Day 51

Day 51 Cape Leveque

We hit the red dirt again today. We decided to take a trip up to Cape Leveque and back again. We did

Willie Creek

Willie Creek

look at staying over night in the eco-tents, but at over $300 a night, the scrooge in me said no, I will drive up and back, it is only 220kms from the turn off, how hard can it be? Well we found out, but even so, not worth the $300, bah, humbug! We started off at 9:30, a little later than I had intended but we had to wait for the office to open so we could extend our stay here until Friday morning and then hit the road. We first drove to the

Cape Leveque turn off and went down 10kms until we saw the Willy Creek turn off. This is where they tow the illegal fishing boats to until they can be burnt and they also have a pearl farm there. The road was a track all the way and was not too bad. We headed up there and saw the pearl farm as well as the boat holding place, they are right next to each other. I had expected there to be a little further apart but there you go, hundreds of miles of empty coast and they are shoved in together. They did offer a helicopter ride there for $70 for 7 minutes or one that went to James Price Point for over $300 – Bah, humbug! So we decided to drive there just an extra 36kms up the track. We drove up the track and although there were some rough bits, most of it was quite drivable at up to

James Price Point

James Price Point

80kmh. We drove to where we worked out that the sign said Price Point and it was just past a protest camp. Maureen took some pictures and it is a lovely place, just not sure if it is worth all the fuss over to not develop.

Anyway, back down the track we went to join back onto the Cape Leveque track and off we went 220kms of driving. Now the maps and signs say no caravans, but as usual some signs do not apply to some people and we soon found our first casualty trying to reattach

The intrepid explorer scans the path

The path

his plumbing back to the bottom of his van, not the best of tasks when you get idiots like me zooming by in a cloud of red dust. The track was very trying, you would have a lovely section that was flat and easy to drive, then suddenly corrugations to loosen teeth fillings! There were sections of the track that were just wide enough to get two cars past each other and then hit a section you could drive eight abreast with heaps of room! The best sections were the sandy bits as Trude just ran on the top and ignored the ruts. We did pass some road works in progress but what they were doing I could not work out

Beagle Bay Church

Beagle Bay Church

apart from having a cuppa. There was a great one that had a sign saying Grader Ahead, then when you got to the grader he had a sign on his back saying Grader Ahead – Maureen wanted me to stop and ask him how far ahead the grader was but I thought he might not see the funny side.

The road got worse as we went on and there are very few roads going off it to track your progress and being the advanced off road driver that I am, I had forgotten to take note of the odometer to track our progress. I did think of our Sat Nav unit that shows you where you are and I thought I would be subtle and instead of telling Maureen (Navigator) to get it out, I instead said “I should get

Beagle Bay Church

Beagle Bay Church

the sat nav out and have a look to see where we are” obviously too subtle because she just said yes. We went a bit further and I just needed a break, the track was just shocking and seemed more corrugated than ever and we were down to 20kmh. So I pulled up and in my best polite and civil tone asked if o could have the sat nav. Maureen said all I had to do was ask and she would have done it, I said (again in my most diplomatic voice) I did, she said no I didn’t, I had said that I should do it and she agreed, I should have! Anyhow, we fired the tool up and whilst I waited for it to collect enough satellites, I said I was going to turn back if it was too much further. The tool came up and gave us a location, about half way up the cape! I said no more of this, I could not face another 110 kms of road like this. Maureen said that the road was not like this all the way, the map said the last 110kms was bitumen! I had

Intrepid explorer comtemplates return trip

Cape Leveque

stopped 3kms short of the bitumen! Just as well the navigator could read a map or I would have turned back.

We hit the road, it starts at the beginning of the Native Title area and is just a beautiful road, why the middle 110kms is dirt track that they would have had to drag all the road works over, is beyond me, but greater minds than mine worked it

Cape Leveque Cafe

all out. So back on the bitumen and off we scoot. We stopped in at Beagle Bay for lunch and a look at the lovely little church there that is decorated in pearl shell and is being restored. We walked in and the guy doing the restoration was so intent and focussed on what he was doing, he did not notice us at all, or he was just ignoring us and hoping we would not ask any stupid questions, which we didn’t.

Back on the road we drove up to Cape Leveque. Now the map shows to road as being straight for 90% of the way and you expect that the road will twist and turn within the black straight line shown on the map, not this road. It is dead straight with 2 curves that are just where the map shows them. We stopped at one hill and the road went straight ahead for as far as the eye could see and straight behind us for as far as the eye

Lombardini Church

Paperbark Bark Ceiling

could see. Must have been beginner surveyors who laid it out from point A to Point B, no need for deviations!

We hit Cape Leveque and there is a lovely café there with scenic views. It was 3:30 pm by then so it was a quick coffee and muffin and back on the road. We stopped off at another settlement on the way back and to be honest, all the settlements we saw today or past, all seemed to be functioning. The houses were good, they had lawns, kids were in school, no people lying about in

Trude takes a break at Lombardini

stereotypical roles, it was heartening to see. The settlement was Lombardini and it too was having its church refurbished. This one has a lovely ceiling of paperbark bark and Maureen got a lovely picture of it.

The trip back was terrible. We drove on the bitumen and just got off it as the sun went down. We then had to drive in the twilight, too dark to see much and too bright

Sunset

Where we went today

for the headlights to pick up much and the road was rough and there were a lot of cars coming the other way and as the slight breeze had dropped off at dusk, the dust hung around and when you put the lights on high beam it was like driving in fog! It was and interesting drive back to say the least, visibility was down to about 30m at times and as such we drove a little slower. We eventually made the bitumen and arrived back at Girt close on 7:30. A long but very satisfying day. I must admit that when Maureen made a comment that I should have done the wheel alignment tomorrow, I was sure she was going to be right, but Trude seems to be good as gold after 9 hours of driving.

The Track at sunset - South

The Track at sunset - North

Tomorrow we have a quieter day planned with a hover craft ride in the afternoon and coffee with Doug sometime, the only planned activities, though I am tempted to take Trude for a bubble bath. We would also like to pass on our regards and support to all our teacher friends who are striking tomorrow over the government cutbacks. We are trying to find out where the meeting is being held here in Broome so we can attend. 

My 2 girls on the track - Maureen

Trude