Fri 31st, Cape Leveque

A bad nights sleep with the symptoms of a pending cold still present. Have breakfast then do a couple of jobs on the camper trailer, fix the hole with some epoxy putty and remove a few stones caught between the stone guard and the body. Camper trailer battery is down so put the car on its own solar panels, the folding Redarc ones.

View from our beach shelter

The hole in the camper floor.

Time now to catch up with the blog and then go up to the office where there is mobile service to upload it.

We have a fishing trip booked for 1:30 this afternoon. Chris, Helen and Mike join Jeff and myself to make up the minimum numbers. We spend the first hour trolling where birds are attacking baitfish being molested by predators. All hook ups are on the left hand side but all fish are too small and are released. Jeff unfortunately misses out on at least bringing a fish in as he was the first in the queue on the right hand side.

We then try reef fishing. Unfortunately most of the catches are once again too small. Chris catches the first keeper, Mike picks up a couple of keepers on a handline. I get an undersize Coral Trout (tears of blood), another of my catches is pounced on by a shark before I can boat it and finally I catch an emperor which is a keeper.

After we return to shore I fillet the fish, the resulting fillets are only enough for four people so we couldn't even catch enough to feed all six of us. After dinner we gather around the fire until we finally retire for the evening.

 

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Thu 30th, Middle Lagoon to Cape Leveque

Up at 6:30am, the sea breeze has abated over night so we are able to easily brew some coffee and boil the billy for breakfast and the inevitable wash up. Pack up goes smoothly Chris feels she can play her normal part. I've still got the symptoms of a pending cold and have had another bad nights sleep.

We get away around 8:30am and exit via the dirt track back to the bitumin. We go into Lombadina which we have heard is an interesting aboriginal community, we are also hopeful of buying bread there as we have heard that the bakery is very good. We stop at the office to register and who do we run into but Barry Palmer from the Sunshine Coast Bushwalker's. Small world.

We register at the office and pay our $10 entry fee to be told that today is not one of the days they bake. Bugger! We go to their local shop and pick up some mozzie colis and some wheatbix, I've forgotten to buy cereal in Broome so this is a god send. It is a lovely clean community with freshly graded roads and lawn everywhere.

We continue onto Cape Leveque and register, we need to wait a little while for them to service our beach shelters so we have a coffee in the restuarant.

We go down to the beach shelters and find that booking them almost a year earlier has paid dividends. There are four that are really beach front and we have three of these. By far the best of the bunch! Setup trailers and and move in. The shelters have picnic tables, showers and water, benches, wood fire setups with BBQ grills, firewood and a rubbish bin, A swim is quickly on order as it is a warm day and the water looks very inviting. It is a lovely place.

Next thing you know but who do we see but Leslie who we last saw at Crossing Pool. She is a pharmacist who is travelling around Australia by herself in a Prado, working from time to time. She said the beach at Lombadina was truly beautiful, looks like we should have gone in.

After lunch I go for a walk down to the fishing beach where nobody seems to be doing very well and then wander across to have a look at the western beach after which another swim and a shower are in order.

Thai chicken and potato curry for dinner followed by red wine around the fire.

 

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Wed 29th, Middle Lagoon

Woken up by Chris at 3:00am, the spill proof water mug she has taken to bed has spilled so the top sheet and her blanket need to be replaced. She is not that well today feeling the effects of doing too much the previous day.

Our campsite on the cliff

The fox hole

I get up at 6:30am and shortly afterwards go for a pre-breakfast fish for 3/4 of an hour. Not even a nibble. Try a bit later in the morning to catch some live bait with no success.

From the point back towards our campsite.

Take a big walk in the afternoon around the campsite prior to leaving it othe following day.

Have got the symptoms of a pending cold when I go to bed.

 

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Tue 28th, Broome to Middle Lagoon

We have a Major packup in the morning as the annex and all walls were deployed. Chris is well enough to provide a lot of assistance which is much appreciated. Once again we do it in good time.

We then head out of Broome and turn left into the Cape Leveque road. We go into Beagle Bay where the church is really worth a visit, there is a lot of pearl shell used throughout its decoration. Jeff and Helen didn't look at the itinerary and missed this and went on ahead of this.

