Thursday July 12

Here we are back in Broome after our five days on the Dampier Peninsula, so time for a quick update!

The three days in we enjoyed in Broome before taking to the tent again just whisked by, as time seems to do.  We visited the ‘must do’ sights such as Gantheaume Point, with its amazing coloured sandstone, overlaid in parts by incredible red mudstone.  Along the cliff, the sandstone has eroded into most impressive shapes and as always, the contrasts in colour between the rock, the sky and the sea are beautiful:

The Japanese Cemetery is testimony to the perils of the early days of the pearling industry – more than 700 pearlshell divers lie here, most  with hand-carved sandstone headstones.  Very moving, especially when one is able to read the age of the diver, as many of them were very young indeed.

Cable Beach is another well-known spot, so a visit here is mandatory.  Murray had a swim and we then joined the other tourists who had driven onto the beach further on from the swimming beach and checked out the Cable Beach camels.  We chose not to take a camel ride, but did find the camels themselves interesting.  This is also the nudist beach, but the camels left those sights for dead as well!

 We were lucky that our time in Broome coincided with the famed Staircase to the Moon and even though we had to join the throng of thousands of other tourists, the reflection of the full moon across the mudflats of Roebuck Bay was stunning.  Sadly the lack of a tripod meant that the photos we tried to take were shockers!

A walk through Chinatown and Johnny Chi Lane is also part of any visit to Broome.  We had heard so many times that Broome is very touristy etc etc and although this is true, the old parts of the town are very interesting and we enjoyed wandering around. 

Caught up with Dave and Chrissy, the couple we met at Silent Grove campground, at Matso’s Brewery for tea one night.  Murray tried two of their hand crafted beers – Mango and Chilli and Ginger, whilst I managed to down a couple of Mango ciders.  Very nice!

Had a drive out to Birds Australia’s Broome Bird Observatory, which is situated on Roebuck Bay and is one of the world’s five top wader bird sites.  Even though we knew that the adult birds would not be around, we had hoped to see some of the young birds which do not migrate in their first year, but no such luck.  Did enjoy yet more beautiful seascapes though and saw a few bush birds and one white Eastern Reef Egret.

Saturday July 7 was the day on which we set out on our much-anticipated trip up to the Dampier Peninsula.  We had not been able to get into Kooljamon campground up at Cape Leveque because of the school holidays, so we had booked instead into Bullys Camp at Djoodoon, which is on the eastern side of the Peninsula not far short of the Cape.  Amazingly, when we stopped on the side of the road at the start of the dirt road through the Peninsula to let some air out of the tyres, we were next to a couple we had met in the bar at Fitzroy Crossing – Josie and Graham.  They now also had their son Steve with them and were not certain about their destination, so decided to come along to Djoodoon with us for a couple of days.

After some 200km of dirt and sealed road, we came to the turn off to Djoodoon and as we went on through the sand and then some pretty interesting large wet areas, Murray was beginning to seriously doubt my map reading skills:

 After close to half an hour, we duly arrived at Bully’s Camp and introduced ourselves to Jeff, who runs the campground.  The campgrounds up on the Dampier Peninsula are in Aboriginal communities and Jeff looks after the camp for Bully’s family.  The ‘facilities’ were pretty basic and Jeff was a little 'different', but very welcoming and the view of Cygnet Bay we glimpsed as we booked in was enough to convince us that fate had taken a hand and sent us to a pretty special place!

As soon as we had set up the tents, the fishers amongst us got the rods and gear out and off we all went to the beach.  The tide was in (we only realised when it went out what a huge difference there was between high and low tide), so the fishing from the beach was pretty easy. 

Josie and I spent our time marvelling at the rocks – they were, as always, sandstone and the colours and patterns were like nothing we had ever seen before.  Red, burgundy, yellow, grey and white against the white sand and azure water – incredible!

As amazing as the landscape was, the generosity of a couple who arrived back at the beach in their tinny while our fishers were doing their best to catch something was even more astounding.  As happens with fishermen, a chat to others about what had been caught was in order and great excitement soon ensued as Shelly and Serge told Murray, Graham and Steve that they should take the tinny out themselves to see what they could catch!!! 

The resulting catch provided tea , which we enjoyed together in the communal ‘shelter’ overlooking the beach.  This shelter became the day time ‘home’ for we campers and from here we could marvel as the resident crocodile (just a little fellow of about 2 metres according to Jeff!) cruised by, as did the dolphins and the odd Green Turtle.

The five days were spent fishing, both from the shore and in the tinny, as Serge and Murray spent a lot of time out together, walking along the beach at high and low tide and just relaxing and enjoying the company of our fellow campers.  There were also lots and lots of birds to watch – a pair of Brahminy Kites, a pair of Osprey, White-bellied Sea Eagles, Sooty and Pied Oyster Catchers, white and grey Eastern Reef Egrets, a Jabiru, Striated Herons, lots of honeyeaters and finches and this fascinating pair of Beach Stone Curlews.  My first sight of them was ahead of us on the beach at high tide, when I was treated to the sight of one bird trying to break a shellfish it was holding in its beak on a rock.

Breakfast at the point at low tide was also pretty popular - even I tried the fresh oysters!

Jeff had a bird bath near the shelter, which provided lots of opportunities to watch the birds and these glorious Yellow-tinted Honeyeaters were very special:

One of the highlights of our time was a trip Murray and I took up into a creek which flows into the bay a couple of beaches around from the camp. Shelly and Serge insisted that we should go up there and have a look as it was so beautiful and how right they were!  An amazing array of mangroves (there are apparently 15 varieties up on the Dampier Peninsula), some of which were huge, fringed the creek and the aerial roots of the trees in some spots looked surreal:

One species was flowering and the gorgeous large white flowers looked superb:

We did manage to drag ourselves away last Tuesday (after fishing of course!) and take a drive over to One Arm Point, where we visited the Ardiyooloon Community and their Trochus Hatchery.  Watched the water rushing by the Point at what we were told was 15 knots – incredible.  Also visited the Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm – lucky I am not tempted by pearls, as there were some beauties.

 Drove out to Cape Leveque and had a wander around the Kooljamon campground.  Whilst the red cliffs and white sand beach was lovely, we decided that Bully’s Camp was definitely our preferred location.

Murray and Serge had a last trip out in the tinny on Wednesday afternoon and what a success!  Each of them caught a large Golden Trevally, so Murray was thrilled to bits.  By the time they had cleaned them it was dark, hence this photo!

A friend of Jeff’s had sent him over some mud crabs and he very generously gave us one for tea, which more than made up for he and Murray not having found one when they went out with Jeff’s spear a couple of days before.

So, this morning we reluctantly bid Shelly, Serge and Reid (who had been leaving since Monday, but still hadn’t managed to drag themselves away) and Jeff goodbye.  What a fabulous five days we had been treated to and what wonderful people we had been lucky to meet and spend time with.

On the way back to Broome we called in to Beagle Bay to see the lovely Catholic church with its beautiful white pearl shell altar.  The church was built during the time of German missionaries, but Beagle Bay is now an Aboriginal community and the church is much-visited.

So, back to Broome for just one night.  Tomorrow we will be back on the road, heading south.  It is quite a sad feeling, knowing that we will be leaving the Kimberly behind, especially after the wonderful time we have just enjoyed.  Till next time, I will leave you with a last couple of shots of Djoodoon, to which we would happily return, although methinks our own tinny will be on the agenda - even though we have met some truly wonderful people, you do not happen upon the likes of Shelly and Serge too often.