Return to Broome and trying hard to get out!

No matter what circumstances kept us in Broome, the sunsets here are still amazing

We set out as normal, packed the van hitched and left Broome destined for a free camp near Port Hedland – it was going to be a long drive but not longer than we had tackled before.  About 250 k down the road David was overtaking a road train (which actually isn’t that hard to do up here as the roads are completely straight and flat so you can see forever) and then the awful noise.  David finished overtaking the truck safely and then as he was pulling off the road the car died.  There we were about 250k from Broome, 350k to Port Hedland, in the middle of nowhere with the temperature already 40 degrees.  Yet in many respects we were very lucky.  Firstly no one was hurt.  Secondly almost miraculously we had phone coverage. We called roadside service only to be told they don’t send mechanics out up here – they just tow you.  I can understand why, it takes ages to get to the cars out here and if you then needed a tow that would be another age.  As it was we broke down at about midday.  The tow truck arrived at just after 5pm and we made it back to Broome around 10pm.  We passed the time waiting in the caravan out of the sun, made our lunch, and as the fridge can run off gas had cold drinks and icy poles. The tow truck carried the car and towed the van so dropped the van and ourselves off at a caravan park (we chose a different one this time closer to Cable Beach and some shops as we didn’t know when we would have our car next).  We were back in Broome again!

Small positives, the boys were thrilled at having a ride in a flatbed truck, David and I less so.

 

The Waiting Game

Nothing seems to happen quickly here, it operates on special Broome time – great if you are hanging on the beach, less great otherwise. We were in the build up to the wet now and it seemed many people had their cars in getting repaired before leaving.  It took a couple of days even to get our car seen and then to find out it was BAD!!!!  So then it took some more time to work out options.  During this time the weather was changing and changing quickly.  When we first arrived in Broome there had been nice cooling sea breezes and the overnight temperatures were OK for sleeping.  Now the cool breezes were gone, the temperature was rising and so was the humidity.  Nothing demonstrates this as well as the beach sign for Cable Beach:

On our first day here the sign had actually said perfect in the weather slot

Hanging out at Cable Beach

We ended up staying in Broome for quite some time so went back to Cable Beach several more times – we mostly aimed to be there for a swim late in the afternoon so we could then watch the sunset.  It is the sunsets that make this place really spectacular.  We were also lucky that a lovely family from Melbourne we had met in El Questro was also spending sometime in Broome.  Our kids thought this was awesome as they really liked these other kids and much time was spent in the pool, playing computer games and hanging at the beach.  

 

 Broome Museum

 

We hadn’t got to the Museum in our first stay so we went there now.  It was actually great.  Staffed by friendly and helpful volunteers (Bill and Dr Bill when we went) the kids were given activity sheets (there were ones pitched at different ages) and then we were off finding out the answers to the questions on the sheets.  The museum covered the history of Broome and particularly pearling, World War II and quite a bit on life in Broome in the early days.  Darwin was not the only place attacked in the war – you can see we found out that Townsville had been  attacked when we were there, and now we found out Broome was also bombed and with deadly consequences.  We also found out about the mysterious Diamond flight, a Dutch East Indies plane carrying $20 million in diamonds which was also shot down by the Japanese, some of the diamonds were retrieved, most remain unaccounted for (unfortunately we didn’t find any diamonds during our stay).

 

Gantheaume Point 

 

Down the far end of Cable Beach is Gantheuame Point – we visited in the day and returned for a fantastic sunset.  At Gantheaume the fantastic red Kimberly rocks meet the amazing turquoise water – great visually although there is no real swimming here.

 

 

 

More waiting

The rest of our time we spent in the pool at the van park, in the van with the air conditioning on, we took the boys to the movies, we went to lunch at Matsos a boutique brewery in Broome with lovely views, pretty much we just waited working through options and possibilities.  Finally on 13 October Patience (the Pajero) and Cool George were shipped down to Perth.  We packed our hired 4WD (also a Pajero) and went off for our first night without our caravan (we stayed in a unit in Broome). The next day we left Broome again and this time we made it past Port Hedland and onto our next destination – Karajini National Park.

The Tale of Two Broomes – Part 1 The Nice Broome and Stunning Cape Leveque

Whew what a lovely breath of cooler air literally and figuratively.  After weeks of hot weather, hotter walks and recently some very hot nights, then a drive through hot and very smoky conditions, it was lovely to enter Broome and find clean air and the most beautiful sea breeze.  Accompanied with beaches that were a most amazing turquoise colour we truly felt like we were in a tropical paradise.

After a drive around Broome we quickly migrated to a lovely afternoon at Cable Beach shared with a family we first met in Mt Isa (and then a number of places since).  We all amazed at being able to swim so far north in such clear warm water.  We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening playing beach cricket and finished with fish and chips with the final glow of an amazing cable beach sunset.

The next couple of days we didn’t actually do all that much.  Shopping in a proper mall, haircuts, hanging out at Broome markets, lots of swimming in the caravan park pool and all the boys went off to the Speedway for some high speed action.  We very much appreciated a few days of gentle meandering around town, cooler nights to sleep in and a good bit of relaxing.  Our Kimberly adventure so far had been totally amazing but a bit draining.  But after a few days we again left our caravan in place and went north to Cape Leveque.

Kooljaman Resort at Cape Leveque

 

WOW WOW WOW the colours of the water, beaches, rocks and sunsets are totally insane here.  We camped for 2 nights here and it finally feels like we are really getting our camping mojo together as we seem to have worked out what gear we really need and how to set up our campsite for better comfort (although the ease of camping could also have come from the fact that it wasn’t over 40 degrees as we set and packed up).

Kooljaman is an Aboriginal owned resort and really is camping in great style.  The resort has a fantastic restaurant and on our first night there had a buffet feast with live music – actually the resort was quite full as it was both school holidays and a long weekend.  We had a lovely night sitting out under the stars and the food was just really YUMMY.  All the kids played together and David and I thoroughly enjoyed the night.

We spent the next day exploring Cape Leveque but mostly the beaches near the resort as these really were beautiful and again we were assured there were no stingers and no crocs, but there was good snorkeling off the eastern beach.  We were treated to an amazing sunset on one of the most spectacular beaches we have found on our trip and returned to our campsite to have dinner under the light of a near full moon.  Again I have to say as much as I love the pictures we were able to capture here, they don’t do full justice to the colours of this place and if you ever get to Broome go that extra step and make your way to Cape Leveque, you will be well rewarded.

The Eastern or swimming beach

 

 

Eastern beach had lots of really cool rock formations down its far end

The Western or sunset beach

At high tide the blue water runs across the yellow sandy beach right up to the red Kimberly rocks

But only hours later it is a different story, yep these are the same rocks as in the above picture just later in the day.  Cape Leveque has the second biggest tides in the world.

  

 

 

Stairway to the Moon

 

We returned to Broome for its famous Stairway to the Moon.  This is a phenomenon where a full moon results in really low tides (and up here they are super low) leaving swathes of wet sand to be lit up as the moon rises above the horizon.  It is an amazing sight to behold and we missed the best part of the moonrise as we didn’t know where it would rise.  As it first came up the moon was as large as we have ever seen it in our lives and then it hit the wet sands and well lit them up.  In Broome they run night markets as well so the boys ate fish and chips, David and I had Thai.  We had met up with the family we met at El Questro making it a balmy tropical night of fine food, great scenery and good friends – we couldn’t ask for much more on our last night here (well we thought it was our last night……..)