The drive there was wearing. Not especially tough in any technical sense, but the 80 odd klms of dirt road along the main road north up the Peninsula reintroduced us to corrugations and that gets old pretty quickly.
Just after the corrugations stopped we reached the turn off to Beagle Bay and we had to pay the obligatory visit to the church there. My mother would have been proud to see me voluntarily entering a Catholic Church again, but it really was just to see the way it has been decorated with mother of pearl shells everywhere, but on the altar in particular.
Beagle Bay is also the cleanest and tidiest indigenous community we have ever seen. Quite a surprise to find it so well looked after.
Beagle Bay is also the cleanest and tidiest indigenous community we have ever seen. Quite a surprise to find it so well looked after.
Then, after reaching the Middle Lagoon turnoff, we had another 32 klms of track to get to our camp spot on the coast. This track had to be taken pretty slowly, especially with the van in tow, as it had all sorts of terrain to tackle. Initially we were faced with softish sand which forced us to drop tyre pressures just to get through. Then we had corrugations, some of them pretty big and nasty, and then we had a long section that was obviously badly affected in the wet season as it was just a roller coaster road with holes and a soggy centre section. Then back to corrugations again.
The reward was at the end. We were camped right over the beach so as we sat under the awning, or looking out from inside, the view was over the beach and out the the horizon somewhere over the ocean of crystal clear water.
This, and the pics below, is the view from under the awning on the van. All we need to do is step down onto the beach.
Sunsets were a huge feature every evening
After the sun set we were invaded by hermit crabs. Thousands of them, crawling around picking through the sand and generally being very cute. The kids camped around the place were active in gathering up as many of these as they could catch, returning with buckets full of them before their parents got them to release them again.
It was fun watching them.
We took a day trip up to the north of the peninsula, calling in at the Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm. This place is a working pearl farm (the oldest in Australia) and it is a gem of a place - pun intended!
The view from the cafe.
Just the end of the infinity pool that wraps around one side of the cafe.
They have tourist accommodation (as well as the tours of the farm for visitors) and there are pearls for sale. In among this is a cafe (the only licensed premises on the peninsula) that is well run and serves great coffee and apple tart. I am sure that they serve other equally good things, but that is what we had for morning tea. Right outside the cafe/restaurant is a cracker of a pool (necessary as they have crocs out on the beaches there) and the whole ambiance of the place was calm and efficient and welcoming.
Highly recommended.
We left there and headed to see Kooljamon at Cape Leveque, but this was disappointing. The camp ground looked regimented, the reception staff seemed uninterested in anything except grabbing the $5 per person entry fee (which we avoided paying by walking around the outside of the building and entering from the rear) and we just didn't feel comfortable there.
Yes, they have a lighthouse there so we visited it!
The white beach, blue ocean and the red pindan cliffs were in evidence and beautiful to see.
The western beach was cramped and had little to recommend it other than the contrast between the blue ocean, white sand and the red pindan cliffs. Actually, this scenery is the same as that found at Middle Lagoon although the pindan cliffs are higher at Cape Leveque.
We decided to have a late lunch there though and ordered fish and chips for two, but this was definitely not a local caught fish. Instead it loked just like the standard packet sized "white fish in batter" sold by Findus or Birds Eye. While this is an OK meal we were unimpressed with a vaunted resort like this serving it.
The next day I went fishing and took a drive around to the mouth of a creek. I met a group of indigenous kids there who were just great - charming and happy looking, they were busy spearing mud crabs and gave me a demonstration of just how effective they are. It was an education to see a kid pick out a crab and spear it from the beach.
I started fishing and with my first four casts I landed three Long Toms. These are fish like a garfish, but much bigger with the biggest running to 50 cms or so. They have a lot of very sharp teeth though! Ayway, the kids came along to bludge some matches from me (they wanted to cook their mud crabs) and they said I should put a big lure on and flick it over to the far shore of the creek. I did so and watched as a submarine came out and grabbed the lure. I think it was probably a Queensland Groper, but as it just swam off with my lure and ended up smashing the internals of my reel I guess I will never know.
The rest of our time there was consumed with walks, reading, swimming and chatting around the camp fire.
Bloody magic!
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