Broome and surrounds

We had three days in Broome and didn’t do a whole lot. We grew to love our campsite on grass (a rarity) with ocean views and great neighbours. We checked out the town area, had a few swims at Cable Beach and managed to have McDonalds' soft serve cones every day.

Ned whistles to a hermit crab to coax it out of its shell.

Bronte and Monnie at Cable Beach

Cable Beach

Cable Beach

 The Prado’s fuel hose was successfully replaced and on our last evening we visited the Broome Bird Observatory at Roebuck Bay – one of the most important sites in Australia for migratory birds that come to Australia every Spring.

More seagulls (pretending to look busy)

We were lucky to see some catch and release activities at the Roebuck Bay Bird Observatory

On Saturday morning we left for Cape Leveque which is at the tip of the Dampier Peninsula north of Broome. The road was pretty corrugated for the first 100 km (worse than Gibb River) but turned to great bitumen for the last 100 km through the aboriginal communities. We spent 3 nights at 3 different beaches - Middle Lagoon, Kooljamon and Gambanan. Each was on aboriginal land and run by the respective land owners, and each had beautiful pristine coastlines. Gambanan was our favourite with friendly owners and 270 degree views of the coast (and they didn’t charge for kids!)

On the beach at Middle Lagoon

View from our Middle Lagoon campsite

The kids thought it was pretty funny when Dad got the car and trailer bogged in the middle of an intersection (in the middle of nowhere). Of course Dad really bogged it on purpose to help justify bringing all that recovery gear.

Swimming at Kooljamon

Low tide at Gambanan

Campsite at Gambanan

We also visited Beagle Bay and found a cafe (Whale Song) in the middle of nowhere on a cliff top with great ocean views where we lashed out on Gormet Pizza and fruit smoothies. On Monday we also did a tour of the nearby Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm where we learnt lots about the history of pearling and how the pearls are grown. The shells on the beaches are amazing up here – heaps of them and all good quality, especially at Middle Lagoon.

Beagle Bay Church, built in 1917

The alter of beagle Bay church is covered in mother of pearl

Whale Song cafe

Waters of the Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm

We headed back to Broome on Tuesday, due to the car being booked in for fitting bigger mud flaps (to better protect the trailer from stones) and in preparation for Staircase to the Moon which occurs each full moon on Town Beach. We were lucky to get the same great campsite as last week, which is also walking distance to the full moon activities on Wednesday night.

Dinosaur footprints (120 million years old) are preserved on the rocks near Broome - only visible at very low tides