Woonona Mob "Zig Zag Oz": Broome broome broome.

A clean sweep of Broome? Loved it! The girls enjoyed their camel ride. Our adventure up to Cape Leveque allowed us some time at Middle Lagoon, to sit, relax and swim. This is a lovely place, quiet, on a large aqua blue lagoon, with views out to the Indian Ocean. From here we were able to watch whales breaching and spouting. We visited Beagle Bay and the beautiful Sacred Heart church, where the locals used mother of pearl to decorate the altars. The Trappist monks had come to this area in1888, and were followed by the Pallottine monks from Germany. The simple church was built in 1915, whilst the monks were under “house arrest”. It took two years to build and decorate. The Sisters of St John of God arrived in 1907 from Ireland, and were in charge of the “Stolen Generation children” taken to Beagle Bay.

We relaxed at Kooljamon Camp at Cape Leveque for 5 days, enjoying the pristine environment and the dramatic landscape. The water was again crystal clear and a stunning blue. The red Cape cliffs give way to pink dunes which melt down to the white sand of the beach. The girls had a tribe of kids to play with and enjoyed making jewellery from the beautiful shells they collected off the beach.

Dropped in to One Arm Point (another Aboriginal community just around from the Cape) to visit the Trochus shell farm owned and operated by the local community. The farm produces shell used mainly for buttons on Italian designer gowns and the like. Unfortunately, we had a reality check there at the local boat ramp, where we had gone to see the reef sharks swimming in the shallows. On arrival, the girls found a large, sadly beautiful sea turtle (1metre in length) tied up to a beach shelter, still alive. It was dying, with a cut to it’s throat, and had been left in the hot sun for some time. We were all very distressed, but, this was Aboriginal land, and turtle hunting season! We wet it down with sea water to reduce its painful demise. Had it been different circumstances, we would have taken it immediately to a vet. We and the family we were with, talked to the kids about different customs etc…but it was hard to reconcile this cruel practice! Talking to some locals later, we discovered that this was not the usual practice.

Back to Cape Leveque and a beautiful dinner at the restaurant…in the middle of nowhere…Duck a la orange, Crispy skin Barramundi with capers and roast pumpkin canneloni….mmm! With a view to die for, on an open deck, looking out at the sunset. Blown away both literally and metaphorically! The next two days had us in the middle of some very windy weather and a grass fire that closed the road and filled the sky with red dust and an orange smoke haze. The wild conditions made the small tourist planes landing directly overhead at Cape Leveque very interesting, but fun to watch. (Why do all bush pilots out here look no older than 16 or so?)

On the way back to Broome we dropped in on the tent embassy that some of the locals have established to protest the proposed mega natural gas pumping facility at James Price Point just north of Broome. Given the majesty and beauty of this whole Kimberly coastline you can understand their concern at the likely effect of such a development on their Country, notwithstanding the economic benefits it is likely to bring to at least some in the community.

We stopped back in Broome for the annual Shinju Matsuri festival-of-the-pearl parade, with Sammy the festival’s dragon mascot. This is a Japanese festival, with a Chinese dragon in Australia! Very colourful. Heading down the coast tomorrow, to Eighty Mile Beach, then Karajini Gorge before we stop at Cape Range and the Ningaloo reef. We are excited about possibly going on a whale watching cruise! Stay tuned!