Our Travels

This was supposed to be my fishing day but Jacky was still keen to see this trochus shell hatchery so we set off for One Arm Point again only to find that it was open every day but Saturdays. I was able take a photo of the first crocodile warning sign we had seen however they don’t appear to be a worry for the locals. On the way back to the settlement we past a couple of locals cutting up a turtle, they were knee deep in water coloured red from the turtle blood and there were 2 kids and a dog swimming in the water about 20 feet from them.

After our 210 km wasted trip, we arrived back at Middle Lagoon around midday, the temperature gauge was only showing 33C but it certainly felt warmer. We made lunch with the local bread we had bought yesterday, it was still very fresh and tasted really good, then it was down to the beach for a swim. The tide was out and the small bay where we swam on the first day was empty. The motivation to fish was pretty low, I didn’t have any bait, didn’t feel like making the effort to get the gear out and use lures, so the afternoon was spent reading.

This was our day to explore the peninsula, we headed off around 9:00 and stopped at Lombadina, there was supposed to be a bakery there. It turned out that there was a baker who made a few loaves three days a week, we were able to get the last loaf available. The mission church here is much more rustic that the one at Beagle Bay, the roof is shingles, all the roof timbers and most of the supporting timbers were natural unmilled timber logs and branches.

Rustic church at Lombadina

From Lombadina we went on to Kooljaman which is the most northwest point of the cape. This place was quite impressive, there was a very nice restaurant overlooking well kept gardens and a magnificent view of the Indian Ocean. It was $10 to have a look around (day visit) so we walked down to the western beach and with the tide out we (I) decided to walk around the Cape to the swimming beaches on the northern side.

Cape Leveque Island

Cape Leveque Cliffs

The red cliffs were quite impressive, but after a 90 mins walk in the middle of the day, clambering over quite a few rocky areas we arrived at the swimming beaches quite exhausted. There was no one there, we didn’t have our bathers with us so I dropped my shorts and went in the water in my undies. Despite the heat I couldn’t persuade Jacky to do the same. We finally got back to the main office, sat down in the outdoor restaurant and ordered 2 ice coffees, it was so nice seating there under the fans that we both decided to hang the expense and order lunch as well.

After a very nice steak sandwich we hit the road again and headed up to the Cygnet Bay pearl farm. We did a tour and learnt a lot more about culturing pearls and pearls themselves than we knew before. The staff there were very friendly, they have a beautiful garden setting with a nice café where we had a very nice mango smoothie for afternoon tea.

Café at Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm

From Cygnet Bay we headed off to One Arm Point, the most easterly part of the Cape. There was trochus shell hatchery here that was supposed to be worth a visit but we were well behind in our schedule and it was closed. It was dark by the time we arrived back at camp.

Heading off to Cape Leveque, the unsealed road wasn’t too bad. The first stop was Beagle Bay to see the Church built at the Catholic mission in 1907, it was quite impressive with all the pearl shell built into the Window frames, in the floor and the altar. The area of Beagle Bay open to the public is very well kept with lots of trees and green lawn. We had lunch in the shade the headed off to Middle Lagoon, in Broome we were told of a track from Beagle Bay to the Middle Lagoon but when we made enquiries at the store it was made clear that it was Aboriginal land and in poor condition.

Beagle Bay Church

Beagle Bay Church Altar

The track into Middle lagoon was quite corrugated and still had water and mud in some places but nothing to cause any problems. The campsite was a little more rustic than the brochures and website indicated, however there were few people here and we had a site overlooking the beach.

Campsite at Middle Lagoon overlooking the ocean

Hopefully there would be no strong wind as we were pretty exposed. We were pretty hot after we set up so it was down to the beach. The guy in the office had assured us that there were no crocodiles or stingers and the swimming was safe. Going into the water here there is no initial cold shock or need to become accustom to the water temperature. After being in the water, when you stand up the breeze cools you sufficiently that when you slide back under the water it’s like slipping into a warm bath. We would have stayed in the water for over an hour and never came close to a shiver.

Middle Lagoon

The biggest drama its getting a cold shower, just like Barnhill and Broome the water out of the cold tap is almost too hot to be comfortable.

Packing up again, we are starting to get used to this. We left Barnhill and headed for Broome, the plan was to do a bit of shopping and head out to Cape Leveque but it soon became obvious that it would be better to stay one night at Broome and allow more time to get the few things we needed and give us more time to get to Middle Lagoon the next day. The decision was made when Jacky offered to buy lunch. We checked in to Roebuck Caravan park, set up and headed back to town to have a look around, do our bit of shopping and call in at the information centre for some up to date information of the road conditions and the places to visit.

Roebuck Bay at Broome

Broome was pretty hot and humid, the site we had at the caravan was right near all the park homes and we hadn’t felt that hemmed in for some time, even so Jacky insisted that all the windows in the trailer were left open, it was so hot that she didn’t care who saw her sleeping. I went to bed around 10:30, it was still 28C and there was not a breath of air moving anywhere.

