29-31/7/16 Sunset , golf & work

Back again , since coming back from Cape Leveque we've cleaned the camping gear , washed & worked on the van - discovered a little leak in the black tank - very slow drip from a small crack in a weld . There's always something to do with a mobile home . Friday was spent trying to get bolts undone from the tank brackets .
 There was some respite from the tank however , we went for sunset & drinks at Cable Beach SLSC , and then dinner afterwards with Kym & Caroline for company . Sunset was amazing , as they usually always are here . The colours change regularly , and the best is usually after the sun has set . The afterglow spreads across the whole horizon , here are a set of photos that show the changes - sorry , yes , another sunset !!

  It was a pleasant evening overlooking the beach , but we needed to eat , so we headed off to the RSL. Not your average RSL - no poker machines , and was a bar area with an area resembling more of a beer garden and another large roofed outdoor Bbq area , tables & chairs & kids play area . You purchase your meat pack and then go and cook it . It was very popular , but also emptied out quickly after people had finished their meals .

 Saturday was golf day , not quite as good as my last game , but still okay in the heat - it got up to 33 degrees today . Beers on the verandah looking over Roebuck Bay were pretty good I must say !!

Sunday , today , was really good , a sleep in , a visit to the hardware , a swim in the pool , even fixed a couple of punctures in my bike tyre , and more importantly ( hopefully ) fixed the leaking tank with some epoxy .

 There you have it , up to date again , bye for now !!

27&28/7/16 Our kind of paradise

 27/7/16 

  Awake with the birds this morning , but we ignored them , getting up later . Breakfast complete , it was pack up time - places to go , things to see !!

 First stop was back to One Arm Point , where we paid our entry fee $15 each - this gave us access to the Trochus Hatchery and a couple of beaches & boat ramp . The gentleman in the supermarket filled us in on where to go and what to do , and also explained that the entry fee helps pay for the upkeep of the bitumen roads and some of the wages of the council workers - we didn’t mind paying , knowing it was going toward the upkeep of the town & roads . He was the only one that bothered to explain this to us !!

  With that we headed off beside the airstrip & out to Round Rock Lookout . It was beside where we went in the Giant Tide tour yesterday . The water was going out today and you could see the water moving . The rock here is amongst the oldest in the world , dated at up to 450 million years old !!! That’s impressive !!

  Out of all the slabs of rock here , there is one section of rock that the lookout is named after .

 Down the road we went , off to the Trochus Hatchery . The Trochus shells are a conical shell , that get polished up and are regularly sent overseas to be made into buttons for fashion houses , and for other jewellery . They make some on site - bangles & necklaces , they do sell polished shells as well .

 In the Ardyaloon Hatchery , are many tanks where they breed the Trochus , they also contain a lot of the local coral & fish . Here’s just a few .

Pencil Urchin 

Soft Coral

Pearl Oyster

Anemone Fish

Barramundi Cod

From there we went down to Middle Beach and on to Jologo Beach . The tide was running out and it was a fair walk to get to the waters edge .

 It was an enjoyable walk , till we got back to the ute and I trod on a piece of glass , it went into my heel a bit and drew blood - but not much - should have had my all terrain safety thongs on !!!

  Time to drive again , around and down to our next campsite for the night - Goombaragin Eco Resort !!!

   It is about 80 klms back down the road and into the bush again - more sandy & corrugated tracks. We were thinking that this had better be worth the drive down this little track - it wasn’t looking to good - it was only 28 klms in . We could see the ocean through the trees , so knew we were getting close , rounding another corner we came across an safari tent , must be here , bit further and we found some cars and a few buildings and some more safari tents , so we pulled up beside the main building . It was a small building with a large roof , that stretched out to cover a metre or 2 past the edge of the building . This was where they sleep , the next screened building was the kitchen , with 2 showers & composting toilets behind . The have a solar station that supplies more power than they will ever need with battery backup as well. 

 John ( the owner ) met us and walked us around the eco resort , showing us our camp site , the lookout (50 m from our campsite ) and the ablutions , also where we could go & not go - there are significant aboriginal sites here that shouldn’t be disturbed - John doesn’t even go there !! Kathleen ( his wife ) was busy working and cleaning the place up .

 We set up the tent before taking some photos of the view from the lookout - awesome is the only word that vaguely comes close to what we saw . Pender Bay stretches out in front of you from the top of this cliff 70m above the water , beaches to the right and rocky cliffs & point to the left . Further around to the right are the reddest dirt cliffs we’ve ever seen , below that is a rock shelf that appears to be volcanic , with lots of smaller rocks in a band a few metres wide . 

