CAPE LEVEQUE

Cooking toast over the gas burner

Looking south down the western coastline of Cape Leveque

David feeding a Barramundi

Ben, Beth and Tess at One Arm Point Lookout

Our little campsite, Cape Leveque

Watching the sunset together

Sunset over Western Beach, Cape Leveque

Cooking damper

Beth with her masterpiece

Bridgie enjoying her damper and apricot jam

Tess with her damper!

Bridgie and the starfish at the Hatchery at One Arm Point

DAY 68 – CAPE LEVEQUE                                                      Thursday, 8^th September

The wind howled all night which kept us all awake and when we got up in the morning, the sand was blowing all over the caravan park and beach.  David went for a long walk from the East Beach all around the Cape to the Western Beach and he reported that it was absolutely stunning though very windy.  We spent some time at the seats in front of the resort restaurant which face the cliffs and the Indian Ocean whale watching.  We saw a few Humpbacks on their way south no doubt enjoying this beautiful, clean, vast ocean. 

Ever hopeful that the wind would drop we decided to venture out to the Hatchery at One Arm Point which was really interesting.  This is where the Trochus Shells Cape Leveque is famous for are cultured, harvested and polished.  We were taken on a tour of the big pools there which house barramundi (David almost had his arm taken off when feeding one of those!), Clown Fish, Mangrove Jacks, and Green Turtles (hatchlings and fully grown).  It was great for the kids to be so close and be able to touch some of the starfish and clams. 

We had hoped to go to the Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm but it was too long to wait for a tour so we took the kids to the Middle Beach shack and sat in the car for lunch.  Beautiful and sunny, but the wind was just shocking.  But it made watching the tidal waters between One Arm Point and Sunday Island and its other smaller islands just amazing.  It was almost flowing like a raging torrent!  This is only about 100 kms from Yampi Sound where they have the greatest tidal fluctuations in Australia.  The tides all around Derby and Broome are 10-11metres which is just huge.

We drove down to Jologo Beach which was beautiful and spent some time walking along the beach and collecting shells for Beth’s new pastime – making jewellery from shells!  There is an amazing cemetery just next to Jologo Beach which is clearly tenderly cared for – each grave is absolutely covered in flowers (albeit plastic ones).  If you were going to choose a place to be buried, this would definitely be it – just on the dunes overlooking Jologo Beach.  Just stunning.

My dear husband was ever hopeful we would find a sheltered beach to sit and have our wines and cheeses while we watched our cherubs play beautifully in front of us – but it never really works out like that, does it?  Jologo was just too windy so we headed back to Cape Leveque and tried the Western Beach (great for fishing, not good for swimming) but the wind was whipping up the sand so we went back to the Eastern Beach, dropped off the beach stayers (David, Tess, Ben and Bridgie) and Beth and I went back to the tent and sat there reading and enjoying our afternoon with a drink and chocolate!

My husband is a man not easily deterred, so when he arrived back he collected the chairs, table and wine and cheese and headed over to the grass in front of the restaurant.  We managed to see some more whales but also the most beautiful sunset.  (Yes, I know I keep saying that!)  Of course, my husband decided at this moment, ten weeks into our journey, to tell me about a setting on the camera which really brings out colour!  YOU WOULD HAVE THOUGHT HE MIGHT HAVE MENTIONED THAT EARLIER!!!  We sat there until the sun had gone down and then went back for some spaghetti Bolognese followed by the most magnificent damper made with Beth and Tess’ secret recipe and cooked expertly on the end of a stick over the fire by all members of the family.  Butter and apricot jam on hot damper!!  Yum!  It always tastes so good when made with such fun!!  All the other campers were very impressed!!

BROOME TO CAPE LEVEQUE

The road to Cape Leveque

 Saying a prayer in the church at Beagle Bay

 

Relaxing on the eastern beach at Cape Leveque

The eastern beach at Cape Leveque

More sandcastle building

The beautiful rocks at Cape Leveque (taken by my husband, the artiste!)

DAY 67 – BROOME – CAPE LEVEQUE                                                       Wednesday, 7^th September

Up early this morning and packing up the car to go to Cape Leveque.  By some magical feat, my clever husband managed to pack six people, two tents, sleeping mats, sleeping bags, pillows, boogie boards, matting, Laurence and Violet’s Engel, beach and bath towels etc etc etc into our Prado and prove his wife wrong in NOT needing a roof rack.  Of course, the child sitting in the very back spent the two and a half hours not breathing from being crushed almost to death by falling sleeping mats and boogie boards. 

