Dampier Peninsula / Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm

 

Our first stop along the Cape Leveque Road, heading up the Peninsula, was Beagle Bay Aboriginal Community. Andrew and I were keen to visit as we had previously hosted the students from the Sacred Heart School at St Joseph and I had accompanied the kids on numerous excursions around Sydney when employed by SCS. We were therefore familiar with the school and the church with the famous pearl altar, as the students had given a presentation about their home and life when visiting. It was nice to be on their turf and see the sights for ourselves. Although it was the school holidays, many of the students were participating in a basketball workshop by some well known Perth players. It is good to see the school and community being supported in this way. Unfortunately the shop and café (which also highlighted in their presentation) were closed due to stock taking – but we could peer through the windows.

Next stop on the journey north was the Djarindja Roadhouse. After a quick stretch of the legs and a 30 second tour through the shop, we were back in the car – not much to see there. It is rather disappointing that there isn’t more local art, celebrating local communities, available for viewing and sale at some of these places  – which are frequented by travellers.

After a two and a half hour drive from Broome, we reached Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm, where we camped for four nights. After a change of site, due to the necessity for solar (all sites unpowered) we set up camp and then wandered down to the bar and restaurant for some live music. While enjoying a Broome Mango Beer, we marvelled at the full moon rising, large and yellow in the sky, and hoped for the same the next evening, which was the first of three nights to view the Staircase to the Moon.

Day Two involved a drive up to Ardyaloon, One Arm Point Aboriginal Community. We sat on the rocks at the edge of the town and were fascinated to watch the incredible tide flow past Sunday Island, at an insane pace, and into King Sound. We then wandered along several bays, paddling our feet in the crystal clear, warm water – until a local Aboriginal family pointed out the sharks that were coming quite close to the shoreline! That made us scamper out – although the kids were quite happy to continue playing in the water. We counted nine 1.2m reef sharks in the small bay we were standing in. We also watched several tourist planes, arriving back from the Horizontal Falls, land on the small airstrip near the bay. They are now required to use the One Arm Point airstrip due to access being currently denied into Cape Leveque. We were informed of this from several locals that it was due to an ownership issue. This was disappointing as it meant we couldn’t see Kooljaman and the Cape Leveque lighthouse, unless we paid $140 to a local guide – which we couldn’t do as the tour was booked out.

Day Three we travelled back down to the Djarindja Roadhouse and turned off to visit the Lombadina Aboriginal Community. After checking in at the reception office and paying our $10, we gained access to the community and to a section of the beach. While Cath and Jen toured the craft shop (which had nothing for sale) and the local church, Sippy let down the tyres and we were off across the sand. The beautiful white sand and blue water glistened in the afternoon sun and we revelled in the remoteness while paddling our feet in the water.

That night we ate dinner in the Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm restaurant, Barramundi and chips, and then wandered down to the viewing area for the Staircase to the Moon. Unfortunately the clouds were all banked across the horizon, so no moon viewing occurred.

Day Four and after a morning of coffee and warm scones with jam and cream at the restaurant, we booked onto the Giant Tides tour for 11:30am. This was amazing! We boarded the 12-seater rubber boat, scoring the front seat, and travelled with the boat on wheels to the waters edge. Once floating, the wheels came up and we were zooming out through the waters of Cygnet Bay to King Sound.

The giant tides were incredible. The water rushed past with such speed the driver of the boat had full throttle on in order to go against it – and there were two massive engines! The tides are close to 12 metre changes every 6 hours with 116 x the volume of Sydney Harbour flowing into King Sound every tidal change. That’s just hard to fathom … until you see it! This tour was awesome and well worth the $240 per person. Sippy and I also got soaked, with water splashing and spraying over the front of the boat! We were warned we would get wet…

That evening we were in luck with the cloud and managed to see the Staircase to the Moon. This was beautiful to see, so high up on the coast of Australia. A fitting end to our time up on the Dampier Peninsula.