On the walk out to the lookout are some everlasting flowers and some very small star shaped flowers .

 After checking the views , we jumped back in the ute for some 4wd action , Lyn drove us down to the beach . The track was washed out a bit , but filled with small rocks and dropped down about 5m before levelling out again . As we went over the mound , we were unsighted, so that made it a bit more exciting for Lyn . Stopping up on top we walked around looking for somewhere to get down to the beach , but couldn’t find anywhere , so kept driving down the track . There were undulations , rocky sections to crawl over slowly , then turned to sand. We parked well clear of the high tide mark and walked down the beach back toward where we were camped high above .

 The sand was a curious mixture of orange and cream sand and formed nice patterns.

The red cliffs and orange sand looked incredible with the bluest of blue skies .

Further down the beach , there is limestone with worm tubes like Kalbarri - it was a lighter cream colour . On the beach were some really dark grey / black rocks to set it all off !!

We found many shells along the beach , these are just a few .

 It was getting hot as the wind had dropped , so we headed back to the ute and got changed - time to hit the water to cool down . The waves were small , but the sand and tide ripples were large , making walking out difficult . Dropping into the water about 1.2m deep was great , it wasn’t cold , it was just right . While we were walking along our private beach , another of the guests decided to drive down and have a swim as well . They are Victorians who spend 7 months in Broome and 5 in Melbourne , who have an on site van at Cable Beach . We chatted to them for a while before going back up to catch sunset from the lookout .

  Lyn was back in the drivers seat for the drive back to the top , doing very well , dodging rocks , putting the wheels where they needed to be . Then we found the last washed out part to climb back to the road , low range , 2nd gear and the ute climbed over without any fuss or bother - much to Lyn’s relief !!!

  We took the chairs down to the lookout , with a beer & cheese & bickies and settled in for the show . As everyone on Facebook has already seen the sunset from last night - I couldn’t resist putting it up - it was amazing !! Here are some more .

  We headed up to the house and sat around the fireplace talking to John & Kathleen and 2 other guests .

 And that was it for the day , hope you enjoyed it , we sure did !!!

28/7/16

 We were awake early - before the sun , so we headed down to the lookout to get the sunset, it too was pretty good . We got some pictures and went back to bed for a while . 

There is an old wall - not sure whether it’s there for looks or was part of an old building .

We packed again , said goodbye to John & Kathleen , wishing we had a few more days here. Back down the sandy red track again , we found a couple stuck on the track - they were in a mercedes sprinter van , towing an old pop top caravan . We deflated their tyres from 50 psi to 30 and they drove on - we’re not sure how much of the van will be left by the time they get back to Broome , time will tell !!

 We drove down to Beagle Bay , where there is a famous church , heritage listed . The interior is decorated with pearl shell , even the pictures on the wall have a mosaic as a frame !! There is shell inlaid into the floor .

  We looked and departed , heading back to Broome . As we drove , the lane going north gradually got redder & redder - could only mean one thing - we were getting closer to the 86klms of teeth chattering corrugated , sandy red dirt track , that is Cape Leveque Rd .

 We were a little surprised and hopeful , we’d heard that the graders had been out on the road . The northern end had been graded - hooray!!! - only about 15klms of it but !!  We rattled & bounced down the road for an hour or so before reaching the bitumen at the other end - that was a relief , We stopped and reinflated the tyres , then took the ute out of 4wd - it deserved a rest after the last few days , after performing faultlessly !! 

 Back to the van & got it back onsite and started the cleaning up process . 

Not very exciting today , but that’s it .

Here’s a map link :-https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bL-wfXajAekUFfheKPFaePI8N4g&usp=sharing

25&26/7/16 Up the Cape

  We packed up and shifted the van into storage for a few days , while we headed off on our next adventure .  

  Out onto the road out and turned off , before long the bitumen finished , we stopped and decreased tyre pressures to about 33 psi , before heading off again . Next thing 4wd was selected , as the road was getting sandy and with some corrugations . The road was very red dirt/sand - it’s called Pindan , and it gets everywhere !! The road is reasonably wide at this point - I’m sure that will change though !!!

 There is 86 klms of red corrugated sand , some sections are great 70 - 80 klms/hr , others not so great - down to 40klms/hr . After one and a half hours of driving , we found the bitumen again - hallelujah !! Fortunately all fillings were still intact , but it tried it’s best to remove them !!!