We take the Middle Lagoon turnoff and follow the road in. A bit rough in patches but not to bad as long as you go fast enough to float over the corrugations. We arrive there to find no sign of Jeff and Helen and figure they must have already found some where to camp. This is not the case though, they arrive some 10 minutes later having missed the turn off which had only one small sign partially hidden.

We decide on a campsite on the cliff overlooking the beach whereas Jeff and Helen opt for a campsite back off the beach and partially protected. Mike and Sue camp near them when they come in later in the day.

Go for a fish in the afternoon and pick up two tropical long toms and a wrasse. Try cooking the long toms whole but this is not a success as the rib cage bones do not hold onto the backbone. They may be classified as good eating but it is not worth the effort.

 

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Mon 27th, Broome

Go into Broom early and drop the Prado off for the service at 7:15am requesting it to be ready by 12 noon. From there I buy breakfast then walk the town once before the shops open. I repeat the exercise again after the shops have opened. A couple of good photographic studios with some nice shots of the staircase to the moon and an aboriginal coroboree.

About 11am after a coffee I get sick of the tourist thing and decide to go back to Toyota and wait for the car there. Get a call on the walk back to say it is ready.

Do a final shop for salad vegies and a few other odds and sods. I've completely forgotten to buy breakfast cereal as it turns out.

Repack the car in preparation for leaving Broome in the morning.

 

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Sun 26th, Broome

Chris is well enough to do the Pearl Farm bit today. So I take the rods off the car prior to the drive.

We leave at about 9am for the drive to the Willy Creek Pearl farm where the tour consists of an introduction to Pearl Farming by an Irishman who has been in the country for 8 weeks, has a bit of a gift for blarny. This is followed by a morning tea with damper and then there is a boat tour out to some of the pearl racks. It finishes off in the shop with Chris getting to wear a pearl necklace for a while.

Chris modelling a pearl necklace

We get back to Broome and I unpack a lot of the car for the service in the morning.

Around 5pm we go to the Mangrove Hotel to watch the staircase to the moon at 6:30pm when the moon rises over the exposed mud flats of Roburn Bay. Very crowded at the pub, hard to get a drink. Would have been better off with our own stuff on the sand hills just before the Mangrove Pub.

 

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Sat 25th, Broome

Chris sick

Chris is a little bit better this morning so I refrain from getting another Doctor's appointment for Monday.

I go and do some further shopping: a wind guard for the stove, wine glasses (our Govino ones are splitting), a blanket for me, and a portable lamp. I wander into Tackle World Broome and see some rod repair gear and ask how long to get a rod fixed, they say 10 minutes so go and get my rod with the broken tip. leave Tackle World with a fixed rod and new buckets to replace the one I lost the lid of in the gale at Mesa.

In the afternoon I have a fishing attempt on Cable Beach north on an ebb tide. No luck,not even a touch. Interesting though as every 10 minutes had to move another 10 metres down the beach as the 8m tide went out.

More wild barra with chips for me for dinner, Chris had soup.

I'm informed that we are going on a pearl farm tour tomorrow morning, there go my plans of fishing the making tide for a couple of hours.

 

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Fri 24th, Broome

Chris gets up and has breakfast then retires back to bed. She is well and truly sick with something.

Do some urgent shopping. Some food, a cryovaced meat order, straps instead of bungies to properly secure the camper trailer fridge and a USB memory stick to copy the corrupted camera memory card to so I can reformat it.

Come back to look after the invalid, don't like how well she is and manage to get her agreement to a doctor's appointment at 1:30pm. We get an intern who is doing some practical work. Because Chris has complained of some chest pain she gets an ECG as well. Final conclusion after 2.5 hrs is a virus and no treatment.

Put Chris back to bed and go pick up the meat order and some strepsils and more Aspro Clear.

 

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Thu 23rd, Pardoo Station to Broome

Wind picks up a lot earlier this morning with the annex awning outside starting to flap at around 3am. Finally I pull the poles down and let it rest against the camper at about 5:30am. If we put it up again in the wind I'm going to have to put up all the walls as well to stabilise it.

Chris has the symptoms of a cold developing.

