Day 63 - 67, Cape Levique ( Fri 28th Aug - Tue 01st Sept )

Cape Levique

Our departure to Cape Levique was delayed a little this morning as we had booked the trailer in to get the bearings serviced, normally I would do it but its a bit hard to do while the tent is up, plus the caravan parks don't really like you doing repairs on site.

The bloke at the trailer place had told me that it would only take a couple of hours which meant we would be on our way out of Broome by mid morning, that was the plan anyway, as it turns out the bloke checked over the trailer with a fine tooth comb and found various minor issues apart from the bearings, none of which I was interested in till we get back home.

Spring Bushes, before and after.

One thing he did find was that a couple of the nylon spring bushes were badly worn and definitely needed replacing, so mid morning had stretched out to some time after lunch depending on how much other work the bloke had.

We left the trailer with the bloke and headed of to do a bit of shopping and get some morning tea/lunch.

We got a phone call from the trailer place at about 1030 telling us that it was done, a bit earlier that we expected which was really good, we just around the corner so we picked up the trailer and were on our way out of town before lunch, the cost was $319.00 which wasn't too bad I guess, and having seen the worn bushes it probably saved us a lot of trouble out on the road.

Cape Levique Road

Its 200 kilometers from Broome to Cape Levique, half of which is sealed, funnily enough its the second half that's sealed and the first half is bloody awful, its very soft red sand and the corrugations are shocking in many parts, the other problem is that the road is bowl shaped and narrow in places with very high sandy shoulders, when you see cars coming the opposite way they often seem to be on an impossible angle if they are too far up the shoulder, which they often try to do do get some space between on coming cars.

Once on the sealed road its an easy drive to cape Levique, 

Kooljaman At CapeLevique

Kooljaman Wilderness Camp 

Cape Leveque Wilderness Camp is owned by two local indigenous communities, the Djarinjin and Ardyaloon, you can choose a variety of accommodation, including Safari tents, Cabins, beach huts, and powered or unpowered camp sites, we had chosen a powered camp site which turned out to be pretty well located, half way between the Eastern and Western beaches, and a short walk to the restaurant and reception and amenities.
At reception there is small store and restaurant where you can have a meal on the deck overlooking the ocean.

Camp Sites

Kooljaman Beaches

At Kooljaman there are two beaches walking distance from the main campsite, the Western beach which is recommended for fishing, and the Eastern beaches where you can swim, and at the right tides it is ideal for snorkeling.

The water was crystal clear and the temperature was perfect, and it was amazing being able to swim at such a pristine beach without crowds, in fact most of the time we had it all to ourselves.

Kooljaman Eastern Beach

Bundy's Bush Tucker Tour

A local aboriginal Elder "Bundy" does various tours around Cape Levique, which you can book at reception.

Bundy's Bush Tucker Tour

The Bush Tucker tour is a guided walk through the bush around Kooljaman, it is supposed to be an hour but on the day we did it we certainly got our moneys worth cause it took 2 hours.
Our guide Bundy was quite a character and had an incredible knowledge of the areas flora and fauna, we walked listening to him talk about the various plants and animals, telling us about their importance and uses to the aboriginal people.
I would highly recommend the tour with Bundy, and at $70.00 for our family its very good value, only issue was that Bundy was very quietly spoken and at time he was a bit hard to hear.

Bund'y Spear Making Tag Along Tour

Our boys were very keen to do the Spear making tour that Bundy runs, its a tag along and you need to have a 4 wheel drive to do it, it takes 4-5 hours and departs from a small community just down the road from Kooljaman.
At the starting point you are advised to deflate your tyres to 18psi, an indication that we are heading into some soft sand !, I only went down to 22 psi as a starting point, I could go down if required.
On the day we did it there were 4 cars in the group, we followed Bundy's old ute out of the community and toward the beach, the first dune we came to was fairly long and soft but not a problem in high range 4x4.





We drove to a spot in the sand dunes where we made our spears under the instruction of Bundy, the spears we made were a little more modern than the traditional ones, having steel points rather than sharpened wood.


There was a little controversy while making spears because as it turns out that traditionally only the males are allowed to make spears, this didn't sit well with a family that had girls, I think it got sorted out in the end though.



After making our spears we headed off again to various locations where we waded in water sometimes waist deep looking for fish and mud crabs to spear, apparently the chance of getting taken by a shark or salt water croc are fairly slim.

We did not catch a feed on unfortunately but  the area we were in was particularly beautiful and not open to the public unless on a similar tour so it was very nice regardless.
The last stop was a sacred place where Bundy showed us some aboriginal artifacts, it was on the way there that the car came to a stop in some particularly soft sand, for a minute I thought we were getting out the Max Tracks but all it took was a press of a button to disengage the ESC and off we went, maybe 18 psi would have been better.
It wasn't just us by the way another car in the group also got stuck and had to be dug out then towed.

The tour was great, pity about not getting a feed but that's what fishing is like some times, I recommend the tour and at $140.00 for the family pretty good value.

The Hatchery

One Arm Point Hatchery, Feeding A Barra

Up the road a bit at One Arm Point there is a Trochar shell Hatchery, at the hatchery there are numerous tanks with various types of sea creatures on display, they breed trochar shells there which a for jewelry which is for sale on site if you are interested.

They run a tour but we elected to just have a look around and got a bit of a tour anyway by the guide who was between tours, he told us about various fish while feeding them and the highlight for Sam was feeding a barramundi which flew out of the water and snatched the food from Sams hand.

One Arm Point Hatchery, Touch Tank

There is a touch tank also where you can pick up and feel many varieties of living shell fish etc.
Some interesting things in that tank.

While at the Hatchery you can see just behind the building how fast the water flows when the tide is running, its incredible.

Sacred Heart Church Beagle bay

Sacred Heart Church Beagle Bay

On the way back down to Broome we stopped in at Beagle Bay, this small  community was established by Tappist Monks in the early 1890's and had a major part in history caring for the "Stolen Children" , there you will find a beautiful Church.

The Sacred Heart Church built by Pallotine Priests and brothers in 1915, it is beautifully decorated inside with all variety of local shells, mainly Mother Of Pearl.
There is not much else to sea at Beagle Bay but its worth the small detour to see this church.

Sacred Heart Church, Beagle bay

Staying at Kooljaman on Cape Levique was a wonderful experience for our family, we had a great time there, we learnt a bit about aboriginal culture, relaxed at the fantastic beaches, and explored the interesting sights in the area, I would definitely recommend a visit if you are in Broome for a holiday.