Saturday 18 August 2012

Middle Lagoon

We left Broome along the Cape Leveque road towards Middle Lagoon. We travelled for about 150k with about a hundred of it unsealed, corrugated, red, sandy and jamb packed with character. Some sections where 30 meters wide with enough room for ten cars and other spots, particularly after the lagoon turn off were deep sand and only a single car wide. Some sections felt like we were driving on a 45 degree angle like a long skateboard pipe. Fortunately we did not pass too many cars on the way in. Either way we both managed to drag the vans in without incident.

 

We popped into Beagle Bay to have a gander at the church there that is decorated completely by local shells.


The camp at Middle Lagoon is run by the local Aboriginal community and is simple...yet stunning. We chose spots on top of the ridge, sacrificing shady areas under the pandanus trees for the view.....good decision.


The kids immediately went down to the drink for a swim and constructed a few sandcastles etc. after collecting some wood I went for a quick flick of the fly before dusk. I had spoken to the local resident who assured me that I would find a few GT's and queenfish if I just put it out near the mangroves, anytime of day, any tide....sounded too good to be true. Well it was, it was dead low tide and the mangroves were of course 100 meters from the water, if there were any fish next to them it would be real easy fishing! Needless to say that the short session yielded no seafood. This is renowned for a spot that produces good number out off the reef, boat required, and it seems that we are almost the only camp without one. Will not stop us having a go, I may need to get some more detailed information tomorrow.

We ended up staying here for six nights and it is just a magic spot as you will see from the pics. Postcard views of the bay and beach, swimming, snorkelling, sunsets over the water, diving birds, breaching whales, dolphins and fish jumping out of the water whilst being chased by prey, all of this visable from the caravan.I saw a Tom something fish and a gar skimming over the top of the water for what would have been close to 100 meters at lightening speed, the gar didn't go under once and it seemed to be propelled by its tail on the surface of the water. The pics are a jumble of our time there as we have no way nor reason to split them into days.

We did some fishing with some success with spangled emperor, golden trevally, blue wrasse, Tom something and some unidentified reef fish. Some were caught on fly and others caught on local shellfish found on the rocks during our morning low tide walks of the rock pools. The best tasting one was the spangled emperor .

No fish here....No fish here....
Photoshop complete.
One of the spangled emperors
My first saltwater fish on fly, a nice golden trevally that fell to a pink clouser, whilst a whale is breaching in the background no less!
The tides are pretty big here, there was no water where I'm walking when I cam out.
Much to the delight of the onlookers I finally had to swim back with rod and fish in hand

We also came across corals, clams and anemones complete with clown fish. It was also a good time to eat the small oysters of the rocks, something we picked up on late.


A red rock outcrop onto the sand was unique
We showed the girls that a clam spits out some water when you tap them with your foot....about five minutes later had to stop Codi as I rounded a corner to find her absolutely laying the boot into one unlucky clam. Later on she came across a stick that she put to good use!


Every day here we have seen and heard many whales cruising the water close by. When we say "heard" you can here them under the water and we could also hear them thumping the water at night time.

We did a day trip up to Cape Leveque for a look on a particularly windy day, found it to be quite squashy camping, a decent walk to the drink and definatly aimed at the cabin dwellers (some of the cabins were very good), ultimately we were very happy with the Middle Lagoon set up.


Whilst up towards Cape Leveque we also went to a centre that displayed some of the sea life in open tanks and was guided through by Barry the host. Seeing the bara feed displaying their power was unbelievable.

Tom was one of the braver kids that fed the barra
Our girls were much more comfortable with the turtles...
We cooked over the fire every night using the camp ovens and grills which was obviously good fun. The menu included pizzas, stir fried noodles, lamb shanks, jam rolly polly, fried rice, roasts and fish. The pesky sun set was always a distraction at cooking time, hard to not stop and take it in.



The nights also had the crescent moon following the sunset closely (further apart each night)
Cresent moon following the sunset...I'll drink to that!
POne thing that did surprise us was the dew of the evening, as soon as the sun set there would be dripping coming form the van roofs and the chairs would be damp, more reason to chuck a few extra logs on. The last morning we woke to the thickest fog (which was really a sea mist we later discovered) we had experienced. We couldn't see the beach from the van window which was our morning wake up routine, the kids would normally pile into our bed and watch the happenings on the beach and ocean. The fog thinned out slightly in battle with the sun and we were treated to a rainbow silouhete of some sort over the camp, it shows how little wind there was during most of our stay.

This last day was Kathy's birthday, during the slow and very reluctant pack up this kids made a card each for Kath and we were sadly on our way to tackle the road out. One last group shot taken in the spot that our caravans sat.

This is one place we will defiantly come back to, we just hope it doesn't change too much.

 

4 comments:

  1. Great pictures, great memories. Awesome, awesome post from an awesome, awesome place. Loved the videos. Well done girls! I remember watching you do them from up at the van!

    Geez we really worked that little beach didn't we!?

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    1. Yeah could spend a long time at that joint

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  2. Hi Everyone,
    Thanks for my weekly dose of sun, sand, fishing and adventures. I can see why you would be reluctant to leave, this place looks amazing and we would love to experience it one day with you, for sure!
    Happy Birthday Kath, what a memorable way to spend your birthday.
    Hey Benny - did you photoshop your guns too (he he).
    Take care everyone and travel safe,
    Love and kisses Shaz, Dash and Zara xoxo

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    1. Name the time Shaz, we will be in it. The blokes could drive up with the vans and boats whilst the ladies and kids fly to Broome, we may have to stop for some barra along the way though.

      Photoshop the guns,?! that used to be my favorite t-shirt till I flexed when someone asked me the time. Let's face it, that's the only reason that pic got in.

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