A big packup with the annex awning and the travel awning both deployed. Still managed it reasonably quickly and on the road around 8:30am. Big days drive, a bit over 500km. We forget about driving for fuel economy and concentrate on getting kilometres under the belt.

Get to the Palm Grove Caravan Park at just before 3pm. Check in and set up the annex with all walls, forecast is for another three days of strong winds before it starts to abate. The sites are quite well protected with big trees to help break the wind.

Fish & chips for dinner from the corner store. Very nice wild Barramundi and a good price. All their food actually looks to be well priced.

 

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Wed 22nd, Pardoo Station

Night passes peacefully and we are allowed to sleep in without intrusions. Wind is mild when we get up and have breakfast. Around 8am wind strength grows to around 20 knots. Tropical roof is blown off again.

The station opens the road down to Pardoo creek so I go down for a flick just after high tide with a few hardbody lures and some soft plastics, nothing shows any interest to either me or another angler who is also trying.

Chris and myself discuss what and where to go with this ongoing wind, we don't find Pardoo exciting enough to want to stay. Decide to move onto Broome a day early so call the Palm Grove Resort to make sure we can get in.

Go down again in the afternoon as I have some salted down pilchards I want to get rid of. Low tide, the water level in the creek has dropped 3m. Nothing is interested in the pillies. Return to camp and Jeff and Helen have arrived mid-afternoon.

Wind continues to blow until late afternoon. Roast beef purchased from Ballara station for dinner.

 

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Tue 21st, Pt Samson to Pardoo Station

Woken up to the sounds of trucks starting up from the car park next to the caravan park at 5:40am, after which there was a succession of them. No strong winds overnight. Chris finishes the washing doing the towels in the morning.

Jeff and Helen are staying in Point Samson for another night.,Mike and Sue are probably going down to Marble Bar which they skipped on the way over. We are on the road again heading for Pardoo Station which we expect to be a bit better protected than Cape Kerudren and with less people.

Arrive Pardoo Station around 1pm and book in for two nights and setup camp. Road down to Pardoo Creek and the beach is closed and expected to open tomorrow. Sit around and chat to fellow campers until the afternoon has suddenly disappeared.

Chris does chicken legs in a mushroom and red wine sauce for dinner. Yummy!

 

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Mon 20th, Robe River to Point Samson

The wind finally starts abating around 4am, by the time we get up at 7am it has gone, there was very little further rain from the system. Pack up (including the loo) and on the road again.

Blogging on the bog!

We've checked the forecast and there are really no options to avoid the wind apart from places we've already been. The plans were,to go into nice coastal spots on the way back up to Broome but I can't see them being that nice with a gale blowing. This morning we are going into Karatha for some shopping on the way to Point Samson.

Chris' hand is healing well and is now doing most things with it.

Rang a friend in Brisbane and heard about the Coral Bay couple who died while snorkeling on the beach near Coral Bay. We've all been doing this over the past week.

Book into the Cove Caravan Park, nice clean facilities. Dinner at the cafe under the local tavern across the road with Mike and Sue who are staying in Cossack.

 

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Sun 19th, Ningaloo Station to Robe River Rest Area

On the move again. Up before 7am to a brilliant sunrise and pack up to hit the road after 9am. It is nearly midday by the time we have checked out of the station, got back to the bitumin and reinflated tyres.

Ningaloo is the first place we've visited that really has not lived up to my expectations. We lost free days we had picked up there to bad weather, we lost two days of our time on Ningaloo Station to the same weather system. The lost days meant I did not get to do a fishing charter plus when I'd finally worked out where and how to fish the beach here just in time to leave it.

Campsite at Robe River Rest Area

Camped overnight at the Robe River Rest Area 117km north of Nanutarra, in fact the other side of the road from it where Jeff had spotted two rubbish bins. We drove well off the road and had a private campsite with a fire, there was no one else on this side of the road whereas the rest area proper was quite crowded. Some patchy light rain up until 9:30 when we went to bed. The rain then turned into another night of gale force winds and flapping canvas. We have another weather system moving into the north coast of WA bringing strong winds to the area for the next week.

Hundreds of noisy white cockatoos in the river

 

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