Middle Lagoon

We really didn't want to leave Cape Leveque because it was such a magical place, but we also wanted to see what else the Dampier Peninsula had to offer us. So we packed up our trailer (which we are getting pretty good at now) and headed 100km South on the Cape Leveque Road to Middle Lagoon.
On arrival, the Middle Lagoon Campground reminded us a little bit of McGowans Island, but it was much cleaner and the staff were really friendly. They were also very relaxed and told us that we could set up wherever we liked (we chose a nice shady spot) and unlike the Roebuck Bay Caravan Park we were not given a double sided A4 sheet of rules. As the name suggests,the campground is situated on a stunning reef lagoon which is beautiful for swimming and perfect for launching a boat for a spot of fishing.

insert standard sunset photo here

And a spot of fishing is exactly what we did; in fact we spent a large chunk of our time landing a variety of good sized fish. As mentioned in our last blog, our BFFS Dave and Jana had to start work in Port Headland and they took their big beautiful boat with them so it was back to fishing out of the easytopper. This did present a few challenges for us, but we still had a ball. One memorable incident was when Belle hooked a rather large feisty Mac Tuna that was able to tow our 46kg boat around the lagoon for a bit of a spin until it had been expertly landed in the boat. In fact many of the fish towed our boat around!!!!!!

nice size to courier back to Trousar - Daz can you get us a quote???

Another bloody Mac Tuna

Once again the marine life was spectacular and we saw stacks of dolphins, sharks turtles and manta rays cruising around the boat. We also did pretty well fishing wise - some of the highlights were Belle's 57cm Coral Trout caught on a popper, a couple of reasonable sized GTs caught by Waz, a nice sharky mackerel that nearly ended up as sharky dinner and a few assorted reef fish. We also decided to utilize the freezer, so if anyone wants to come over for a feed of fish when we get back just give us a hoi.

Mmmmmm coral trout

Waz and Tea Leaf Trevally

Couldn't have landed this one without the gimble - thanks Jana and Dave!!!!

what an ugly looking fish....

birds working the tuna

Blood in the boat is all part of a good days fishing

But someone needs to clean the blood of the Catalina Combo

Most mornings we would rise reasonably early and fish until we either got sick of it, caught enough fish, or it just got too hot or choppy. We then spent our afternoons lazing around the lagoon and enjoying long walks on the sandy beaches collecting shells (obviously Waz didn't get into the shell collecting - men with beards just don't do that sort of stuff).

We had this beach to ourselves

watching a storm roll in (never actually rolled in to Middle Lagoon)

attempt at artistic storm photo

WA tides are huge - this photo was taken of idiots car at 10.30am

Photo taken of idiots car at 10.45am

One afternoon we decided to drive out to Beagle Bay to visit the Sacred Hearts Church which is supposed to be quite spectacular. Old Mate who ran the campground had told Belle about a shortcut, so we decided to give it a go. We still aren't really convinced that the short cut was a short cut, but after getting lost in a deserted looking community and noticing some rather ominous looking storm clouds forming we finally made it to Beagle Bay.

As soon as we got out of the car the storm started and with surprising intensity - really strong gusts of wind, horizontal rain and even hail stones. The woman at the community store told us that it was only the second time ever that it had hailed in Beagle Bay and the locals looked pretty excited to see ice falling from the sky. The storm went on for about half an hour and we were pretty worried about our open trailer back at camp (the weather was perfect when we left) and the state of the roads. As soon as it was safe to do so we drove back to camp and were very relieved to see that it was completely dry and the roads unaffected - it is only 25km as the crow flys and they hadn't received a drop of rain.

camp dog escaping the hail storm

Beagle Bay Storm

First church either of us have been in for a while.....

Very fat Beagle in Beagle Bay Church....

We support a Gas Free Kimberley (don't tell Waza's work)

A few days later and it was time to pack up again and make our way back to Broome where we are going to spend the next week before we start the 3500km journey back to Brissy.

Cape Leveque

On the 18th of August 2011 the Dingo's Den blog quoted Cobourg Peninsula as being the "Greatest Place on Earth". Dingo's Den would like to retract that statement because Cape Leveque kicks Cobourg's arse.........

For those of you who aren't in the know, Cape Leveque is located on the North/West side of the Dampier Peninsula, which is about a 3 hour drive from Broome (depending on road conditions and of course what tyre pressure you are running). Luckily caravans are not permitted so it also means that it is mostly a Grey Nomad Free Zone.

The last week has been total bliss and we have had the time of our lives. We arrived at Cape Leveque last Tuesday afternoon and enjoyed yet another spectacular sunset over sea after a stress free set up. The next morning we all jumped into the Seaspray and spent the morning reef fishing. Luckily Belle and the Shimano T-Curve were on board because she managed to catch dinner for everyone (see pictures below) because the others didn't have too much luck. Jana was particularly good at hooking sharks though......

Belle's haul from Day 1

Another sunset photo - we still aren't sick of them

Nice rock formation

Waza's new boat

The following days of fishing were even better!!!!!! We were all shocked to see the huge schools of tuna going absolutely berserk on the surface, and it wasn't long until we had all hooked up. We all managed to land a couple of mac tuna (which make great bait) but were very happy when Waz pulled in the first beautiful Long Tail which was transformed in sushi rolls a few hours later. Belle and Jana also landed some good sized Long Tails a few days later. We also got a few decent sized Spanish Mackerels which tasted delicious as crispy fish soft shelled tacos.

