Broome & Beyond: Kooljaman

Thursday 13th July, 15:30

We're at Kooljaman at Cape Leveque. Thirty three degrees but now cooling off. Our rent-a-tent is very much a tent.

The morning at Eco Beach starts with the dawn chorus. Perhaps that should be the just-before-dawn chorus. All sorts of birds singing, whistling, squawking. Usually, somewhere out of sight. The alarm is set for 6:30 -- close to sun-up. I'm not sure how long it will take to get from Eco Beach to Cape Leveque. I don't want to rush.

Breakfast at the resort. I follow Deb's choice of poached eggs, avocado, vegemite, cheese sauce, on crumpet. It's good. Deb does something similar at home, similar but better :-)

As I'm packing the truck I also let some air out of the tyres. The truck was recently serviced so the tyres are hard as rocks. Too hard for the highway, even. I just let out a bit of air, to make for a smoother ride on the 12km unsealed "driveway" back to the highway. It's a great improvement.

We're packed, loaded, heading back towards Broome. Cars flash their lights at us. Eh?? Then we find out: A car has run off the road... The car is on its side. The caravan wheels are the right way up but the caravan itself looks as though it has been pushed sideways. Off the chassis. Pushed over and partly flattened. Contents come out like clothes out of a case with burst hinges.

There are already a few people stopped to help. We drive on. Ten minutes later, the police pass. A few minutes later, an ambulance. I hope it's not terminal but it's definitely an end to someone's happy holiday.

There's a t-junction: right to Derby, left back to Broome -- and to Roebuck roadhouse, just a few hundred metres away. The roadhouse is packed! There was a lot of traffic headed south. A dozen or more cars (etc) are queuing up to fill up to join the rush south. Luckily we don't want fuel!

We buy sandwiches for lunch and coffee to go. And we go... And I have some trouble with my coffee.

I spill coffee while finding out that the cup won't fit in to the space where I sit my drinks while driving. Deb rearranges the space, I spill more coffee. I stop the truck, sort out the space. Drive on.

The lid comes off my coffee cup, I spill coffee. I push the lid back on, firmly. I'm holding the cup, my hand moves, I spill coffee. I'm about to toss the coffee out the window but I'm thirsty. I manage to drink the rest, without trouble.

A few km before Broome, we turn north again, onto the Cape Leveque Road. It starts off as bitumen. Then the unsealed begins, with an extra-wide section of graded road. I soon find out why it's extra wide.

A hundred metres onto the unsealed and I pull over to let more air out of the tyres. Several other cars have done the same. There's plenty of room to stop on this bit of road. I let out enough air for a good ride on the unsealed. When we get back on bitumen it's a little bit soggy but not enough to need re-pumping.

The road is graded red soil. Been graded many times over many years -- in parts, it's like driving in a ditch. Plenty of room for two cars to pass, though sometimes we are leaning a bit as we hug the edge of the road.

We see perhaps half a dozen bits and pieces that look as though they have fallen off cars. All our luggage is inside, so nothing drops off :-)  The Prado has no trouble with this road.

There's less unsealed that we expect, perhaps 100km or so. (I didn't measure it.) An hour or two and we're back on bitumen.

The country is mostly flat with a few gentle rises and falls. Several floodways, it's hard to imagine such wide areas being filled with water. The bush is pretty with plenty of undergrowth and trees up to four metres. Except in one area where the trees are sparse and the undergrowth is 20cm grey/brown grass.

There's a turn-off -- still bitumen -- to Beagle Bay. We go there for a picnic lunch. Our sandwiches (from Roebuck Roadhouse) are value for money: plenty of meat and a reasonable amount of salad. None of this fancy "white or brown bread" nonsense, it's white bread or nothing. We eat in shade on a grassed area. Then check out the church: clean and white outside, mother-of-pearl shell altar inside. Very pretty. We also check the "visitors' toilet" (and shower) at the edge of the green.

It's a quiet village. Lots of signs encouraging people -- residents, presumably -- to not drink and drive, to drive carefully, and so on. I hope the signs work. Certainly as we pass through it all looks very pleasant.

Back on the road, on to Kooljaman.

We arrive at 2 o'cock. Must be the hottest part of the day. A tiny bit of breeze, plenty of shade, hot.

A cheerful young woman at the front desk. First, no, no one has cancelled. So we will be in the basic, tent. Then she runs through all that we need to know, highlighting on the map as she goes... She's done all this before :-)

Our tent is up on a wooden deck. Inside is a bed and a bit of space round it. A small table. Ouside, on the deck, a double chair joined by a table. We quickly shift it off the deck -- into the shade. We unload the cases plus a few odds and ends. I move the truck back to its official parking area, 20m away.

Now we can relax...

Five minutes later, Deb wants to walk to the swimming beach. There's a scenic beach and a swimming beach. The swimming beach is further away... up a small rise and down again.

The swimming beach has everyhing that I dislike about beaches: sand, water, not a spot of shade.

I melt back into the beach cafe and send Deb to get iced coffees. The temperature drops a little, the breeze drops entirely. We walk -- slowly -- back to our tent.

Now we're nicely in the shade. The small rise is behind us, with bush and birds. In front is caravan park, plenty of people but few enough -- and far enough away -- to not intrude.  It's now almost 4:30 (pm), it's comfortably warm, the only crowds are distant. Deb has made tea (I didn't pack any coffee).

The blog is almost up-to-date though it won't be posted for a while. The free internet is too slow to connect, the mobile hotspot fails to connect.

It's peaceful and I'm comfortable. Well, I'm on a hard wooden seat but *emotionally* I'm comfortable :-) Warm enough to sit without a shirt. Just as well, since my shirt is hanging up to let the sweat dry off.

We're booked in for dinner at 6:30...

====

Some of those fascinating numerical facts:

Yesterday's walk was 8km in 3 hours

The GPS has done its stupid thing and added hundreds of km to the distance. I think it was about 350km in 5 hours 30.

No filling up with fuel today.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"The man who cannot visualize a horse galloping on a tomato is an idiot." ... André Breton