We said goodbye to Marj and Barry and were very sad to leave as it was so nice having someone from home here with us. I think we must have looked like the Clampetts from Beverley Hillbillies!

The drive from Broome to Cape Leveque was interesting.  The first 13kms were sealed but then there was 90kms of rough, corrugated, red dirt road.  We have been further than that before but this seemed a long way.  The road was quite sandy in places and very corrugated in others, wide in some places, narrow in others.  The last 100 kms are sealed – you cannot imagine my relief at hitting that bitumen.  We stopped at Beagle Bay to see the Sacred Heart Catholic Church built by the Trappist Monks.  The altar is made entirely of Mother of Pearl shells which is beautiful in the manner in which it marries the church to the culture of the people. 

Cape Leveque is so remote and desolate in some ways, but incredibly beautiful.  The coastline seems to stretch forever.  On arrival, we set up our “camp” – two tents, some grass matting, six chairs and a table.  Pretty basic.  I don’t think Princess Sarah is cut out for such rudimentary existence!!  We hit the eastern beach in the afternoon and played in the water and had the mandatory sandcastle-building competition.  It was just beautiful sitting there watching the kids play in the sand.  By the end, we were the only people on the beach.  It is like sitting on the edge of the world.  We sat there until sunset and then went home and my chef husband cooked up a delicious Chicken Satay and Noodles with just a nail file and a battery!!!!!!!  MacGyver eat your heart out!  OK, he did use a cooking pot too.  But it was absolutely delicious.  We were exhausted after our busy day so straight off to bed.

BROOME

Bridgie on her birthday morning

Bridgie with Mama

Bridgie and her siblings - sharing the excitement

Surfie David - my gorgeous husband

The Hansen men at the "beauty parlour"

The Hansen women at the "beauty parlour" - NB Ben taking off the nail polish

Getting the full treatment

Our babies

Our family at Cable Beach

The kids with Mama and Papa

Our beautiful big seven year old

Decorating her cake - a very serious job!

She absolutely sparkles - our Bridgie!

DAY 66 – BROOME                                                            Tuesday, 6^th September

Our beautiful little baby is SEVEN!!!  Bridgie’s birthday today and she had it all under control.  We had CocoPops and pancakes for breakfast, followed by present opening which is always very exciting!  We then went into town for the purchasing of the cake (thank God Mum was spared the stress of two birthday cakes this year!!).  We then headed to the beach where the surf was, again, absolutely sensational.  Even I couldn’t stay out of the water – and we couldn’t get Marjie off the boogie board either!!  The water is so warm, so clear and the colour of turquoise.  Just perfect.

After having some lunch it was time for Tess and Bridgie to set up their “beauty parlour” where they proceeded to do EVERYONE’s hair and nails.  It was a fantastic place because you got a back massage as well as moisturising and massaging hands and feet!  Ben is the best “nail polish remover” I have ever seen.  Mama and I were spoilt – particularly Mama who ended up with pale pink nail polish on her toenails and bright red on her fingernails!  The afternoon was spent by the pool and relaxing watching all the kids enjoy “free time” in their own way: Ben and Bridget jumping all over David in the pool, Tess reading quietly by herself, and Beth happy to be in the company of us all.

We went to Zanders Restaurant at Cable Beach for a special dinner tonight – our family, watching the sun set over Cable Beach for the last night.  Just so special.  We had a delicious meal and I love watching the kids trying new things – like eating seaweed tonight!  They are all growing up so quickly and I think an experience like this really gives them the freedom to branch out on their own, to try things they haven’t tried before, to be a little more independent and to take calculated risks which, when they pay off, give them such a sense of achievement.

I am sad we are leaving Broome tomorrow.  I could happily stay here for a lot longer, even though I thought I would be ready to leave.  It really is such a special place and I am so glad that we made a point of staying here for a holiday.  It was everything I dreamed and more.  But there is still so much more to see so with only one month to go, it really is time to move on to other adventures.

