28-29 April 2008
DAYS 60-61 Pilbara – Kimberley Trip
CAPE LEVEQUE
WITH VISITS TO LOMBADINA – CHILE CREEK – ONE ARM POINT
We went to sleep last night to the sound of waves rolling in. It was very soothing listening to the rise and fall of the water – the crescendo and decrescendo accompanying the movement of the waves.
Today is my mother’s day so I am thinking of her as we travel even though I don’t have reception on the phone to contact her. We continued our journey today along the pristine Dampier Peninsula or Ardi as it is known by the locals. In the Bardi language Ardi means north east. Dampier Peninsula is settled by a series of small aboriginal communities. As visitors to their lands we have to respect where we go and have not veered of designated tracks.
This morning we explored the lagoon side of Middle Lagoon as we had spent most of yesterday relaxing or on the beach side of the lagoon.
There were many interesting patterns/tracks in the wet sand made by various crabs. I saw some lovely small shells. As I was about to pick one up a hermit crab beat me to it. Eventually we made our way back and started to move towards Lombadina. The orangy red earth is in stark contrast to the myriad of greens along the road.
The spear grass is as tall as the car in places.
After 34 km we were back on the sealed Cape Leveque road. There was a very interesting marking on the road for quite a bit of its length.
We arrived at Lombadina community just before noon but were advised to come back after 1.00pm as they were closed for lunch. They told us about Chile Creek so we thought we would go to see it before heading the rest of the way to Cape Leveque. The track to Chile Creek was very narrow and deep soft dry sand. We got there okay in 2WD but hubby decided we better be in 4WD on the way out.
We continued on for about 15 minutes to Cape Leveque – 220 km from Broome. We booked in at Kooljaman and have a fabulous campsite overlooking the western part of the coast. The photo was taken at sunset.
After lunch we drove back to Lombadina and spent some time walking around.
We ran into the priest from Beagle Bay and learnt some more about this community of 40-50. The families have lived in this setting for 98 years now. It is a working community aiming for self sufficiency through community ventures. Again the area is beautifully kept.
It is interesting to note that Lombadina and Djarindjin communities are right next door to each other and that the school is built on land over the 2 communities. However, each has its own administration and shop. Djarindjin community is also involved with the One Arm community in running Koojaman, whilst Lombadina is not.
We visited the bush church – openings for windows, corrugated walls, wooden beams and paper bark roof.
Very simple but beautiful.
We visited the craft shop and made sure we picked up a loaf of freshly baked bread. It was a hot day – in the 30s - and the dog below sure knew what to do to keep cool – get on top of the sprinkler.
We then made our way down to the beach over the sand dunes.
We didn’t drop the tyre pressure, as they were just above 60psi, but were in 4 WD.
The corrugations in the sand were quite something.
We finally made our way back to Cape Leveque in time for the sunset.
Whilst cooking dinner on the cobb I downloaded photos and udated by blog diary in readiness for downloading wherever we get the opportunity.
In the meantime we had a visitor.
This is the seen from our camp spot as the sun set.
In the morning hubby explored the electrics and finally admitted in the evening that he didn’t have the foggiest of what he was doing. After a slow start we went to see One Arm Point. It is only about 13 km from Cape Leveque. Again a community that seems to be doing well. It is lovely to see such a beautifully maintained place. Many small country towns would not meet the standards of these place on the Dampier Peninsula.
We drove around the area and saw papaya fruit ripe for picking.
They have some beautiful beaches. Jogolo beach was the first one visited.
Middle beach was interesting in that this is the place where the local Bardi people come to relax. A line of ‘baalis ‘ – shelters from the sun – line the shore line.
At Round Rock the views of the islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago were spectacular.
We headed for the hatchery where we saw barramundi, coral trout, clown fish, clam shells as well as trochus shells. We had hoped to see the shell shed in operation but everyone appears to have been at the hatchery. School children are taught to clean these shells as part of their curriculum.
We made our way back to Cape Leveque and drove down to the western side where there are magnificent rock cliffs. We look down on the top of these cliffs from our campsite.
The top of the cliffs add to an interesting landscape from the campsite but are nowhere near as magnificent as when one gets down to the beach. Hubby promised that we would have time here later in the afternoon.
We drove over to the eastern side from where the lighthouse looks impressive.
A sailing boat was seen not far off shore.
Finally we returned to our campsite.
A walk was what we needed so we walked to the shop along a lovely walkaway with the various trees identified along the way. There was an interesting representation of the seasons from the indigenous perspective overlaid over our western calendar. We decided to have wedges for lunch from the resort shop. Whilst eating we were joined by one of the advisors to the board of the resort. The directors of the resort are all indigenous people – 3 from each community that has an interest in the resort. The management has been contracted out but most staff are from the local indigenous communities. The resort is really well run and the setting is just wonderful.
I had a bit of a snooze whilst hubby went over the car electrics in the manual on the computer. I could tell something was brewing in his mind but I was more interested in exploring the eastern side of the Cape before going back to the western side. So we set off for a swim on the eastern side as that is the swimming area.
The rock formations here are totally different from those on the other side. They are not as dramatic or as tall but still very interesting.
We recognised the little island off the tip of the Cape as one I had photographed on our flight to Horizontal Falls.
After being in the sun a while we returned to the campsite. Hubby was still mulling over the electrics. Our freezer is now working like a dream – it is just the dials on his dash that are the problem now. Apparently after going through the electrical diagrams and checking voltages he identified two possible problem areas. One was at the fuse linkage point. The other was the ignition key. He is laying his bet on the fuse link and frustratingly he cannot do anything about to we go back to Broome on Friday on our way through to Derby.
Towards sunset we drove down to the cliffs and I set up at one end of the cliffs to photograph the sunlight on them whilst hubby decided to do so from the other end. We both ended up with some great pictures.
Another lovely day.
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