We quite enjoyed Broome and made the most of what it had to offer. We walked the beach morning and afternoon, swam and got some UV rays. The camel ride along the beach was one of the highlights. The trek took us north of Cable Beach, which is also the nude beach for Broome. We weaved in and out of the “naturalists” who were trying to take cover from the unwanted camel train. After enjoying the rays and the white sandy beach of Broome it is time for us to head on our way again. We tried our luck with Cape Leveque and it won. We dragged the van up and back in 1 day for no significant enjoyment. 460km later, we found ourselves back in Broome and about 10 km up the road at a different caravan park. We also enjoyed watching Mama Mia at the Sunset cinema. This open air cinema sits directly in line with the runway at Broome airport, and any aircraft landing or taking off come roaring directly overhead. The audience has a gasp and then a giggle once they realise what it is.
The trip from here is a lot of brief stays for one or two nights at places like Port Hedland, Karratha, Carnarvon and Denham. We did stop at Cape Range National Park for three nights in a truly magical setting. Cape Range National Park is serviced by Exmouth and is home to the mysterious Whale Sharks. The Whale Sharks inhabit the waters around Exmouthfrom April to August and then disappear again, but no-one knows where they go. The Cape Range NP has several intimate camp sites that accommodate a maximum of ten families. You have to line up early at the gate and wait to see which camp sites have places available. We stayed in Pilgramunna and were fortunate enough to have two other families with children there also. This meant that the ten children had plenty of opportunity to enjoy each others company and give the adults a break also.
The Dalkin and Cole families then spent the next few days travelling with us from Exmouth, to Coral Bay and Caranarvon. The kids enjoyed each others company and we said farewell to the Cole’s at Carnarvon as they pushed on to Geraldton to have their car serviced before tackling the Great Central Highway to Uluru. The Dalkin’s stayed with us til just before Kalbarri and then sped on to Perth. We have since caught up with them for lunch and a play in the massive city park in Perth, King George Park.
Coronation Beach was another chill-out camp for us, with temperate climate and sandy beach we stayed put for three days and just relaxed. We trekked into Geraldton to shop and get new batteries for the Cruiser but those were our only outings.
We have since arrived in Perth and are staying in Fremantle. We have done plenty of sight seeing, such as the King George Park, DaVinci exhibition which has a collection of replica machines as designed by DaVinci, the Maritime Museum which hosted 25th anniversary celebrations of Australia winning the America’s Cup and travelling the city streets in search of markets to frequent. Both Freo and Perth have excellent transport infrastructure including trains and free buses circling the CBD’s of both places. We will not go to Rottnest Island as the trip is too expensive and we have been told is really just a bunch of swimming and surfing beaches.
The sailing and boating around the ocean off Perth, Freo and the Swan River is evident by the number of very large, very expensive watercraft at moorings around the area. We have enjoyed our time here and push on to the southwest corner tomorrow. We will be in Adelaide in about 3 weeks. Stay tuned for the next update around then.