Holy Mackerel

Long Tail Tuna at 1000hrs

Long Tail Tuna at 1200hrs

Goodline Work-life balance

Mac Tuna - Trousar's second favourite fish (coral trout is top of the list)

Waz and Queenie

Tripple Hook-up

Waz and Golden Trevally

Belle finally got her Long Tail Tuna - mmmm more sushi.....

While we did land a heap of good fish during our stay (tuna, mackerel, trevally, parrot, queenies, coral trout, spanish flag, jacks and cod) we also lost a heap of fish and tackle to sharks. Waz was particularly good at catching fish heads (see photo below), we also had to do an emergency run back to Broome to restock on fishing tackle. It was pretty spectacular watching sharks home in on good size spanish mackerel or trevally and watch them try and avoid getting eaten. Equally as spectacular was watching mackerel jump clear of the water and in one case over the the boat while attempting to grab our lures...

Another one bites the dust

Jana exhausted after a shark ate her Golden Trevally 

Barb and Ron - he did it again!!!!

The marine life at Cape Leveque was absolutely amazing - David Attenborough could have filmed one of his documentaries from Dave's boat. Pods of whales (with calves) came within 20 or 30 metres of the boat and put on spectacular shows for us. There was lots of breaching and fluking and all of that other whaley sort of stuff. We also saw dugongs, sea snakes, turtles, sharks, dolphins and more fish than you could poke a stick at (or throw a lure at).

photo courtesy of Janifer Hose photography

When we weren't fishing we were swimming in the beautiful turquoise water, snorkeling around the reefs, strolling along the long sandy beaches or enjoying a game of sequence with a beautiful sunset as a backdrop. If only life was like this every day!!!!!!

Preferred method of transport - Cape Leveque Taxis

Unfortunately Dave and Jana had to pack up yesterday and make their way to Port Headland to start work (Dave is a chippy and has some work lined up with Goodline). It was very sad to say goodbye to them and we wished that they could have stayed for another couple of weeks, but we know that we will catch up with them again....... Actually Dad and Connie - I have already invited them to your place in Tassie so we will probably reunite with them in Copping.

We decided to have a break from fishing today and do some of the touristy things. We visited the Pearl Farm at Cygnet Bay and also spent a few hours looking around One Arm Point. We visited the Trochus Hatchery where Waz feed a Barra and had a quick look at the beach.

Waz hand feeding a Barra

Cute Turtle
 

Taking a stroll along beach at One Arm Point

Tomorrow we are packing up and making our way to Middle Lagoon.............

Also - news just in..... Casper and Miranda are ENGAGED - congratulations guys!!!!

The Fitzroy River

As mentioned in the last blog, we were fairly confident that we were going to land a metre Barra at the Fitzroy. We tried our hardest (well Dave and Waz did, Belle and Jana mostly drank booze and played sequence) but we just couldn't get one in the boat. The biggest we got was 74cm (courtesy of Mr Hose). Getting the boat into the river was a complete nightmare - a couple of old geezers had told us that it would be easier if we launched to the right of the 'boat ramp' because the sand was harder. We got bogged straight away and spent the next hour or so trying to push Dave's heavy boat into the ankle deep water. We think that they were just giving us the bum steer because the WA Yokel Hicks don't really like us tourist much. They even told Fisheries officers to launch there and they got bogged worse then us. We spent 6 nights bush camping on the river banks, it was a top spot and we didn't have to pay a cent.

sign at the roadhouse dunny - I don't get it......

It isn't a metre - but it is still a nice Barra

Belle dominating the Sequence Board

who says you can't get drunk on middies

Having trouble thinking of a PC caption for this - the bugs were very bad though

The cat who got the cream

Terrorist

On Sunday we packed up and made our way towards Broome, Waz had booked the Cruiser into a radiator specialist for first thing on Monday morning as it is still running hot (even with a new thermostat). Recently the temperature hit 44.7 degrees on the dash, so driving 3500km home without air-conditioning is not an option!!! As usual major repairs are required, parts need to be ordered etc, so it wont be getting fixed this time round in Broome (booked in for our return).

Everything else about Broome was fantastic - we both really loved it and are looking forward to going back. It was great to go somewhere where the service staff are actually nice and don't just grunt and ask what we want (like they do in most parts of NT and WA). So we treated ourselves to a romantic dinner at the Wharf (a seafood restaurant near the jetty), a boozy dinner at Matso' Brewery with Dave and Jana and Belle even scored a nice pair of pearl earrings. We did a bit of sightseeing, and managed to get relatively clean and well stocked.

Another sunset from our camper

Big tides at Roebuck Bay - they did manage to get it in though



Yesterday morning we packed and took the Cape Leveque Road which runs to the top of the Dampier Peninsula. We are currently camping at Cape Leveque and it is absolutely FANTASTIC but you are going to have to wait until the next blog to hear all about it because it is beer o'clock now and after that we have to go and catch some more fish!