The coastline near Barn Hill has these terrific rock formations. "Sculptures by Nature"

Sunday night saw the three of us enjoying Barn Hill's 3 course Sunday night roast (lamb and pork) meal for $12.50 a head courtesy of Ross. Almost all you can eat as there was plenty for everyone including seconds.

Welcome back, we have left Barn Hill and headed 130 kms North to Broome. After stocking up on food we left Broome and travelled to Barred Creek but 2 nights later with numerous sandfly bites we headed back to Broome. Meanwhile, Sandy and Uncle Ross drove to Quondong to check out the camping but decided that the road was too rough for comfort.

Broome's Cable beach

Clothing optional and a great swimming beach. The council is soon going to charge a fee to drive on the beach so they can afford a ranger to patrol it. The easy access to the beach is one reason we stayed so long in Broome. I suppose everything changes in time but bureaucrats sure can spoil the good feelings you get from an area.

4 more days in Broome then we headed towards Cape Leveque stopping at Middle Lagoon for camping. While in Broome we checked out the Saturday morning markets at the old Broome Courthouse. Lots of pearl jewellery but we only bought some fresh veggies.

Here Ross met up with another single male camper (John) and they are getting on well. The two of them did a quick trip further North up to Lombadina, Kooljaman (Cape Leveque) and One Arm Point. After paying $5 entry fees at each place they decided that Middle Lagoon was the place to stay. Lombadina did not have camp grounds, Kooljamen's camping did not have ocean views and One Arm Point was very run down. Kooljamen also did not allow caravans ???????? only tents and camper trailers. They say they don't have a permit for caravans?????

Middle Lagoon with the tide going out.

These two pictures show the entrance to Middle Lagoon. At low tide then at high tide after the sealevel has risen over 8 metres. Taken from our campsite on the headland. Unpowered and $26 a night, not cheap but we did stay 2 weeks. Powered was $32 a night. The camp area and facilities were not clean or maintained. One elderly camper, Henry, looked after the office and cleaned? the toilets every few days for a remuneration he would receive at the end of the camping season. The three aboriginal owners Peter, Traci and Tamara were rarely seen.

Henry told us that the second newer facility block that we were using was planned 7 years ago, building started 4 years ago and would one day be finished. 2 showers and 2 toilets each in a steel framed building. No basins supplied yet and the tiling and others still to be completed.

We put the boat in a number of times and caught a giant trevally, many sharks, cod, northwest snappers and 1 x Red Emperor (42cm) which we hadn't caught before. While fishing we were entertained by many whales and calves that floated and played near us. From our campsite we watched numerous whales travel along the coast with many flying leaps for their enjoyment and ours. Each day you could see up to 30 whales go past some only a few hundred metres off shore.

Met up with Don and Cynthia who brought out a large telescope on 2 nights and showed us some nebulas, galaxies, planets and the moon. We have decided that were not that interested so we will be selling our telescope and possibly buying a powerful binocular so that we can see more terrestrial objects such as whales and birds etc.

Checking my solar panels, I found one that wasn't working which explains the low amps going into the batteries. Checking the warranties it advises me to contact the supplier that sold me the panels. I rang George Day Caravans and after 4 people I found a person who promised to find out how I can have it repaired. I left Broome 2 days later and still no return call from George Day. Hopefully when I ring him from Broome he will have an answer for me. I spoke to a solar supplier in Broome and they say they can do warranty exchanges on BP solar panels but not Unisolar, which have to go back to the distributor for testing. Not the easiest when you're travelling on the road.

On the way out I noticed a tyre and rim complete with an "A Van" cover lying on the side of the road. We had met Jim and Chris (with an "A Van") at Middle Lagoon and they had left for Broome that morning. They had mentioned to us that they would be staying in the same park as us in Broome. Sure enough, we found their van without a spare on the back and left theirs at their front door, as they were not home. They had gone into town and purchased a new spare tyre and rim, not expecting to see theirs again. They were surprised when they got home, now they have two spares for the van.

Another sunset this time from Middle Lagoon Headland where we camped.

Sally the camp wallaby and Sandy.

We travelled back to Broome again for a couple of days and then headed to Telegraph Pool on the Fitzroy River where we are now as the month closes.

More photos and stories next month.

Peter and Sandy