Brroome Brroome (part 3)

This morning our departure from the caravan park is a little different than usual. We pack the car with supplies, lock up the caravan and drive off to explore the Dampier Peninsula without the caravan in tow. The road we are taking is corrugated, sandy and is recommended for 4WD vehicles only. The first 100klms are as described as above, but the 2nd 100klms are bitumen. However any roads leading off the main road are all sandy and lots of fun. Did we mention the colour red? Did we mention that after some rain, the road conditions can be challenging? Or that one could end up driving through a rather enormous puddle and end up looking like one of the characters from Lightning McQueen!!  Below is a picture of some cars manouvering themselves around the rather enormous puddle.

Unfortunately, we were not as smart as others! Saw the puddle too late and rather than stopping and potentially getting bogged we floored it and went through in a mighty spray of red. Kids thought it fantastic, dad wondered how long this may take to clean up. It wasn't until we stopped at our first destination that we truly appreciated the full scope of the covering of red mud. 

Arriving at the old Beagle Bay Mission to see the Church and its famous mother of pearl oyster shell altar we saw what our car looked like with a complete respray.

This beautiful little sacred heart Church was consecrated in 1918. The mission itself was established in 1890 by French Trappists and the mission lease was transferred to its aboriginal inhabitants in 1972

After leaving Beagle Bay, and the amused looks of the locals at our cars appearance, we drove 21klms to the turnoff for Middle Lagoon. 33klms of soft red dirt later we arrived at our spartan lodgings for the night. Budget accomodation with million dollar views!!

Four walls of shade cloth, a ceiling fan, mosquito nets over the beds and a bar fridge was the very basic conditions, but with a magnificent beach all to ourselves we couldn't have been more pleased.

Time for some beach fishing, however the fish won this particular round!

Then time for a fire so we could cook our steaks and snags on the cast iron hotplate.

                                                           Goodnight everyone!!

The next morning we regretfully leave Middle lagoon to explore the rest of the Dampier peninsula. First stop was at the Cygnet Bay oyster farm where we enjoyed a most magnificent, and unexpected, breakfast at the Mantle Cafe. As we were a couple of hours early for the 11 o'clock tour we left there for One Arm Point, 10 mins down the road, for the tour of the trochus shell farm and aquaculture ponds.

These are some of the beautifully polished trochus shells which are sent mainly to Italy to be cut up for buttons. The local Ardyaloon community use the income from this venture to help finance their local school and other projects.

The school children also help seeding the reefs with the baby shells which are then later harvested.

Linda getting up close and personal with a barramundi who has just 'boofed' the fish from her fingers.

Then back to the Oyster farm for the tour. Tilly, our guide, explained the history of this place and the family who started and still run it. We also learnt about the whole farming process including how the South Sea Pinctada Maxima oyster is seeded to produce the pearls.

We were also told how the huge tides create the perfect growing conditions for the oysters as lots of water flowing past the oysters brings it more food.

                                                                               Cygnet Bay 

Then we were shown the different colours, lustres, shapes, grades and prices of pearls. Some of the strands shown here are worth over $12,000!! Of course we couldn't leave without a memento. If you just heard a scream it was Robbie's hip pocket!!

No, we didn't buy that strand but it sure looked good!!

After a smoothie and drinks at the cafe we left to have a swim at the aboriginal owned Kooljaman wilderness camp below the lighthouse at Cape Leveque.

After sighting whales in the distance and a quick swim at the stunning west beach, where the red cliffs meet the white sand and cobalt blue sea and sky, we reluctantly head back down the dirt road to our caravan back in Broome.

We avoided the big mud pond on the way back, much to the dismay of the kids, then we passed the protest camp at the turnoff to James Price Point where Woodside has a proposal for a large gas processing plant. To quote the ABC "If you're 'no gas' then the community is at grave risk from industrialisation. If you're 'pro gas' then this industry will build the community and help the disadvantaged. But in the meantime, the biggest threat to the Broome community is the ongoing argument, the anger and the abuse both sides are guilty of."  

So as we rejoin the bitumen and approach Broome the question remains....

