After roughing it for a few weeks on The Gibb River Road, we decided to stay at a resort style campsite while in Broome. We chose to be by the 22km long Cable Beach which had been recommended to us. We usually avoid these sorts of campsites, but it was nice to glamp it for a bit. We stayed a few days as we had to get some welding done on our car and also a wheel alignment. Not a bad place to have to relax for a few days! Days were spent down at the beach, visiting various attractions around town, eating out, and lounging by the pool. It was nice to spend some time by the ocean, as apart from Darwin, we have spent the last 7 weeks inland. I loved getting up at sunrise every morning and running along the beach. It’s been a long time in between runs as I haven’t really had many suitable places to go running. The many hikes we have done probably make up for this though.
After recharging in Broome, we set off towards The Dampier Peninsula. Our first two nights were spent in Pender Bay. When we arrived, we were awestruck by our absolute beachfront position. Myah was quick to declare “This confirms it. I am moving to Western Australia!”. Our excitement about our amazing view was slightly vanquished when the wind picked up in the night. I barely slept as the wind was so noisy, I was afraid our tent poles would snap. I kept looking at the others and wondering how does anyone sleep on a cliff edge during what felt like cyclonic winds in a tent? In the morning we found that even though we had closed the tent, dust had still managed to work its way inside and everything was covered in red dust. The winds eventually died down only to come back again the following night. This time I was prepared with headphones (meanwhile the others slept on regardless!). Wind aside, Pender Bay was beautiful, and we were able to enjoy some more beach time with swimming and exploring. It was great to be able to give the girls the freedom to explore the beach by themselves. They were down on the beach the entirety of our stay and came up only to eat. We were lucky enough to do a low-tide-only walk along the beach at sunset visiting caves and rock pools. We had the whole hike to ourselves and it was absolutely stunning.
After Pender Bay we drove up to the Northern end of The Dampier Peninsula to Kooljaman at Cape Leveque. Wow, this place is stunning! After setting up camp we decided to drive into the Aboriginal Community at One Arm Point as the Hatchery Tour had been recommended to us. After leaving our stunning campground, driving out there and paying the fee to enter the town, we were then told the tour leader had “done a runner”. Oh well, at least we were able to witness the tide rushing in. Here they have the second highest tides in the world and when the tide is going in or out of an inlet, it moves so quickly it appears more like a river than the sea. In the evening we were spoilt by wood-fired pizzas for dinner overlooking the ocean. We spotted migrating whales while the sun set and enjoyed the sweet sounds of The Nomadics. This is a very talented husband and wife duo who have been on the road for 11 years and have had 3 children in this time. Their mode of travel is a big blue truck that runs on vegetable oil. Their music is soothing to the soul.
The next morning, I raced down to the Eastern side of Cape Leveque and watched the sunrise. It’s unique being that you can watch the sunset and sunrise from the same campground. It was a great way to finish our stay.
We have had such a great time on The Western Coast of Australia, and I was sad to leave. I’ll miss the sea breezes, the warm nights and the amazing sunsets over the Indian Ocean. However, we will be back as there is still so much to be explored. For now though, the time has come for us to head East again, which means we are now embarking on the long journey home. At this point we have done almost 10,000 kms!
