Middle Lagoon - Dampier Peninsula

Monday 12 August 2013

Broome via the Cape Leveque Road to Middle Lagoon

Last night proved interesting as some of the campers in caravans decided to take on the bats. The bats would return for roosting around 6-6.15pm each evening when the daylight had all but disappeared. There would be much fluttering and squawking as they would jostle for a position in the tall gum trees within the caravan park. This would go on for an hour or two and of course you would hear their winds flapping throughout the night. The campers had their hoses ready and would squirt the trees as well as flash spotlights into the trees. This went on for 30 minutes or so and eventually the bats moved elsewhere in the park. Most campers had spent yesterday cleaning down the tops of their caravans which were a real mess covered in bat poo and urine. The smell unfortunately is a real put off for what is a pristine location. Lucky we were on the fringe of all this excitement. The tree providing us with shade is a sheoak; the foliage must be a turnoff for the bats as they stayed clear of it.

Today is my first day without my travelling companion Paul. The pack up was always going to be a challenge especially in disassembly of the annex. I was surprised as to how long it took me to pack up which was around 2 and half hours. That was not a sustained effort though as neighbours would come over to talk when they saw me packing up. We must have blocked a few people’s views as we had the prime position. I’m sure that quietly some were happy for us to be going. Interesting that the woman in the caravan behind us came over to let me know that they had gone to the office and booked the site for their friends who were turning up today. They were enamoured by the location and had moved twice inside the park just to get the water views. So much for blocking views!

I departed Broome around 10am and headed up the Cape Leveque road along the Dampier Peninsular. The first 12 km of the road is sealed and then you hit the dirt for the next 100km. The first section of road was as wide as an airstrip – take your pick as to where you drive it was so wide but it soon settled into the normal goatracks that we have come to expect. The road was a sand base with no rocks – a nice turnabout as sand does not wreck your tyres. Instead the suspension and springs were in for a real workout given the corrugations and undulations in the road. I am being too kind by calling it a road – maybe a road you would expect in a third world country. I have also never seen a road with a concave profile – the low point was the mid part of the road. Most have a convex profile so that the rain can drain away – during the wet season I’m sure that this road would just turn into a flowing creek. Sometimes the inward slope of the road was at 45 degrees and I was sure the trailer would tip if I hit a bump. Again the driving conditions were different to those experienced in the northern Kimberley.

The other notable was that the road was often a good 30cm to a metre below the surrounding landscape. Sand was pushed on the side so that there was no way to get off the road if you wanted to stop. You just had to stop and cop all the dust from oncoming and passing traffic. I only countered three places you could pull over on a 100km stretch of dirt. The trailer took a real pounding with the strap holding the fridge in place working loose, the earth wire attachment falling off and the restraints holding the tyres loosening. And that was only on 100km. I liken elements of the Gibb River road as a veritable highway compared to this road.

After the 100km of dirt, the road becomes sealed. I am not sure how or why this happened but I had heard that the Army sealed the road some years ago. The 100km or so of sealed road continues until you get to the top of the Dampier Peninsula all the way to One Arm Point. Of course I had to turn off to Middle Lagoon and drive 34km into the site. The road in required 4wd high range as it was very sandy in parts, corrugated in others and mixed with some good conditions. In total it took me nearly three hours to drive the 180km from Broome.

 

Tuesday 13 August 2013

Cape Leveque - Middle Lagoon

This morning I woke to a heavy fog – the first I have seen since leaving Perth. I grabbed my camera and went for a walk around the camp site but struggled to see the beach area for a good photo opportunity. It was a surreal experience. According to the local caretaker it is not uncommon to get a heavy fog at this time of the year.

Heavy fog until 7am

The condensation this morning was the heaviest that I have experienced since we departed on our Kimberley adventure – it was on everything – even the inside of the trailer had condensation on the metal frames and there were small pools of water in some areas. When I visited the shower/toilet block, I noticed large droplets on the underside of the tin roof. I could not work our why the toilet paper had wet spots through it and then noticed the droplets falling directly on the paper. Just as well there was a spare roll in place unlike our time at McGowan’s Beach. You cannot walk around the site in the early morning without growing an inch or two - the wet dirt sticks to the underside of your thongs. The mats I purchased for the trailer are the best thing for the trailer floor – without them the floor would be covered in wet red dirt that I’m sure would have transferred to my bedding.

Middle Lagoon is an interesting place. It is not like the developed resorts in Broome but was developed by a local indigenous family since the early 1990s after they negotiated a 99 year lease from the church in Beagle Bay. They have made a pretty good attempt in providing some basic accommodation and facilities for tourists while capitalising on a prime bit of real estate centred on the beach. The beach area is free of mangroves and has dunes and white beach sand although there are some rocky headlands. The site is ideal for launching small boats – no launching ramp but simply drive onto beach and back your trailer into the water and launch your boat. As we have come to find out, the only way to catch fish up here is with a small dingy and outboard motor. The chap camping next to me who has a dingy caught a heap of fish – but listening to him talk, more fish got away than what he caught. The other problem is the sharks who tend to eat the fish before they can be landed – all you end up with is a head.

Looking at beach ramp

Campsite

Camp area

Yes fishing !

At Middle Lagoon you also have a choice of your accommodation. I was not aware of this until I got here and was pleasantly surprised. Most sites are unpowered and offer shade whilst the premium camping sites are on a cliff top overlooking the beach. Great views! I would have grabbed one of these sites if I had done my research earlier and was aware that they existed. I elected for a powered site and these are limited in location to one of the ablution blocks. You just run a power cord from one of the outlets in the building – there is also plenty of shade in this vicinity. 

Basic cabin

Simply stunning for $50pn

There are a couple of alternate accommodation options. There are some beach shelters right on the beach itself only metres from the water. They have shade cloth on the walls and thatch on the roof. Nothing else. Not bad for $50 per night. You can also book a cabin – different options are available but the most basic has 4 beds in a room with shade cloth walls for beach viewing. It comes with a bar fridge and camping stove. Cost is $140 per night for 2 people. Of course there is an upmarket cabin which is self contained for $240 per night for 2 people right on the cliff overlooking the ocean. Quite good after our experience with McGowan’s Beach north of Kalumburu.

The rise and fall of the tide every 6 hours is quite phenomenal. I now understand the meaning of the term just sitting and watching the tide go out as that is exactly what we did when sitting in oour campsite at Roebuck Bay. When you see the beach area at high tide and then again at low tide you really gain an appreciation of its magnitude. I am told the variation is around 13m.

Premium unpowered sites

Sunset from campsite