Cape Leveque, Hunters Creek, One arm Point and musings on marital relations!

Monday 19th June
Kooljamon
Cape Leveque WA.

There are unusual things you see when couples are taken away from their normal environs. Take for example your standard couple in their early 50’s. Married for probable 25 years or more, live in the same house, shared the same bedroom for all that time. Why is it then that after so long together, the husbands snoring only affects them when they are away camping forcing him into purgatory, an exile of sorts each night. We’ve seen it many times now, a separate little tent for him some distance away from her be it in a campervan, trailer or tent. Whilst some may say “good for her”, it usually means that everyone else in the camp area now has to suffer his loud snorting, grumbling and snoring. Another one of life’s little mysteries I suppose. Suffice to say my patience was tested severely last night by the bloke set up right under our side window.

Vehicle maintenance morning this morning! First job was to crawl under the car and secure the bullbar again. Got it all done and then realised that it was a bit lopsided so I enlisted Johns help to hold it in place while I screwed it up. Mission accomplished by 9.00 a.m. There was much excitement at J & J’s place this morning also with vehicle loads of locals coming to park at the lookout, stare out to sea, point, shout and then drive off at a great rate of knots. This happened several times before we realised that they were looking for their boat which had slipped it’s moorings in a nearby bay and drifted off towards Timor. We could just make it out on the horizon about 6 km off shore, still upright thankfully but being driven offshore by the strong easterlies.

We had decided to take a drive down to nearby Hunters Creek. This involved a 7 km drive through deep sand along the eastern beaches and dunes of the Cape. The sand was very loose and deep and I had let down the tyres to under 20 psi to cope. The track skirted the bordering red dunes making an interesting contrast between the pristine white of the beach and the vibrant red of the cliffs and dunes.

Hunters Creek is a no-swim zone being haunted by big Salties. It’s a large tidal creek leading into a tidal mangrove swamps. You can drive along it but as I found, the trip can be a bit hairy at times with deep sand and short but sharp hills. Amanda and I found ourselves off track and tree-ward bound on one occasion just getting enough control back in time to miss the main trunk of it and collect the side branches as we passed. No damage outside a few scratches. We followed the creek along for several kilometres before turning back. No salties spotted. On the drive back I took a quick detour down to the beach to take some photos, a venture that nearly ended in tears with the sand being extra deep and soft. Luckily I managed to keep afloat long enough to get back across onto the main track, lesson learned!

We had morning tea back at camp then the 20-kilometre drive to see One Arm Point. Being responsible tourists, we called at the Administration office and paid our dollars then took in the sights of the place. Two crappy beaches, a rocky point and the fish hatchery and the severely understocked supermarket. Not worth the $5 per person admission. The highlight was seeing a sea eagle heavily laden with a fish struggling with the headwind across the lookout area. The local boot hill probably had the best view in the place actually.

On return to Kooljamon, we had lunch at the restaurant. No doubt the world’s best burger and a great view also. A bit more organising while we waited for lunch to settle and then down to the beach for a final swim and snorkel. We said goodbye to Jonathon and Lucy and their kids who had arrived in Leveque the day after us and had one of the beachside shelters for a couple of days. They’re heading back to Broome tomorrow for the rest of the week so we’ll not see them again. BBQ tea tonight and our last night of aperitifs at sunset. Bottle of white is in the freezer chilling as I type. Corellas are driving me mad in the trees above. Had a lovely BBQ dinner and several bottles of wine…as you do.