Trip to Cape Leveque

930pm, Friday July 8th. Sitting in my tent at a campsite in northern Western Australia (WA) called Gambanan. It's a beautiful spot Melissa and I kind of happened upon today. The past two nights we've been staying at a pearl farm camping site called Cygnet Bay. It was very nice - definitely frilly princess camping. We had a nice tent and the kitchen was lovely. The ABLUTIONS were also lovely. Does any of my Canadian friends know what the hell ablutions are? They sound like a cross between abortions and blasphemy to me, but they are just... showers. The Ablution Block. Shower/Toilet Block. Very strange if you ask me, but that's how they do in Oz. We had two nights there, and ended up chatting for a while the second night with a really nice gay couple from Sydney named Robbie and Pete. I've got a job at the Irish Pub Cock 'n Bull when I get there if I so wish. The swimming at Cygnet Bay wasn't the best, but it's sure great here at Gambanan! The private little beach for us campers is called Squeaky Beach, featuring mangroves (plants/trees that lives in salt water, half in half out), white squeaky sand, and pristine blue waters. The mangroves are really special because normally crocs live around the mangroves, but the water is too clear here so they don't like it. I had my snorkel at the beach today; saw some cool fishies, and a sting ray right by the shore! Melissa also spotted some dolphins not far from shore so we decided to swim out and see if they'd be interested in coming over to check us out. Melissa has wanted to swim with dolphins all her life; she goes to Cable Beach all the time and has unfortunately never seen them where a lot of other people have. Well, today she was about 2m away from a small pod of dolphins in the water! I was just behind her, but they turned the other way pretty quickly and continued on feeding and cruising. Pretty magical. After returning to the beach we went on a little exploration, but I hate sand flies so returned to the vehicle as we were nearing sunset. Damn sand flies ruining a perfectly good beach! When Mel and I got back to the main camping area we sat on a big rock looking out over the water to catch the sunset. Looking out over the water, we saw the same dolphins swimming casually around the bay, turtles surfacing for a bit of air a bit of a frolic, and fish jumping and skimming across the water. The colours here are just incredible - we were sitting on an orange rock, surrounded by red dirt, blue turquoise water, white cockatoos, blue sky, green leaves... soon the deep orange from the setting sun was around us, followed by the beautiful fuscia pink lining around the clouds at sundown, then finally left with a gradient of pinks, reds, and oranges before the darkness completely set in. We are right near Cape Levique which is a big tourist destination, but here just around the corner it is so quiet and untouched. Not many people, with an unspoiled earth. However, tomorrow we will be going to Cape Levique for the day and night. I am excited about this as it is something you hear about as being really beautiful and one of those must-sees. On our way back to Broome on Sunday we're going to stop in at a little campsite/cafe place called Whale Song. It looks really special too, and a fellow camper here said it was his favourite place thus far on his trip in northern WA. Back to work Sunday night for a few days then I must decide whether I want to see Derby and Windjana Gorge this following weekend, or perhaps just work a bit more and enjoy what Broome has to offer. I think I'll stick around Broome... I really love it. And the people. I'm feeling like quite the local after only being there 2mths. I need to go back to Matsos for more home brews, need to see another flick at the oldest outdoor cinema in Australia, hit up the weekend markets to find some nice local jewelery and artwork, and walk Cable Beach a few more times to soak up its immense glory. Already planned is a whale watching tour, camel ride, and an Astro Tour! Sheesh, so much to do and so little time!!! Lists. Lists need to be made. Thank you Mum for my English upbringing.

When I wake up Monday morning I'll have just 10 full days left in Broome before I head off on my camping tour down the west coast to Perth. My only plan in Perth is to do a Brewery tour of Little Creatures located in Freemantle. There is lots to do so I'm sure I'll stay busy for the 4 days I'm there before I fly off to Cairns. Yay Cairns and east coast!! Going to buy a car, tent, swag perhaps, fishing rod, and some camping equipment! I plan on living out of my car and on campsites for the rest of my time in Oz. Main goal for Cairns is to work somewhere to qualify for my 2nd year visa extension. Once that's done, I'll be so ready to tour down the east coast and get to Byron Bay because it's a hippie surfer town. Can't get much cooler sounding than that! I've been trying to brainstorm recently about what kind of work I want to pursue, and a few key words I wrote down all pointed towards.... retreat. Nobody quote me on this (even blogspot.com), but I think this would be a super duper fantastic awesome venture. This encompasses everything I want to work towards right now, so now to sit on this idea and cultivate it, warm it up, incubate it, stew on it, ponder and wonder about it, talk about it, send out feelers for partners, and see what comes of it! Hollyhock on Cortes Island would be of some inspiration for my retreat, but there are some in Byron Bay I'd like to visit and perhaps work at to get a better idea of how things run too.

