Coulumb Point

Back in Broome, we did a few jobs then headed for Cable Beach.  One of the things we find fascinating in Broome is that the airport's basically in the centre of town and the flight path brings planes in over the ocean and seemingly between the sand dunes.  It's quite a sight from the beach. We thought we'd get a bit of culture and visited the Pearl Luggers display, then an art gallery and a photographic gallery.  To be an artist or photographer up here in the Kimberley would be a dream - you'd be surrounded by inspiration at every turn!

Flight path over Cable Beach

Much as we like Broome we couldn't wait to get back up on the Dampier Peninsula.  We saw some lovely spots on our drive a couple of days ago and loved the look of Coulumb Point, so after first exploring further north that's where we settled for a couple of days.  

It's not unlike Cape Leveque with the red cliffs, but in many ways is even nicer

 This is another spot where they allow bush camping, right on the beach too.  The sand is coloured by the sandstone cliffs so our feet were orange the whole time we were there, but it was so soft and lovely to walk on.  The sand that formed the beach at the base of the cliffs was normal colour.  Like most of the Kimberley beaches, the tides are huge here.  Low tide was great as the receding water revealed seashells and coral washed to shore.  You could walk way, way out and there were so many colours, patterns and reflections in the wet sand.  It made for great sunsets too.

That's where we camped - where Troopy's parked.  Phil's on his way
out to sea (to me) with a Happy Hour drink 

Another camping spot, right on the cliff top.
See what I mean about the reflections!

We had a great time during our couple of days here.  Being a "point" there were rocky outcrops with a different beach either side of them.  Plenty of fun to be had, especially with the contrast between low and high tide.  We did a lot of walking on the beach, playing on the rocks, picking up shells.

Phil didn't have to walk far to do his sand sculpture.  Of course
the lady got washed away with the high tide but he had a lot of
fun creating her.

This was quite a unique opportunity, camping so close to the sea.  It got pretty noisy at night with the tides but in a good way, far better than listening to a generator in a caravan park!  Although Phil was troubled at 1am by thoughts of the 9 metre tide reaching the Troopy and washing us out to sea! (It's okay, we knew we were above the high tide mark).

Quondong Point

Much as we loved Whale Song and Pender Bay we knew we had to leave eventually.  We didn't go far though :)  

Sitting in our campsite overlooking Pender Bay.  The colours are just beautiful

We had delicious pizza at the Whale Song Cafe, made with ingredients
grown in their garden.  And what a location!

There's a turnoff on the Cape Leveque Road which leads to some lovely spots right on the Dampier Peninsula coast and the one we chose was Quondong Point.  There are free bush camping sites up here, most on the headland overlooking the sea.  However most of these spots were taken by grey nomads in their off-road vans so we took some dirt tracks further north and found a wonderful site. It was behind some small sand dunes and in a real bush setting with plenty of shade.  Only metres away we could stand just above the beach and watch the whales playing out at sea!

Barely two minutes from our site to the sand.

Red cliffs and eroded rock formations along the shore

We ended up staying here for 5 days.  The weather's perfect, the scenery gorgeous, the campsite relaxing and whale-watching's addictive.  We saw them every day splashing around out in the distance.  Not close enough to photograph but we could clearly see their tails rising into the air and creating a huge splash when they hit the water.  We were lucky enough to see a couple raise themselves out of the water and dive back in - simply awesome.  Many hours were spent exploring the rocky outcrops, beachcombing, walking in the shallows and reading and relaxing.  We met a couple who camped nearby for a few nights and enjoyed their company too.

These crab trails could be seen everywhere in the mornings ...

... a result of all this activity around us every night!  Hermit crabs in their
dozens, all over the place.

Yesterday we left Quondong Point but before returning to Broome (for fresh water mainly) we explored a little further north along this coastal road (4x4 track).  The places we came across were simply stunning.  This is a pretty quiet, very natural, undeveloped part of the peninsula and without doubt the loveliest coastline we've ever seen.

A turtle shell, found by a fireplace and probably only recently been
a feast for some of the local indigenous people.

On the cliff tops - look at those colours!

Access road to one of the best beaches.

Near Coulumb Point, absolutely beautiful.

Never seen a beach like it.  Pristine.  We're going back!

So, having seen these amazing places yesterday, we decided that after re-stocking in Broome today (water, food, showers and washing) we'll head back up here tomorrow for a few more days of sun, sea, sand and superb, stunning scenery!  It's only about an hour and a half north and we're pretty excited about spending a few more days in the area.  Oh yes, and seeing the whales again will be fun.

We had a good day in Broome today, checking out a few more of the sights and learning a bit more about the pearling days.  As far as towns go, it's quite user-friendly and there's no denying that Cable Beach is a beautiful, classic Australian beach with its turquoise water and loooong stretch of white sand.  It was a 30+ degree day today, making staying up north as long as possible very enticing.

Pender Bay - Whale Song camp

19 July

I hadn’t planned on doing another post from the Dampier Peninsula but we have found ourselves a little gem of a place that just has to be shared.  Pender Bay, still about 120km north of Broome and the Whale Song Café and campground.  We've booked another two nights here, we just love it.  All I can say is … look at the photos and add the sound of the ocean, the warmth of the sun, the stillness of the bush ... J

Admittedly a bit off the beaten track ...

Didn't even need to get out of bed for this morning's sunrise!

Huge tides here too, about 9m.  Then within 6 hours the water's back up to
the base of the red cliffs.  Has to be seen to be believed and even watching it,
it's hard to believe.  That's Troopy on the cliff top over Phil's right shoulder.

