Leaving Broome and Cape Leveque

Monday 3rd June 2013 - Friday 7th June 2013

On our last night in Broome Craig went solo to the Ice House concert at Cable Beach.  He enjoying sitting under the stars listening to all the Ice House classics.

 
The next day we decided that we'd go to Cape Leveque seeing as we missed it on our last trip.  We took our camper and although the track was quite corrugated we made it to Middle Lagoon with little trouble.  When we got there we went for a bit of frisbee throwing and swimming in the clear waters that backed onto our campsite.  The kids soon got out though as they had been stung by something in the water that they thought may have been jelly fish. 

We met a family from Derby, who camped there every year, and we played a bit of beach cricket with them. 

 

We took a drive up to the top of Cape Leveque and after paying $5 per person we were allowed to explore the beaches of Kooljamon. 

  

 

 

 

On the way back we visited the Whalesong Cafe where we marvelled at the changing colours of the ocean while enjoying coffee and cake from the deck.

 

That night it started to rain slightly and as we had heard it was pouring down in Broome. We decided we should head back from Cape Leveque the next morning in case it rained heavily and the road became impassable. 

   

The trip back was very hairy as the rain set in...before long we were driving through a "river".  There was many a time where I thought we might get bogged although Craig did exceptionally well and we made it to the end of the 130km dirt road.  Here we encountered two other Canberra cars, which had also drove the in the crazy conditions, and we came to the conclusion that us Canberra people must be the only ones silly enough to attempt this drive.

  

We eventually got back to Broome and we heard that the Cape Leveque road had been closed about 30 minutes before we got back. Thank goodness we made it or we would have been stuck at the Cape for about 5 nights. 
 
Craig and Adam went to the Divers tavern that night to sample their famous lamb ribs and watch the State of Origin. They were the only New South Wales supporters in the room and they were very happy as New South Wales won that game.

It  poured all night and the camper got soaked so we spent the next day washing and drying almost everything we owned.

 

  A wet Cable beach van park

 

 

 

 

 

Broome (Catching up with Grandma and Grandad)

Sunday 26 May 2013 - Sunday 2nd June 2013

When we arrived in Broome Grandma and Grandad were already there.  The kids hung out in their van for a little while and then we went across the road to Divers Tavern to watch the North Melbourne game.  Unfortunately North lost by one point so we didn’t really have a very happy Craig.

Steve, who we had met at Tom Price, organised a table at the Mangrove Hotel to watch Staircase  to the Moon.  As we had pre arranged this reunion in advance with many of the families we had met on the road we ended up having a table for ten adults and lots of kids.  We arrived around 4.00pm, just in time for happy hour where we were able to buy Corona and lime served in buckets of ice for $5 per  Corona.  We had a brilliant night catching up with all our new found friends that we had met at various points in our travels. 

 

 

 

Staircase to the moon                                                                               

 Mif, Michelle, Tash, Belinda and I had a girls day which involved an hour long massage followed by a trip to Matso's Brewery for lunch.   We were all very impressed with our massages - and were all super relaxed by the time we hit the brewery.  The food at the brewery was fantastic and we sampled a number of their speciality beers including their famous chilli beer. 

The boys got their turn and went on a fishing charter the next day where they travelled 40 miles out to sea.  The highlight for Craig was catching a Spanish Mackeral.  It was hard work though as the boys had to get their fish in quick to avoid them being eaten by sharks.  The Spaniard made for some tasty meals in the days to come.

 

We spent two nights catching up with friends over drinks and nibbles while we watched the sun set over Cable beach.  Adam, Kai and Grandma also took an afternoon camel ride along cable beach.

 

 

 

 Sunset at Cable Beach

 

 

 

 

 

Craig, Dad and I spent a day at the races where I was able to buy a bargain dress for $50 reduced from $180.  We spent the day with Nathan and Steph and Mif, Darren and the kids.  Afterwards Craig and I headed out on the town and got a late night pizza.

 

 

 

 

Eighty Mile Beach and Port Smith

Thursday 23 May 2013 - Sunday 26 May 2013

As we drove along the Shay Creek road we did not see another car for roughly 130km’s.  When we turned onto the Great Northern Highway we realised quite quickly it was important to have our CB radio on the truckie channel to stay safe, as there were so many road trains and wide loads that frequented this highway. 

We arrived at Eighty Mile Beach and set up at one of the many campsites in this huge van park. 

Eighty Mile van park

 

We took a walk onto the beach and the kids were amazed at all the huge sand dollars and shells that covered  almost all areas of the sand.  We watched the sunset and chatted to our new friend Mif who was from Ulladulla.

 

Sunset on Eighty Mile Beach

 

 

 

Early morning moon setting on Eighty Mile Beach

Fishing at Eighty Mile Beack involves waiting for the last 2 hours of the run in tide - something that most of the people staying there do.  Armed with a tide chart the boys set up their rods in preparation for fishing the next day.

Craig and Adam drove down the beach with high hopes of catching a fish seeing as this was a very popular fishing spot.  The younger boys and I walked down the beach for a couple of km’s to find them.  The wind was so strong I had sand blowing in my face the whole way. Unfortunately the wind was no good for fishing and there were no fish caught despite about 80-odd people peppering the water with juicy baits. 
 

That afternoon we went to Mif and Darren’s van to watch the AFL and Craig announced that he was going to go for a fish that night.  A few people told him not to bother but he did it anyway.  Although Craig did not catch anything that night the only other guy "silly enough" to fish at night managed to hook a 20 pound Jew fish.  He ended up giving Adam a few fillets as Adam had talked to him the day before asking him how his fishing was going.  It was such a generous gesture from a stranger and we enjoyed a beautiful feed that night.

 

We went around to say goodbye to Mif, Darren and their kids Archie and Rosie.  As they had packed up and were leaving the same time we decided to travel to Port Smith together.  After we set up at the van park we took a drive to the lagoon.  To get to the water we had to wade through lots of mud and the kids played “dodge the mud crubs”.

The next morning Mif made us all some scrumptious pancakes and afterwards we packed up to head to Broome.

 

 

Port Smith