Cape Leveque...and now Broome with Dad!

September 7th-8th…at Cape Leveque…..a stunning remote location:

……To the west the sky glows with the aftermath of a blood red sunset, the wild and rocky shoreline forming a jagged silhouette. To the east, the ocean shimmers under the glow of a full moon, which rises like a larger than life version of one of the pearls for which this region has become famous. All this, we watch from the balcony of our safari tent at remote and beautiful Cape Leveque, at the northern tip of Australia’s west coast….

Cape Leveque is located in the Kimberley region on the end of the Dampier Peninsula, about 200 kilometres north of Broome, via an unsealed 4WD road. The area is a pristine coastal wilderness and the only accommodation at the cape is Kooljaman Resort, which is owned by local aboriginal communities (Kooljaman is actually the Bardi aboriginal name for Cape Leveque). The resort was developed in the late 1980s after the Cape Leveque Lighthouse was automated, resulting in the sale of the land from the Federal Department of Transport to the Aboriginal Development Commission.

Our safari tent really is one of the most beautiful and remote places we have ever stayed. The tents are the size of a small cabin erected over a wooden floor, with a double and two single beds, an attached ensuite bathroom and kitchenette as well as a large timber balcony, complete with outdoor furniture and a barbeque. They are high above the peninsula with panoramic views of the surrounding beaches. This is a place characteristic of the Australian west coast, where red earth, meets pure white sand, meets aqua blue water. From the balcony where I am currently sitting, the ocean stretches so far I can actually see the curve in the horizon.

It’s Friday the 8th today, and we arrived here at about lunchtime yesterday (it takes a bit over 3 hours to drive the 200 kms on the sandy/dirt road). We had a swim at the eastern beach, which is the “swimming beach” and relaxed before watching the sunset from the western beach- you can’t swim there due to extremely strong currents. The tidal movements here are huge too. The sun was blood red and very beautiful – it lit up the richly coloured sandstone cliffs which meet the sand. When we got back to our tent, we were lucky enough to watch the fool moon rising- we could not have timed our visit better. The moon was so bright it bathed the landscape in a soft glow- we left the windows and doors open last night so we could let the outside beauty in.

Today we had breaky on or balcony before going for a walk and a swim in the lovely high tide (it gets a bit rocky at low tide). We just finished having lunch (a burger for me and fish and chips for adam) and now it’s rest time! We’ll take a walk on the western beach this arvo and watch the sunset again. Also looking forward to the moon rise!

Tonight we have arranged to have the “bush butler” service--- dinner will be brought to our room, for us to cook- we are getting steaks and mushroom sauce, plus a ready made salad and bread. We even get desserts packaged up- a piece of cheesecake and a piece of chocolate mud cake! Yum. This is a lovely little indulgent holiday within our caravanning trip.


Tomorrow we set of back to Broome where we will meet Dad who is spending a week with us, which will be great!

September 10th

Howdy- in Broome- welcomed Dad in at the airport yesterday afternoon after completing a wonderful stay at Cape Leveque (and our dinner there was tops!). It was great to see Dad! (and he was obviously really pleased to see us too). We are now at our bungalow near famous Cable Beach and it’s nice and spacious with plenty of room for the three of us. Molly is safely stored in the carpark out the back.

Last night we went out to watch the “staircase to the moon”- the full moon rising over the mudflats here creates a reflection which resembles a staircase of light reaching the moon. It was pretty but you did need to use your imagination to see the staircase!
We went to the markets which happen on “staircase nights” and I actually bought a nice pendant featuring a local freshwater pearl, with some earrings to match- bought it with some birthday money I had been waiting to spend, so that was fun.

Today we were off on a tour at 5.45am! But it was worth the early wake up as it was a flight and boat trip to the Horizontal Falls- something which occurs to the north of here at Talbot Bay, as a result of huge tides moving through a narrow gap in the land. The rush of water in and out of the small space actually creates a waterfall effect. We saw it on a good tide, running out, and it was very impressive, both from the air and also the boat which we travelled through the lower section in- it was actually too rough to go through the upper falls- and as a result looked great. We then had some breakie on the boat before taking off in our seaplane again for a scenic flight back down around cape leveque and the coastline to Broome- so many little islands along the way! It was a windy day and the flight back in our seaplane was quite rough. Poor Adam was sick on the way home and both he and dad are now laying down having a siesta! As usual I am still up doing things as I find it hard to sleep in the day.

After lunch we are all going to head to Cable Beach for a swim which will be great, as it’s about 34 today.

Love and hugs to all xoxox