Broome to Kununurra

We left Broome, a little sad as we had enjoyed our stay.  We went straight to Derby to for the day, well an hour or two! First stop was the jetty for a look, not too exciting.  The tide was on the way in and we could see the tide rushing in under the jetty.  We had a picnic lunch, watching the falcons swooping then drove to check out the Prison Boab tree and the big trough.  Good bit of history and education for the kids, and adults!

We drove out of Derby and drove as far as we could be bothered that afternoon and stopped at a random free rest area for the night.  We were treated to another exceptional sunset from WA.

About a third of the way to Kununura near Fitzroy Crossing was Giekie Gorge.  We had a fabulous time here.  First we went on two small basic walks from the gorge.  Then we went on the ranger run gorge trip.  It was just lovely to be out on the river, we really enjoyed it.  We saw a couple of crocs, pretty exciting!  The gorge is really pretty and I enjoyed taking a few pics.  We were also lucky enough to have an interesting guide who loved to chat about the mighty Fitzroy river, much to Marks delight.  Love meeting all these characters around this country.  We had one more overnight stop at a rest area before we went to Kununurra.

Morning tea on the A frame

The height of the floods

Floods right up to the top of the shelter

We arrived in Kununurra and stayed at Kimberlyland on the lake.  A nice enough park, bit dusty but pretty much like everything in this area.  We set up and began organising our crap ready to go in the tent for three weeks.  We also randomly ran into our friends from Alice, Pete, Sam, and kids which was nice.  I got a surprise when this guy yelled from across the road and realised who it was, small world!  Other than chatting to these guys and packing we basically only went to the rodeo.  Of course Charlotte loved the rodeo, even spent her birthday money on a cowgirl shirt.  The rest of us had fun, rodeos are always a laugh, but I do get a little worries about those bulls.  One cowboy got a bad charge to the leg and limped away!  Dangerous pastime.  That's about it for Kununurra, to the Gibb we go.  Back tracking to Fitzroy Crossing now we have stored the van in Kununurra.

Dampier Penninsular

Our first time in our little tent for a while, just a little excited!! Off to the Dampier Peninsular for a week or so, north of Broome, for anyone who hasn't been to this area.  Our first stop was Middle Lagoon for a night on the way up.  The road was a little rough but a nice enough drive.  Its really really pretty looking at the red dirt and the trees with the yellow blossoms hanging over the road.  We enjoyed Middle Lagoon, took a bit of time to work the tent set up again.  But we soon got the hang of it.  We were surprised by how many caravans there were here.  Its a pretty beach and a basic camp ground, just busy though.

Next stop was Cape Leveque, where we stayed in a beach hut at Kooljamon.  The huts were awesome, we loved staying in them.  The kids thought it was great, so much space, after being in the caravan.  Jake pointed out we had a bedroom, lounge, dining room, kitchen and a bathroom.  Our kids surely have been restricted by this lifestyle!  It was lovely to go to sleep looking at the stars through the gaps in the roof and to wake up with the sunrise.  The beach itself wasn't that great, really rocky.  We timed it badly so that it was low tide in the afternoon when we wanted to swim.

We took the kids one night to have drinks and to enjoy another one of WA's magic sunsets.  Its tough, really it is.

We went for a drive out to One Arm Point, an aboriginal community.  They have a gorgeous beach there, but we didn't swim.  Mainly because we went to the boat ramp first and saw 6 sharks swimming in amongst the shallows!  Then we check out the Troca shell farm, and they are gorgeous shells.  I bought myself a lovely polished piece and it now hangs in pride of place, from the rear view mirror in the cruiser.

those shadows are big sharks

As you can see, the beach at Cape Leveque is still pretty nice!  We spent a few hours hanging out on the beach, swimming and playing cricket and footy.

We went for a walk one arvo and found a few more kids to join us.  Mark decided to snorkel out to the island for a look.  Found out later its called Shark Alley due to the large number of sharks in that area, oops!  Kids entertained themselves writing in the sand and having a swim.  The boys of course had to write "Pokemon rules".

Our favourite spot on the Dampier Peninsular was Gnylmarung Retreat.  Its a small quiet aboriginal camp ground by a gorgeous beach.  We had some lovely walks on the beach, swimming and shell collecting.  Mark did some fishing off the shore and caught a Mackerel.

The lovely couple who run the place had been out crabbing and fishing so brought around lots of fresh seafood for us all to share.  We pigged out on the crab, it was delicious.

The best day was when we went out with Grant on his boat for a fishing charter.  It was just one of those magic days.  We caught so many fish, Charlotte alone caught 30 snapper and bagged the two biggest ones!  Jake had more fun spotting all the animals.  Which we saw plenty of, including lots of whales up close, dolphins, turtles and a couple of very large sharks.  A little scary being in a small boat near such big whales, but they were so beautiful.  The fishing was so so good, I've never caught so many good fish, even i didn't get bored.  After being at a couple of fishing spots Grant took us to catch some mackerel on the way home.  As soon as we pulled up to the spot, the sharks started to circle.  I had a go first and managed to catch a mackerel, then much to my horror Grant threw it back in, stating we'd be able to catch a bigger one!  So off I went again and did catch a bigger one but almost took Grants head off in my desperation to land the big fish before the dreaded sharks stole it.  If any ones up that way would definitely recommend going, the charter was only $300 for all of us, a bargain for the day we experienced.

The brag shots!

I snuck off down to the beach one evening and took a few shots of the sun setting.

One our way back down to Broome we stopped into Beagle Bay and checked out the famous church.  It was a really pretty church with lots of shells inside.  My kinda church!

And that's pretty much it for our week in a tent on the Dampier Peninsular.  All in all a pretty wonderful week, back to Broome, then off to the Gibb for us.