Wednesday, 26 October 2011

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!!!!

Tuesday, 18 October 2011

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!

Monday, 10 October 2011

The Gibb River Road


On Sunday night we splashed out on a posh dinner at the Kununurra Grande Hotel where they even had white table clothes and a snobby Maitre D. We had tried to dine there last time we visited Kununurra, but weren't allowed in because Dave and Waz were wearing pluggers and singlets. Before departing for El Questro we had to arrange our fishing licences (you need a licence for everything in Western Australia) as well as pick up the new I-pilot remote. We were able to pick up the fishing licences, but the remote had not arrived at Kununurra so we left empty handed (Waz was not smiling).

It took less than two hours to drive to El Questro Wilderness Park and the road was in pretty good nick. When we arrived at the reception area we were greeted by a loud annoying girl who made absolutely no sense at all. She told us that we were not allowed to put our boat in the water because they rented boats themselves, and it would a "confliction of interest" if we did........ She also told us that we couldn't swim on the property because of the large salties, but then circled about 5 suitable swimming holes and told us that we could swim "wherever we felt comfortable except for the Pentecost and Chamberline River". She also had annoying habit of calling us "Buddy" and "Hun". We could go on all day about this annoying girl, but we won't because we paid our permits and fees and set up camp on our own private site by the Chamberlain River.

We spent our time at El Questro exploring the gorges (Emma, Explosion, Moonshine and of course the famous El Questro Gorge). Most of these required some "clambering" and even "scrambling" over the large red rocks in the scorching West Australian sun, but afterwards we were rewarded with a refreshing dip in a cool plunge pool. We also visited Zebedee Springs (thermal) early in the morning which was very invigorating. We drove up some extremely steep 4WD tracks which led to various lookouts where we enjoyed spectacular sunsets that were complimented with fancy cheese platters and ice cold drinks (I suppose we are glampers afterall).


an afternoon drive at El Questro


El Questro Gorge


Dead bats at Moonshine Gorge


Every cloud has a silver lining


On our last day at El Questro we decided to splurge and go Heli-fishing - you only live once!!!!! At 5.45am we met our shy lanky pilot Jay (who had 3 stripes) and before you knew it we were flying over Emma Gorge checking out the raging bush fires. After a truly amazing chopper flight we landed on a clearing at the West Arm of the Ord River. It only took a few moments until we had a line in the water (we were not interested in eating the brekkie supplied as we were too excited). Within a hour the four of us must have caught at least 10 Barras (plus Belle managed to land a stinking Catfish and Dave got an Archer). We were really enjoying ourselves, but Jay told us that he had purposely taken us to the 'shit' spot first and it was time to jump into the chopper and move to a 'serious' spot. We all climbed back in and flew to a small waterhole at Nulla Nulla. We thought that the first spot was good, but the second spot was amazing. We could see the Barra in the water and were able to throw lures almost directly into their mouths - it was awesome to watch. We managed to land another 20 or so good sized fish (ranging from 60cm - 78cm), but also lost about the same amount - there was lots of action that morning. Our heli-fishing adventure was definitely one of the highlights of our trip so far, even if you don't like fishing (but what sort of person wouldn't) you would still enjoy it because of the amazing chopper flight.


Action Shot - Belle bringing in a massive Barra  (note the bent knees)


Might send this photo into Channel 9 for the next series of 'Farmer wants a wife'.


Farmer caught a Barra......


What were you doing Sunday morning????


Emma Gorge on fire


We left El Questro on a high and made our way North to Kalumbaru with an overnight stop at the Miners Pools which is located on the Drysdale River. After a long slow rocky drive we arrived at Kalumbaru. It was the middle of the day and were unable to process our permit or buy any groceries because the whole town had shut down for lunch so we decided to go directly to McGowan's island and set up camp and deal with the permits the following day. Kalumbaru is a dry community, so we were a little bit surprised when we saw piles of crushed VB cans at the 'reception' area of McGowans Island Camp. We were even more surprised when one of the camp locals offered us his 'sly grogging' services - we politely declined. McGowans Island Camping Ground was dirty, expensive and the owner was extremely rude - but we loved everything about it!!!!! We camped under a mango tree and enjoyed Western sunsets and fresh black lipped oysters every afternoon. We would launch the boat from the beach, travelled to remote islands, got bogged on the beach retrieving the boat but most importantly caught good sized Jacks, Nannygai, Cod, Stripeys, Trevally and more.


Double Hook-up


That ain't living Barry



GT with head twice the size of Yowie's.... Does that mean it has twice the brain power????


Kalumbaru sunset


Can someone please tell us what this fish is?????


Barb and Ron - you'r son is a legend!!!!

After 6 nights at McGowans we packed up at made our way towards Mitchell Falls along more corrugated roads. We had been told that Mitchell Falls is a truly spectacular spot, but the experience is ruined by the hoards of travellers and the noisy choppers that circle the falls. Lady Luck was on our side and we had the entire place to ourselves, we didn't see another person at the Falls (only the odd Goanna or two). The walk took about 5 hours (a fair chunk of it was in the sweltering heat) but we were able to cool off in swimming holes and stop to enjoy the Aboriginal Art.

Mitchell Falls - all to ourselves....

After consulting our Kimberly HEMA Map Guide Book we decided to stop at Mount Elizabeth Station for a couple of nights. A grey nomad had recently raved about the campground (they usually just whinge) so we were pretty surprised when we arrived and found that the rubbish bins hadn't been changed since 1975 and the whole area stank. Directly next to our camp was a tree which was home to a male peacock. He was constantly cooing his mating call all day and night, that was when we wasn't trying to get romantic with our red generator.....


Cute Wallaby liked to eat Belle's vegemite toast

The campground wasn't great, but that didn't really matter because we didn't spend a lot of time there. We took one of the 4WD tracks out to Wunnumurra Gorge which was gorge-ous (pun intended) and once again we had it all to ourselves. We spent the day swimming, reading, relaxing enjoying some Aboriginal Art.

Nice art

We spent the next couple of days gorging ourselves on gorges, we visited Galvins, Bell, Lennard and Winjana Gorges. All of these gorges were spectacular, and we must have climbed at least 30km to see them all. Tunnel Creek was another 'must do' and it was pretty awesome wading through the waist/arm-pit deep water bat infested caves with only one torch between the four of us.


sign that greeted us at bush camp on Gibb River Road


 Tunnel Creek

All good things must come to an end, and on Sunday afternoon we found ourselves at the end of the Gibb River Road. We are now staying in Derby which is famous for it's humungous tides - (11.53metres), the boab trees and it's gaol. Tomorrow morning we are going to hit the frog and toad and make our way to the Fitzroy River where we will hopefully catch that 120cm Barra............... Watch this space.

Waz in 25 years....


They finally locked up Belle