One of our favourite things to do in Broome is to either drive down the beach as sunset approaches, or to find a table overlooking the beach to watch the sun go down.
A couple of nights ago we managed to get a picnic table in a prime spot, directly overlooking the ramp used for cars and camels to access the beach.
We had our container of ice, a bottle of Bacardi, orange juice, grenadine and a can of soda to add a touch of sparkle. Paul poured us both a cocktail made to a recipe which we made up a few years ago in order to do justice the glorious sunsets in this part of the world. We call it Cable Beach Sunset.
One lot of camels returned up the ramp, and following close behind a line of vehicles returning from somewhere up the beach.
It’s so peaceful to watch the sun descending towards the horizon. A few clouds, or some smoke haze in the sky adds interest, but even without those things, the sky lighting up into a blaze of red and orange as the sun dips over the horizon is always special.
A friend of mine loves tropical beaches with palms, but doesn’t like Broome. She said she was disappointed because there weren’t any palms. I think perhaps she didn’t look closely enough – what do you think?
Middle Lagoon is a popular place for caravaners and campers in the Broome region. It’s around 140kms north of Broome on the Dampier Peninsula in the Kimberleys (not to be confused with the area around the town of Dampier in the Pilbarra).
We stayed on for a few nights after the wedding, tidying up the photos to make sure there were some good keepers, and just relaxing. 19 days after leaving home in Busselton, it was time to leave the newly-weds to have some time on their on, and start out on our return trip. Wow, we packed a lot into that 19 days.
Again we had a few possible stops in mind for our next two nights. Our plan had been to have shorter days, with one more stop in WA, and then two stops before reaching Kelvin’s farm near Katherine.
We left Broome at 7am with a few possible overnight destinations in mind. One was Fitzroy Lodge caravan park, the next was Ngumban Cliff Rest Area, and the other possible was Mary Pool. We had Ellandale Station Rest Area pencilled in for our breakfast stop.
That head wind that I mentioned earlier hit us as we journeyed from Cape Keraudren towards Broome. Paul dropped the speed down to around 80, but still the revs were high, as was the fuel consumption. We should have had enough fuel to get to Broome easily, but to be safe we refueled at Sandfire roadhouse, and used that as a place to have our breakfast. It saved a second stop later, and with the wind being so strong it was more comfortable to sit in the van than at a picnic table in the open, so it didn’t really matter where we were.
We set out on the morning on our 4th travel day with the intentions of staying at the free camp on the side of De Grey River. Our plans are never written in concrete, and with Mr Tilly clearly not speaking to us, we thought we’d better give him a bit of consideration, so mid trip a change of destination was decided. An adolescent dog needs to have a good, off lead, romp at least every other day, and De Grey River would definitely not have been the place for that. Cape Keraudren would give him the space he needed to burn off some of his energy.
The third day was to be the longest of our travel days on the Busselton to Broome leg of our journey up to the Northern Territory. Day two had seemed to drag. We were tired at the days end, and Mr Tilly was clearly, ‘over it’, by the time we had arrived at Lake Nallan.
To try and make it easier for our third day, we had everything ready the night before ready to set off at daybreak. We were awake at 5.30am (I always am), so a leisurely cuppa before securing the van ready for our 6.45am start.
The wild flowers start in the north earlier, so they had virtually all finished north of Meekatharra. Without wild flowers to see, if you’re not a fan of wide open spaces full of red dirt and scrub you would find this next section of our trip a tad boring. I find a landscape with nothing much except wide open spaces and red dirt quite gorgeous, so I wasn’t bored.
We stopped around 2 3/4 hours into our trip at Gasgoyne River South for our breakfast. We always enjoy this free camp spot, whether it be for a meal stop or an overnight break. Today there was just a little trickle in the river, but there are always lovely gum trees lining the banks of the river.
Lovely river gums
For an overnight stop the Gasgoyne River South Branch has the usual facilities of a well serviced overnight stop in WA. These include a dump point, long drop toilets, rubbish bins, and shaded picnic tables. In WA you’re unlikely to find water at any of the free road side places. The other thing in abundance (sadly) were signs of ungrateful campers. Obviously the long drop toilets (quite clean) had been overlooked by too many in favour of squatting in the bush. Ok – I don’t have a problem with that for a pee, but please ladies don’t leave your loo paper behind to decorate the bush as it blows from place to place!
There’s definitely nowt queerer than folk – this time leaving a real blot on the landscape
Our next stop was for fuel just before we reached Newman. We took advantage of a toilet stop while there, and enjoyed an ice cream in the shade before continuing on to Mt Robinson.
Mt Robinson is a place similarly equipped to Gasgoyne River South, long drop toilets, bins, shaded picnic tables, and a dump point. A winding track takes you far off the highway, so you’re far away from the noise of the highway.
Our caravan – in the middle of nowhere
Whilst it doesn’t have the lush green meadows, the lake and the wild flowers than we enjoyed last night, it does offer a peaceful outback setting. Opposite where we’ve set up is Mount Robinson, and behind that is Karijini National Park.
For many people Karijini is up there amongst their favourite places in Australia, and not without good reason. It’s a place full of stunning gorges, water holes, and bush walks, enough to keep the most avid explorer happy.
Paul took Mr Tilly for a walk up the hill behind us. I’ve been up there before but decided my dodgy knee wouldn’t appreciate the steep gravel decline this time.
I love the dramatic colours of the Pilbarra, but could do without this gravelly slope
We’re far enough north now that the jumpers are off through the day. However, the nights are still very cold, so our woolly top blanket will remain on for one more night, and the jumpers won’t be packed away completely until after we’ve left the early morning chill behind on day four.
After a very pleasant 1st night at Wannamal we set off around 7.30am, with Lake Nallan as our destination. The wild flowers on the way had us making more photo stops than we’d planned for, but how could we not stop with these all along the road side.
Life of Riley - on whatever 