A humbling walk through time at Cape Leveque

North of Broome lies the Dampier Peninsula.  Stretching for 200km, the peninsula houses a collection of Aboriginal communities.  Whilst the roads at the northern end of the peninsula are sealed, a rough sandy corrugated track links the northern communities with Broome.  At the northern tip of the peninsula is Cape Leveque, where red sandstone meets white sands and crystal blue waters. We had heard it was worth checking out, so we let down our tyres and headed north.

There are many options for places to stay on the Dampier Peninsula.  We chose Kooljaman, right on Cape Leveque itself. Owned by the local Bardi/Jawa people, it is a great place to unwind for a few days. At least that is what we planned - but like all good plans it soon changed and we found ourselves completely occupied.

Cape Leveque on sunset

We chose a powered site at Kooljaman - simply beacuse it was in a shady area.  Unpowered sites had magnificent but exposed views.  It is interesting but caravans are actively discouraged here, not because of the condition of the access road - although that deters the majority, but for their electricity consumption.  The communities up here are all on generator power, and electricity is a valuable luxury.  With a battery charger being our only electrical device on load, we were well under the four amp limit on the circut breaker.  

The magical Broome

With two good weeks since our last stay in civilisation (if you could call being stuck at Gascoyne Junction civilisation), it was time for us to settle down for a few days of being a tourist in a tourist town.  In fact we have been travelling reasonably hard since Easter, and it was time for a day or two of rest.  We arrived in Broome early in the morning, thankful our roadside camp the night before was only a couple of hours down the road. 

Boab trees in Broome 

We were struck by the warmth and the humidity, and for the first time it felt like we were truly in the tropics.  Jo felt at home, and I too was transported back to a younger time in my life.  It was a glorious feeling to be back in the balmy weather - kind of like running into an old friend you had lost touch with.  We were glad to have chosen to spend a few days here.

Several people we had met on the road didn't have much to say about Broome, which was surprising.  It all comes down to what you expect and want to achieve I guess.  We booked ourselves into a caravan park with a fantastic pool, and then hit the town!

Karijini and Tom Price - the heart of the Pilbara

Karijini National Park is an incredible place that is lucky to be still here.  Whilst its natural beauty is beyond question, its boundaries seem at the whim of mining interests, and have changed many times.  It could still be at risk of being mined - so the bottom line is get here while you can!

The Pilbara's story is as old as time.  As the stromatolites slowly released oxygen into the oceans some 3 billion years ago, the earth's atmosphere started to change.  Large quantities of iron in the water essentially rusted - and settled on the sea bed.  

Move the clock foward to the present day, and the rock is now part of Australia.  Humic acid from decaying rainforest vegetation has leeched the iron from the upper levels of the soil, concentrating it at greater depths.  In these depths, the iron bearing rock can be as much as 60 percent iron - an incredibly high yeild - and a clue to the economic importance of this region.

Hamersley Gorge

Over the past few million years, gorges have been carved into the old sea beds, creating natural rock pools of incredible beauty.  In fact the whole landscape is incredibly beautiful, and as we have explored it, many times we have not taken a photo beacuse there is no way of capturing the magnitude, beauty or scale of the magnificent vistas.  You simply must come here and see it for yourselves.

Our first stop on the drive down from Millstream Chichester was the Hamersley Gorge.  There was only one other vehicle in the carpark - a bus - meaning that if we were prepared to wait a little while, we might just get the place to ourselves... which is exactly what did happen.  Before too long we were swimming in Hamersley Gorge - and we made our way up to a rock pool appropriately named the spa.  It was devine.   The only problem was we left our bathers in a bag at the bottom pool, and we didn't want to get our clothes wet.  Good job we had the place to ourselves wasn't it!

Millstream Chichester National Park.

After getting away from Exmouth a few hours earlier than expected, we found ourselves with the tantlising opportunity of being able to get to Millstream Chichester National Park by dark.  Our route was based on a recommendation from Andy, the camp host at Kennedy Range National Park.  He suggested heading north on the highway to Robe River, and then turning east to Pannawanica.  

The road to Pannawanica

The road to Pannawanica was simply beautiful.  Unexpectedly beautiful.  We found ourselves getting excited about what was ahead of us as the landscape changed with every bend.  If the Flinders Ranges is the bones of the Australia poking out of the ground, the Pilbara is what the bones look like after they have decayed into rubble.

This is what we like to see!

Cape Range NP

After our excursion inland to visit Mount Augustus, it was a great to be back on the coast again.  Everywhere we looked was evidence of the recent flooding in Exmouth and Cape Range National Park - from the vivid green verges to the damaged road surfaces at every floodway.  The National Park had only just opened - and as we made our way to our campsite, we could see why.  

Cape Range National Park had received a wopping 400mm of rain over a 12 hour period, followed less than a week later by another 280mm.  The resultant flooding destroyed over 50 campsites in the park - taking in some cases caravans and camper trailers with it.  Fortunately there were no serious injuries - and our campsite booked a month ago was fine.  

We set up, and after a little paddle on the beach set ourselves up to watch the sun set over the mighty Indian Ocean.

Sunset ove Ningaloo Reef

The massive floods had affected many of the roads in the area, however we were able to make our way up to Charles Knife Canyon for a look.  The road was built to service oil exploration, however the scenery it passes through is nothing short of exceptional.  We made it all the way to the end, planning on doing a walk - however we found the views on the road were better than on the walk.  The limestone cliffs here are relatively young, and we spent a good couple of hours working our way back down the valley.