Another beautiful day, a day to relax and catch some fish, based on my experience at 80 mile beach I figured I’d head down around 11 am and fish the last hours of the rising tide. Fortunately the little kiosk here had some bait (much cheaper the 80 mile, $4.50/pkt). After my poor investment at 80 mile, I only purchased a small packet of mulies (6 in total). On the way down to the beach I saw a guy who was also was at 80 mile beach cleaning some fish, he had caught a nice size bluebone and a cod. After a bit of a chat I was filled with confidence, apparently here the best fishing is at the change of tide not near hide tide, he said the fish were biting at 8 am through to 10 when they stopped and here I am heading down at 11. The action was particularly slow, the upside is the 6 mulies lasted nearly 3 hours. I had the occasional bite particularly from the long toms that were chasing bait fish just in front of me. On to my last bait, one small bite, reeled in, nothing, cast out for the last time, a good solid bite and finally a hooked fish. A very nice Golden Trevally. I was able to cut two fillets about an inch thick that each covered the frypan. Finally a fish meal.

Rock formations on the coast near Barnhill Station

The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming and walking up the beach to see the rock formations we had seen the day before

Rock Formations at Barnhill Station

Coast line at Barnhill Station

Storm clouds in the Distance

On the move again, we packed up and headed for Barnhill Station. As we are on a tight budget and are carrying little that requires 240v power we opted for the unpowered site, it was like being put in the minus 4 star accommodation. The powered sites were all grass under what was almost a forest of trees and the unpowered sites were off to the right in what was basically scrub the must have levelled and cut back a few weeks ago.

On the up side the view was better, solar panels work better in full sun and the neighbours were at least 500 metres away. Jacky wasn’t too happy about the site, but she wasn’t really complaining until she saw the amenities block. She was quite stunned when she saw 4 corrugated iron open roof toilet cubicles facing 4 similar shower cubicles, if the trailer had not been set up then I think she would have insisted going back and paying for a powered site.

The amenities block at Barnhill station

The open air toilet – at least any odours did not linger

Once we were set up we headed down the beach for a swim, the coast line here is fantastic. You have the red dirt forming cliff faces down to the yellow sand and against the blue sky it was really picturesque. Further to the north there were some very unusual rock formations right on the beach.

Armed with all the local knowledge, I went to the kiosk and invested $10.50 for a kg of mulies and $7 for a packet of prawns, high tide was scheduled for 1:30 pm, so I headed down to the beach around 11:00. My dear wife didn’t fancy spending 4 hours on the beach in the midday sun, so I had to go alone. I arrived on the beach before the two local guys were there and selected the spot where they were fishing the day before. Fours later I headed back to camp without a fish. I had caught 2 Blue Threadfin salmon and 2 mulloway, I’ve never seen smaller mulloway, they were smaller than some herring I’ve thrown back, the blue threadfin were also too small to keep even though there is no size limit on that particular species.

Another beautiful day on WA’s North West Coast. It appears that all the fishing action here occurs for about 2 hours just before high tide. We went down to the beach to check out the action, it was around midday and it appeared that everyone is the caravan park had a rod in hand and was fishing along the beach. We spotted a couple of guys who looked like they took their fishing seriously. They had frames welded to a fridge trolley, the frame was covered sides and top with white shade cloth, there was a very comfortable chair as part of the frame plus two rod holders on either side and as the tide came in, they hopped out and wheeled the frame a little higher up the beach. We listened to their advice, saw the evidence in the form of a 80+ cm giant threadfin salmon in their esky and headed back to camp. At the caravan park one guy was cleaning a similar size threadfin, he held next to his daughter who would have been close to Malachi’s height and the salmon was as long as she was high.

The rest of the day was relax and read time, I’ve read 5 books so far.

Balla Balla is quite a desolate pace so we had breakfast and headed off towards Port Headland by 7.30am. We hit Port Headland about 9am – lots of traffic coming from South Headland and lots of roadworks – they were even working on the railway tracks.

We arrived at 80 Mile Beach Caravan Park around lunchtime. We set up camp and did all of our washing and hung it out. Then I went for my first real shower in 20 days – we did use the camp shower and shower tent along the way. This was heaven – I had a cool shower as it was still about 32 degrees. The showers here are great – lots of room and glass shower doors separating the shower from the dressing area.

Low tide at 80 mile beach

Terry and I went for a walk on the beach just on sunset. Wow! The tide sure goes out a long way. A 6.7 metre drop to be exact.

Sunset at 80 Mile Beach

I wished Terry a happy birthday as we packed up the trailer once more. Jenny and Peter came down to say goodbye and to tell us that there was more rain coming in the nest few days. The station manager was going in to Onslow and he suggested that we take the Macedon Gas Plant road to enable us to be sure that we could get out safely – which we did.

The lake near our had finally dried up

After a brief look at Onslow we set off for Karatha and some shopping. We hit the road again and drove until after dark, stopping at Balla Balla  campgrounds near Whim Creek  for the night. We unpacked as little as possible and didn’t even need the stove as we had bought a cooked chicken at Karatha for tea.