I want to take a moment and thank Melissa and Broome for the past two months, and when I say "Broome", there are so many things that fall under it. My time here has been priceless and unforgettable, so I want to send some love out there to people who have made it so special. Firstly, Gordon has planted so many little seeds in my mind about how great this country is. I still remember sitting in my house in Woodbridge chatting on Skype with him about where he was, what he was doing, and getting an Aussie calendar in the mail. I tore out the picture of camels on the beach in Broome and stuck it on my cork board of must-dos, and sighed heavily wondering if I'd ever make it here. I had a good job, but had no idea how I could save enough money and tear away from my car lease, house lease, credit card debt, or the other paths I was following in life at that time... but slowly, it all came together. I stayed in touch with Gordon over the years, and one day the timing was right. I had torn away from all the things holding me in Canada and one day when chatting with him I finally realized that ALL I had to do was save some money and I'd be traveling in a year. I packed up my dog and I, gave away a TON of shit, and moved back to the farm. So, there is my long drawn out THANK YOU to Gordon - I've been dreaming of camels on the beach, scuba diving on the Ningaloo Reef scratching turtle's shells, swimming with dolphins, walking through the red dirt, swimming in the blue ocean off the white sand, and not knowing what was going to happen next. It's all happening now and will continue to happen until I'm ready to settle down somewhere, all thanks to Gordon! Second big THANK YOU going out to Melissa - she lives in Broome, and I have known her for a few years only cyberly through Gordon. I was really excited to meet her, and upon my arrival in Broome she made me feel so welcome and we hit it off right away. She is such a kind, funny, beautiful woman whom I am blessed to have gotten to know over the last couple months. Staying with her has been abso fantastico (I just made that up now) and I will forever think of her when I encounter some "typical aussie 'mates'" thanks to the noisy typical aussie 'mates' camping next to our tent last night! I look forward to a rendezvous with Mel down the road sometime! Either Airlie, Sydney, or England! My "Broome" thanks goes out to all my friends and jobs here!! Y'all have made it so special. So Broome-tastic I can hardly stand it! Margaret my lovely American friend I loveee you and can't wait to meet up again on the east coast! I haven't even said goodbye yet and I already miss you. I'll never forget you saying "you're all the girl I need." Diver's crew - Sebastian, Morgan, Jay, Rob, Giles, Mark, Rory, Marge. Lustre crew - Sandy, Jo, Kerry, Caroline, Michaela, Craig. I'm now an awesome server and approaching awesome bartender and barista all thanks to my experience here so I'm completely thrilled!

830pm, Saturday July 9th. Happy Birthday to my friend Danielle! I thought of you today Dani. Although I haven't had the chance to "personally" wish you a happy birthday, I hope a blog shout out will suffice!

Melissa and I have just returned from a really nice dinner at the little restaurant at Cape Leveque camp ground; I had the lamb shank and she had the barramundi - we were both thoroughly impressed! Melissa was up this morning early enough to catch the sunrise at Gambanan campsite, whereas I woke up about 9am and missed the red sunrise over the ocean. We packed up camp and got into our swimmers for one last swim by the little island in front of our campsite. As we're heading down there (snorkel in hand) and man stops and tells us that they've spotted a croc across the way and we should take care swimming in the water. We wondered when this croc was spotted, because just the day before the aboriginal campsite lady was telling us to swim there and look for coral, and to "be sure to check out Squeaky Beach!" Taking care, we waded through shallow clear water to the little sandy island we hadn't seen the day before because the tide was further in and spotted some coral, as well as a fair sized clam on the sand, open, face down in the sand! Bit strange eh? I thought it was dead so went to pick it up but it squirted water out, so thought I'd just leave it to its devices and not risk losing a finger. I drew a heart in the sand with footsteps, then left my heart in Gambanan waiting for the ocean to wash it away. I found my heart again at Cape Leveque in the jagged red rocks, white icing sugar sand, clear blue sky and waters and hot yellow sun. We arrived here about midday and set up camp once again, ate some lunch, and made our way to the beach, snorkel in hand. I LOVE my snorkel gear!! The tide was out and the rocks were a bit precarious but we found a nice spot to have a swim. I didn't see a single fish but had an immense amount of fun just floating around in the water face down doing the occasional duck dive if I found a shell or rock worth picking up. After a snooze on the beach followed by a much needed shower we headed to the other side of the cape to see the sunset. The red rocks light up with an intense red glow at sunrise/sunset, a perfect opportunity for some "glamour shots" as Melissa put it. On our way leaving the beach, we got wind from some other people that there were some whales off in the distance against the sunset. Sure enough a minute later we spotted a gorgeous big whale stick it's immense head out of the water and slowly descend again. Magical creatures. I'm so excited for the whale watching tour!

Our plan for tomorrow morning is to wake up in time for the sunrise and head to the beach for a good long walk. After this it's packing up camp and hitting the road again, heading towards Broome with a stop over at Whale Song.

Here is the link to my Broome album on facebook - I've added some new pictures. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150176416514757.323910.511839756&l=6b665e7cad