Day 99 Cape Leveque

For our last trip around Broome we chose Cape Leveque with an overnight stay at the Djarindjin Campground.

First stop was after a 35km detour on gravel road James Price Point: well, there is bush camping and a bit of a view, but you cannot swim and nothing more to see or do.

The next stop was a bit difficult to find access: Pender Bay Road was for residents only, so how to get there? An offline map revealed go towards Middle Lagoon (the street signs said customers only, we ignored it), where there are many little ways, e.g. to the Whale Song Cafe, which sounds just perfect to look out for whales at Pender Bay. So far, so good: whale song cafe as well as many stops before and after that were closed, so no access. On all the side streets we found only one open campground, completely off the grid, booking via a book at the entrance. It is at the beach, no swimming, but has great views, so for families with small children with lots of food etc. a good holiday spot to relax. For us there was nothing to see or do: no whales, croc water warning so no swimming...

We drove on to the Beagle Bay community, where you can visit the church with pearl shell altar.

Heading north we went at first to look at our booking at the Djarindjin Campground. The campground is spacious, very clean & tidy, very good & almost brand new amenities and you have a shop which sells burger (no vegie) and chips as well as other food. After having a burger (sold only until 3pm) and some chips, we decided it is still early enough to explore the north of Cape Leveque.

On the north of Cape Leveque peninsula we wanted to visit one-arm-point and the Round Rock Lookout. At the entrance of the aboriginal community was a sign explaining, that you are not allowed to swim, wear bikini/swimwear or fish at theses places and the entrance fee ist 18$ per person, basically just to make a photo. Another sign gave the information, that both sights are closed for today, so we did not even had to make the choice to pay so much money for just a photo.

All other detours to places, including the Kooljaman Cape Leveque with its famous beach and lookouts you can see on Cape Leveque information material, were closed as well. Only the Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm was open, so Stuart insisted on a stop in the hope for some nice views. The Pearl Farm is a working farm, but also offers (expensive) accommodation to stay for at least three nights and apparently fishing tours. The Cafe and Restaurant were closed as well, but Stuart enjoyed looking at the old petrol stations and the view from their lookout onto the sea.

So if you are not planing to stay in complete remoteness (no phone/Internet connection at middle beach/pender bay area) at a beach, where you cannot swim at Pender Bay campground, there is not really a reason to drive up Cape Leveque (at the moment at least - maybe some places will open next year again).