, it was great fun to drive up there. 

Snorkelling at Cape Leveque

We stayed at Kooljaman at Cape Leveque (one of several locally owned and run campsites and wilderness retreats along the road to the tip). There is no free camping on the Dampier peninsula and bookings (and in some cases permits) are required to visit. Whilst at first this sounded a bit too constrained for our liking, it has been done really well and I can imagine that if the land was opened up further, it may well ruin this amazing spot. As it turned out, this place was quite possibly the nicest place we have been to on the trip so far!  Certainly a big call to make, but picture this (and you will need to picture it as, unbelievably, we were so busy relaxing and soaking up this beautiful place that we hardly took any photos at all!)....so, picture this; we camped on the top of the cliffs at the tip of the Dampier Peninsula with perfect white sandy beaches at either side – on the East side; secluded swimming and snorkelling beaches, particularly good if you dropped your tyre pressures (here I go again; 18psi for those who are interested) and drove for a K or so up the beach. Then on the western side; great fishing (Elliot managed to pull out a Queen fish and a Long Tom within five minutes of each other), and stunning landscapes as the deep red cliffs meet the white sands - the perfect spot for a sun-downer or two. 

Not a bad spot for a sun-downer...

One afternoon we visited the barramundi hatchery at the aboriginal community of One Arm Point where the kids got to hand feed the big fish (not for the faint hearted) and pat turtles. To top it all off, there was an onsite restaurant at the campsite that served more than passable coffee!  In the end we only stayed a couple of nights but regretted not staying longer almost as soon as we pulled away.

I’m not sure when we will make it back to such a far flung corner of the country, but we’re already making plans to try.