  Taking a side track , we were back to dirt again , but not too far . We drove into the aboriginal community of Lombardina . Finding the office was unattended till 1pm we sat outside and chatted to another couple - up here , if you want to drive around the community , you pay an entrance fee - this one was $10 . The Dampier Peninsular northeast of Broome is all aboriginal land , so you have your hand in your pocket a bit - there are quite a few communities making money out of visitors .

 The highlights of Lombardina are the church & rectory and Thomas Bay - a stretch of coastline line shaped like a banana - all white sand . 

 The church and rectory are made with mangrove timbers and tea tree bark , then covered with corrugated iron , they have verandahs and lots of doors , so that you get a lot of cross flow ventilation . It was 32 degrees outside , but a lot cooler inside !!

 Thomas Bay seemed appealing , so we dropped tyre pressures down to 18 psi and hit the beach - well we got to the beach after about 1 klm of sand , then had the beach to ourselves - over 4klms of beach , beautiful water , with some waves lapping at the sand . Unfortunately there isn’t swimming here , there are some saltwater crocodiles around apparently !!!  We had lunch on the beach under a palm frond shelter !!

It was getting on for 2pm , so we headed further up the road to find our accomodation for the next couple of nights - Cygnet Bay . They are a working pearl farm that has a camping section - you can bring your own van ( definitely off road variety only , as you would shake a normal van to pieces on the corrugations ) , camper trailer , tent or you can stay in their safari tents , or other cabins . There is a restaurant with an infinity pool and of course a pearl shop !! We checked in and drove around and over the hill and down sandy tracks to our bush campsite . Apart from a power box and a water tap tech screwed to the tree beside us, you are in the bush with lot’s of sand - grey sand !!

 As we are on the eastern side of the peninsular , we missed sunset proper , but got this one down at the beach 200m away . 

 We organised showers & tea and then sat outside , no lights , just gazing up at the stars through the trees above us , it was a beautiful night !!

   Another day dawned after a warm night , so we headed off to Kooljaman Resort at Cape Leveque . This resort is owned by a couple of communities , and charge $5 per head for day visitors , and more if you want to drive down to the beach - not on the beach , just down to it!! 

 The road in was again sandy & corrugated and narrow , but the view at the end is awesome!!!

Pindan red cliffs & sandstone , gave way to a white/orange beach and beautiful green/blue water . Paying our money , we toddled off down the track marvelling at what we were seeing. I will let the photos do the talking .

 There are random pieces of white clay in the sandstone , a bit strange to say the least .

 We walked up the beach about 2klms to the point where the cliffs turn and head east . There is an island just off the tip with a few straggly palm trees growing - not much else though !!

 Back to the resort and up to the lighthouse , and a look at the eastern beach - they say you can swim here , but we didn’t go down as we had an appointment after lunch at Cygnet Bay.

 We drove out and headed to One Arm Point - we thought we could have lunch there , before heading back for the tour - they wanted $5 per person entry , so we headed back to Cygnet Bay and had lunch there instead .

 Our tour was the Giant Tides Tour , where they take you out in a very powerful rib boat - it has twin 250 horse power engines and can really get up and boogey !! Kitted out with spray jackets and life jackets , we got into an interesting little boat - it had 3 wheels and drove us out to the water and then out to the rib anchored in the bay . Once the water got deep enough , it’s outboard motor took over and the wheels were lifted - you didn’t even get your feet wet !! 

 The tour started and we headed out through the swell , Lyn was copping a lot of spray on her side of the boat , and we both were getting wet later on . They took us out and around One Arm Point and into the Buccaneer Archipelago - about 2000 islands - we got to see about 6 today !! Rounding the point , and into the channel behind a small island , we could see the current flowing very quickly , there were eddy’s , whirlpools and water moving everywhere , the channel was moving at 16 knots - that’s pretty quick and enough to carry you a long way in a short time . There was a visible wave in the water around the island - the height difference was about 500 - 800 mm - almost like white water rapids !!  60 billion ( yes , billion ) litres of water move through here in 6 hours !! That’s about 16 times the amount of water in Sydney Harbour !!! That’s impressive !!!

The high tide mark is visible on the rocks - tides here can move up to 15m from low to high !! It’s the second highest tides in the world - highest tropical tides in the world !!! Canada has a place that has the highest tides !! 

One island we looked at is made of white quartz - although you wouldn’t know it by looking at it - it’s orange and red - from the pindan dust that is blown onto it from the mainland , it also is eroded strangely as well .

  

After about an hour and a half , we headed back to Cygnet Bay and transferred back to land again . This is the vies from the restaurant verandah .

 We headed back to the tent and relaxed with a beer or two , another really good day in our journey!!!!