My favourite place so far! The scenery and beaches are amazing. Cape Leveque is the very tip of the Dampier Peninsula above Broome. The campground is called Kooljaman and there are only a few campsites available so you need to book. Luckily we were organised and had booked well in advance as we knew this was definitely somewhere we wanted to stay. Our campsite was lovely and shady and you could see some of the western beach, in fact as we were setting up I saw a humpback whale breaching – what a start to a fantastic few days!
Our campsite at Cape Leveque
Being positioned on the cape there is an eastern beach and a western beach. The western beach is the one you see in all the brochures. It has the red cliffs, white sand and blue/green water. We spent hours there wandering in amongst the cliffs. It is like nothing I have ever seen and has an aura of something ancient, powerful and almost magical. The photos look great, but don’t do the place justice.
The eastern beach is the swimming beach. We spent most of our time here, swimming and playing on the white sand. The water was warm and delightful. We all enjoyed exploring the rocks at low tide, collecting shells and looking at the hermit crabs.
Red stained ‘Kimberley Feet’ (no amount of washing can take the red off)
While we were here we did a spear making and cultural tour with Bundy. Bundy’s ancestors have lived in the area for as long as anyone can remember. He even showed us a human footprint made over 8000 years ago. No wonder indigenous people have such a connection to the land in which they grow up. Bundy taught the kids how to make spears – not completely traditional as they now use metal tips. Then he took them out into the inlet (Chile Creek) and they had a go at spear fishing. Unfortunately we didn’t get to cook and eat any fresh fish but they had fun. It was a bit disconcerting walking around in waist deep water after seeing crocodile tracks on the bank and having sharks pointed out to you. We watched the sunset over the ocean before saying goodbye to Bundy and heading back to the campsite.
We spent three nights at Kooljaman. The day we left did not go as we had planned. This is not unusual for this time of the year in Northern Australia as they burn off most of the land in winter. As we got closer though, it got darker and darker. We stopped the car and asked over the radio about the fire. Some people replied that they were heading north and had been told the road was closed due to the fire. We started slowly reversing – hard work in the sand and wondering if we should sit and wait it out. Then out of the smoke came the rural fire brigade. They tell us that we need to get out of there as the head of the fire is going to hit in about 3 minutes. We unhitched the trailer and the fire blokes helped us turn it around and re-hitch. By this stage we could see the flames right on the side of the road less than a hundred metres away. We drove back north and stayed the night at the Middle Lagoon campground. There are worse places to be stuck – we spent the afternoon at the beach collecting some pretty shells and watched the sunset through the smoke haze.
Bushfire over the road
Having a coffee at the Whale Song Cafe (near Middle Lagoon)
Campsite at Middle Lagoon
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