Where do we find a carwash???

Brrrroome Brrrroome (part 2)

We really feel like we are on new holiday. Away at some beach resort!! Normally we would be eager beavers to search out our new home, check out historical sites.......this time it is shall we go swimming at the pool? When are you ready to go to the beach? Who wants to go fishing????? With the added bonus of who wants to come to the Courthouse Markets this morning?? This market reminded us, well Linda mostly, of the Balnarring Market. Small, friendly and very welcoming.

We are sure this wasn't on the back of the packet for uses of the ratchet strap. Amazingly, Timna still talks about gymnastics a lot, especially all the girls. Although I think she might prefer her regular beam over this one!!!

 Aren't they cute???? It has actually been wonderful for us as parents to watch their friendship change.

The smaller you are the easier this gets!!! Needless to say Boaz make this trick look easy.

Robbie on the other hand!!!!! Note: Linda didn't even try!!

After the market, armed with a new dress for Linda, lots of temporary tattoos on the kids bodies and some yummy fresh woodfired bread  which sure will be nice to have compared with all the frozen loaves of late, Rob went off to rediscover his favourite shop in the world ..Tackleworld!!!! The kids and Linda go off to play on the beach. Yes they swam between the flags.....yes they wore sun screen, yes there were no box jellies, crocs, or sharks, and yes the Indian Ocean lived up to all expectations. Warm, turquoise and crystal clear. They played in the water for nearly 2 hours........ whilst Rob shopped at Tackleworld. 

 We were to return later that afternoon for a pre sunset camel ride. These guys got to ride on Aqaba.

Boaz and Linda rode on Abbasim. The lady that owns these camel is a true Cameleer. Her name is Alison Bird and she lives and breathes for the camels. Alison actually trained all her camels from the wild and trekked in the Australian outback with them for over 7 years. Her staff were so friendly, answering every question our kids could muster, and trust me they can ask alot.

 Loving the sun......not only its sunsets provide spectacular pictures.

A father and daughter special moment.

Another one for the sunset file. We are totally smitten by Cable Beach.

Introducing the kids new friends, Josh and Aiden. Excitement when great team work resulted in the kids having success. A great fighting fish, but unfortunately not a great eating fish.

Later that night we went out for dinner. A rare event. Yummy food, great venue overlooking the mangroves. However for Timna it was all about the mash!!

They do still like each other....possibly a bit more then they did when this adventure began!!! we are all having a wonderful time in Broome, and no one wants to leave. But another adventure awaits, and this one is going to take us aprox 200kms north through the Dampier Peninsula. This is not the home of Red Dog, we will get there soon, but rather the home of Cape Leveque, pearl farms and many other beautiful places.. off we go.

Brrroome Brrroome (part 1)

Leaving Derby we make the relatively short couple of hundred clicks drive to the resort town of Broome. This is the place we wanted to come to for our honeymoon but we opted for Vanuatu as it was the wet season here.

 We head to our caravan park at the fabled Cable Beach, after the obligatory stop at the information centre, get ourselves set up, have a quick play in the pool, then head for the beach to check out the sunset. We are doubly excited as we thought we would not be able to swim at the beaches due to box jellyfish but the staff informed us that no jellies had been reported yet.

We set up in our spacious site and begin our holiday within our holiday!

The pool was to become the place where we all meet  new friends and spend lots of time over the next week.

You can imagine this was hard to take!!!! The cave behind the waterfall was a favourite place for the kids and their friends.

We then drove down the narrow road at the end of the beach carpark and found ourselves on the most magnificent wide, clean and beautiful beach.

Being able to drive right down on to the beach is such a buzz and our first experience just makes us want to yell "woohoo!!"!!!

The sunsets here are just magical and the water so clear and inviting.

We had imagined coming here to Broome for many years and our first day here exceeded our highest expectations.

Gia, this is for you with love from Timna! Sorry no sea grass for the hair!

The famous Broome camels on which we will have a ride tomorrow. There are red, blue and yellow ones and we have booked the blue. They give all females complimentary pearl earrings. Bubkes for the blokes. Outrageous!!!