West Coast Day 103 - Broome

We packed up our tent and trailer on Thursday and drove the 220km to Cape Leveque.

The road was soft and sandy, but bright red. The trip took 2½ hours which wasn't too bad but it was hard going with the trailer in some narrow sections when we had to pass oncoming vehicles.

We arrived for a late lunch and set up our tent in a beautifully shaded, grassed area. There were only 2 other campers, one of which were the Adcocks.

The camping area was just above the red pindan cliffs with the fabulous beach of the Cape Leveque coastline below.

The area's beauty is striking with the colours of the turquoise sea set against the white sand running beneath the red cliffs.

With just one look, we knew we'd stay longer. This was only the second place we'd visited on the whole trip where we had to make a booking, which seemed strange because it was deserted.

We set off in the car for a better look. Only a few hundred metres away, the road dropped over a hill and revealed a stunning view of a bay. The views here were even better. We drove along the sand above the beachline and found 8 "Beach Shelters" which were craftily made huts for rent at $15 per person per night.

Each hut was constructed with coppers log frame and laced with palm fronds. The floor was sand and the front of each hut had an unobstructed view of the Indian ocean and headland. Although basic, each hut contained a concrete floored cold shower and picnic table and was given an Aboriginal name. We chose Ugamo.

We found the Adcocks next door and spent the afternoon swimming and lazing about. After packing up for the afternoon we made a 7km beach run out to Hunter Creek which was even more spectacular. The creek was lined with coral walls and then dropped off to deep, tidal water, which was said to be good for fishing.

We stopped along the way back to collect shells and take photos. I just loved this place. Unfortunately, we managed to get a flat tyre but we hadn't noticed it until we were back at camp after watching a beautiful sun set over the beach, as it does on the West Coast of Australia.

Poor David had to fix yet another flat tyre - our 6th for the trip. It's an awful job and it takes a few hours to do it properly. I was raked in to work the jack and wheel brace too so we both were hot and sweaty at the end of the day. The Adcocks had invited us over for "after-boys-have-gone-to-bed" drinks but we fell asleep before they did!

The following day was Friday and we set off early to walk on the low tide around the headland. We found lots of caves formed in the high cliffs and discovered that a channel separated the headland and the point was in fact an uninhabited island. We thought it strange that the lighthouse was not on the island but behind the campground.

That afternoon we snorkelled out to some exposed rocks off the beachfront but the viz wasn't great although we did see wrasse, parrotfish and butterfly fish.

Not long after our snorkel, we noticed a number of cars had arrived. Being Friday, it looked like the locals were coming up for the weekend from Broome. In the end, almost all the beach shelters were allocated to paying campers and we had to move out of our beach shelter to share the Adcocks. We had a lovely afternoon and enjoyed the company of Dorothy and Rob and the children, Jackson and David. Little David told us that his Daddy went out in the water but he only had goggles so it was called "goggling". For the rest of the weekend, the Adcocks and us spent the days together. We both extended our stay until Monday 2/11/98 and returned to Broome after dropping in to look at the well-known pearl shrine in the Aboriginal community church at Beagle Bay. We found a few muddy sections on the return trip, which reminds us that the wet is quickly approaching. Dorothy and I compared notes for our trip south of Broome and plan to meet up along the way. David and I offered to babysit David and Jackson on Monday night in Broome to give Dorothy and Rob a night out in Broome to celebrate their anniversary. We parted company on Tuesday morning and travelled 365km to Eighty Mile Beach where we planned to stop for just one night.