With our tent, bedding, clothes, food and of course our children we headed for Kooljaman, Cape Leveque.
Cape Leveque is 200ks north of Broome along another dirt road. I wasn't looking forward to tackling another dirt road, but when we arrived at Kooljaman we were amazed at the beautiful crystal blue water and the white sand against the red rocks.
We had met a couple at Winjana Gorge who worked at Kooljaman, they told us all about the beautiful beach shacks. They even wrote a list of the best shacks to rent...so nice. We rented a shack called "Ongoe".I found out later that all the shacks are named after aboriginal elders. The resort is owned by the indigenous community and it has won many awards.
We checked in and climbed back into the car for our trek to the shack. It was positioned right on the edge of the water at East beach. It had a thatched roof and walls, sand floor,a picnic table and a cold open shower. We pitched our tent inside the shack, it was brilliant. We spent the next couple of days swimming, walking on the beach looking for shells and playing UNO :). This place is heaven..... There was a sign saying there had been a crocodile sighting, but the water is so clear you don't give it another thought ( oh how I've changed on this trip).
On the second day mum and dad flew in on a day trip from Broome. They were going to fly over the Horizontal falls and take a boat ride on the king tide. They stopped for breakfast at the Kooljaman resort and we got to meet them for a swim and a tour of our mansion.
We also met a family staying in the next shack along "Mindo". They were from Miranda. They had flown to Perth and hired a car to drive up the coast, using a tent. Kooljamon was there last stop. They showed us a flower from a local tree that you can suck honey from. The flower looks just like a bird.
The other highlight for the kids was the sixty million hermit crabs that inhabited the beach and shack. Every night they spent hours collecting them, then setting them free. We also had a family crab race, my crab hadn't even started when the race had finished....
On the third day we actually ventured out of our bubble and drove to Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm. We had a look around the farm, watched a presentation on the farms history and had morning tea. I did love the black pearl necklace, but at $6000 luke wouldn't let me buy it....
After the pearl farm we headed to One Arm Point. This is another closed aboriginal community. They have a fish hatchery there that has all different kinds of sea life to restock the ocean. Normally the tour is $20 but the guy let us come in for free. He let us pick a couple shells from his table and told us where to find the best shells. At One Arm Point we had our biggest find, a large Trumpet shell. Ella was so excited. We finished the day with lunch at the Kooljamon restaurant, then back to the shack for more swimming.
The next morning we packed up and headed back to Broome. This place was so special and a real highlight of the trip.