Broome Region Day 38 - Broome to Point Coulomb

Day 38 - Sunday 29/7/01
Start - Broome
Stop - Point Coulomb (via Barred Creek, Quondong, and James Price Point)
Trip Odometer - 95.6km
Stopped time - 3.58hrs
Moving average - 42.7km/hr
Moving time - 2.14hrs
Max speed - 6.04hrs

The Jacka’s drove up to Cape Leveque for a few days, where we have previously been so we decided to check out the beaches north of Broome where we haven’t…

We also decided that we would record the track and provide detailed trip access information on ExplorOz as a trek note for this area as it is certainly worthy for both great beach camping, fishing and just enjoying the coastline – and best of all the camping is free.

We spent most of the day checking out every twist and turn in the tracks, visiting every campsite and consequently ended up getting bogged in sand twice and putting some serious scratches down the side of the car – some of these camps are very rough and overgrown.

We aimed to get as far north as Cape Bertholet but at Point Coulomb the Shire of Broome have posted a sign saying the road north is closed. This sign was ignored by some that we watched continue up and others heeded the sign and turned back. We also turned back but found an ideal beach camp half-way along the coastline between Pt Coulomb and James Prices Point. There is a fabulous view of this sandy coastline looking north from James Price Point and we nearly stayed there but the access to the beach was by scrambling over rough pindan cliffs and not what I had in mind as ideal for our baby. The spot we picked was one of just a few access tracks that lead to the beach proper in this area and the sand was very soft and the tide mark seemed high. The tides were neap for a few days yet we still ensured our camp was set well back. Getting there was the trouble – we got bogged again and even letting almost all the air out of the tyres didn’t work… we almost had to unload the ton of weight in the back when our beach digging and some heavy right-footing on the gas pedal did the job (at 11psi).

In the end, it was an ideal camp and I was able to let Leah crawl around to her heart’s content in the sand.