BROOME

The boogie-boarding granny - Marj in the waves

Ben beating Mama to the shore

Beth building her masterpiece in the sand

Her trusty sidekick and best friend, Tess

Hmmm, not sure if she is helping or being mischievous

Watching the sea claim their "boat"

Our beautiful girl, Beth

The tide fast approaching our car parked on Cable Beach

Sunset over the rocks at Cable Beach

 DAY 65 – BROOME                                                        Monday, 5^th September

Today was, again, one of those lazy days when you feel exhausted for ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD REASON!!  We farewelled the Tedescos of “on the road again” to Eighty Mile Beach.  They were so generous to us and have loaned us their Engel for the remainder of our journey which is fantastic.  Our darling fridge is sitting on 19 degrees at the moment, and although it has not been a problem while Marj and Barry are here with their cabin and fridge, it will save us having to buy ice for the esky every day just to keep the milk cold.  It has made me appreciate how many things will survive at 12 degrees rather than the 4 degrees at which we keep our fridges – but milk is not one of them!!

I did some mundane shopping but wanted to stock up on staples like cereal and fruit bars because I can’t imagine there is going to be many big supermarkets now until we get to Perth – probably just small, very expensive IGA’s!!!

After that we headed for a beach morning and, low and behold, the waves were back with a vengeance!!   I am convinced that it has to have something to do with the tides because we are now back to much less of a differential between low and high tides.  Anyway, it was fantastic and we even taught Marjie, David’s mum, to boogie-board – AND SHE LOVES IT – A REAL SURFIE CHICK!!  Back for lunch and then we had a quick trip back down in the afternoon to …. Yes, a bit more boogie-boarding, sandcastle-making, and one or two more shots of the sunset.  Well, as I keep explaining to David, you never know when you are going to take the perfect shot.  And it is such a beautiful subject!!

Had to then go home and sort out things for our little one’s 7^th birthday in the morning, including blowing up all the balloons to put around the caravan, but this time we were able to use a compressor and not just our lungs.  AND we had the added pressure of making sure the Tooth Fairy came to Tess.  The Tooth Fairy has often over this trip needed two nights to pick up the tooth; we figure it must be because she has to travel so far.  We are hoping she is not preparing to seek a travel allowance because this trip is very expensive and this is now the fourth tooth lost from a Hansen mouth!!

BROOME

The best Dad in the world and his kids - Matso's Brewery, Father's Day breakfast

Three generations of Hansen men!

Giving Dad his presents and lots of cuddles on Father's Day

David and Beth hamming it up in the water

Tess and Marj at sunset

Cooking the barbie!

The Tedescos and the Hansens - Luke's 11th Birthday and the Chocolate Ripple Cake

Tess and her Hermit Crab friend

Barry and Marj enjoying a late afternoon relax on the beach

DAY 64 – BROOME                                                       Sunday, 4^th September

Off to early Mass on this beautiful Father’s Day morning!!  Our first attempt at breakfast at Town Beach Café failed dismally as there were just not going to be any tables for 8 available on Father’s Day morning!  So we headed off to Matso’s Brewery (no, we are not taking this holiday to the nth degree and consuming beer at 8am – they actually have breakfast too!)  It was lovely sitting outside with Marj and Barry and the kids and lingering over a long breakfast on “Broome-time”.  We did a quick bit of shopping before heading home for some Father’s Day presents, the best of which was a new camp chair for daddy which replaces the cheap and nasty things we had bought and which have promptly fallen apart!

We had a lovely day just plain old relaxing with Marj and Barry.  Barry and David went back to Matso’s Brewery in the afternoon to try some Mango Beer which David loved.  Don’t laugh – this could be my one opportunity to get some fruit into him!!  After some lazing by the pool and admiring my beautiful children swimming and relaxing by the pool, we then down to the beach again to celebrate Luke Tedesco’s 11^th birthday with garlic prawns on the barbie, wines, cheeses and much sandcastle building!!  Later on, we lit another fire and toasted marshmallows whilst consuming Luke’s birthday cake – a Chocolate Ripple cake made lovingly by Violet – by HAND-WHIPPING all the cream! What a legend! 

It was a beautiful night, no wind and just lovely sitting by the fire.  At one stage I went down to the water’s edge and looked up the beach towards Cape Leveque and all I could think was what an incredibly peaceful place this is.  Just the sense of vastness, aloneness, the power of nature, the “unspoilt-ness” of it are nothing short of awe-inspiring.