The most unique bathroom - love it!  When "in use" you turn
the string of shells around so the other sign shows

    

Window on the right, mirror to its left.                                                   Feels like showering under a waterfall

There are only 7 campsites here so it's very quiet.  The owners have a house and little cafe further along the cliff, about a 5 minute walk.  They grow a lot of their vegies and make a small range of good, simple food.  We plan to have lunch there tomorrow.  Meanwhile, another sunset to look forward to tonight - cheers!

Cape Leveque

17 July

Today was a beach day with plenty of rest and relaxation.  It was overcast most of the day, but very warm.  We finished with another gorgeous sunset while watching for whales from the campground.  There were a couple went past earlier and then we managed to spot some activity in the further distance – spouting and splashing.  Too far away to see more than that but still it was exciting.

Here are just a few photos from Cape Leveque.  Apologies for all the sunset shots but they are so spectacular (the sunsets I mean).

Tonight's sunset

Tonight's sunset

Last night's sunset

       

For $75 a night you can rent a beach shelter to camp under or next to

Eastern beach

So red!

Western beach

Dampier Peninsula, Cape Leveque

15-16 July

Just north of Broome is the turnoff onto the Cape Leveque Road which takes you to the top of the Dampier Peninsula.  The first 30 km or so is bitumen then there’s about 90km that’s unsealed, sandy, dusty, corrugated and in parts feels like driving up a dry riverbed due to the road being below ground level.  It’s hard to see in the photo, but the sides of the road are way higher than the road surface.  The colour of the sand is unbelievably intense.

Anyway, after a couple of detours to check out some of the bush camping spots for on the way back (a bushfire went through here last weekend so much of it’s burnt out), we finally reached bitumen again.  Once we reached the Cape Leveque turnoff, there was another 5km of very rugged sandy track … just after the bushfire further south, this area had 200mm of rain last Sunday and the track’s severely gouged and has big puddles of red, muddy water.  However, once we checked into the campground and saw the beach the effort to get here was forgotten!  Our campsite overlooked the red cliff tops and the Indian Ocean, with views along the pristine white beach. 

 

Sunset over the ocean from our campsite

About 6 am next day

Our first thought was to get down onto that beach and what a treat we were in for with the setting sun reflecting on the red sandstone cliffs.  The colours in the photos are true.  We’ve never seen anything so intense; it outdoes Uluru easily.  We walked right along the beach enjoying this truly beautiful sight.

Simply spectacular

Looking south

Cape Leveque is on the tip of a peninsula so there’s a western beach and eastern beach, with the Kooljaman campground between the two.  The next morning we went for a walk along the eastern beach and over the rocky tip of the peninsula around to the western beach.  The tide was low meaning good access.  The tides up here are massive, approximately 9.5 metres at the moment, so high tide’s very high and low’s very low.  Much of the activity around here and also Derby on the other side of King Sound is dictated by the tides.  Anyway, the low tide meant we could wander around the rocks, find some nice seashells and enjoy the wide sandy beach.

We finally dragged ourselves away from the beach to drive about 8km north then follow another sandy track east to visit the Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm.  As the farm tours were fully booked for today, we decided to do the Pearl Patrol tour which includes going out on the boat tour.  This commenced with a really informative talk and dvd about pearling, the foundation of this particular farm and the anatomy of the oyster and shell in which the pearls are cultivated. 

The boat part was fun, the water a little choppy but not as bad as the driver thought it might be.  It only seats about 6  (there were 4 of us). We rode out to see the rows of ropes on which the pearl shell racks hang.  We saw the cleaning boats, where they haul the racks up every 28 days and clean the shells before returning them to the ropes.  There’s also a barge out there which contains xray machines – Lyndon Brown who developed the farm believes this has been the biggest innovation to the business.  We could see the seeding shed on the shore, where they put shells in baskets into water which simulates the tides.  When the tide’s low the shells open slightly and staff take the opportunity to put a wedge in to keep them open so they can inject tissue into them as part of the cultivation process.  

We saw some of the islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago while we were out there. Then it was back to land and into the ‘gallery’ for ‘pearl appreciation’.  Here we were shown and able to feel various types of pearls, learning the difference between a valuable (perfectly round & lustrous) pearl and lesser ones.  We were encouraged to try on an $18,000 string of pearls – pity we didn’t get a photo of that!

Returning to the Cape Leveque Road, it was only another 6km or so up to One Arm Point (Ardyaloon) which is an Aboriginal community.  There’s a $10 admission charge each which included a visit to the hatchery where they breed trochus for both its meat and its shell products.  This is a shelter with about a dozen round tanks containing various species of marine animals..  A young German woman guided us around, lifting creatures from the water so we could see them clearly – trochus (a bit like abalone meat), urchins, clams etc.  She fed the clown fish (which are vey cute!) and explained how each has its own anemone and they look out for each other.

The trochus hatchery

Clown fish and their anemones

sea urchin

In one tank were a couple of barramundi.  She gave a piece of fish to a gentleman to feed to the barra and it came up and sucked it swiftly and noisily from his fingers!  Glad it wasn’t me feeding it.  This young German woman really seemed to know her stuff. We learned plenty.  Mind you we both wondered why there were no indigenous people working there? 

We stopped by one of the beaches for a bit of lunch, watching the water which is forced through the funnel shape of King Sound running in several directions then stopping as the tide turned.  The tide activity is phenomenal up here.

The Ardyaloon airstrip (red dirt) runs alonside the beach

Through the bedroom window