Aussie RT Day 14: Dampier Peninsula

After the croc drove us out of Broome we decided to take a detour and head north to explore the Dampier Peninsula, which we heard was beautifully rugged and can only be explored with a 4WD. We love taking Hercules place his 2WD friends can’t go!

The craggy coastline was absolutely gorgeous, the peninsula felt so isolated with only 2 cars passing us by.

We were told by a woman at the Broome visitor center that no matter how tempting the beach may look, we should not swim in or camp on the beach as crocs roam the waters. Stacy and I were beside ourselves and wondered when we would ever get to swim in the Indian Ocean???

We found a nice secluded spot to camp for the night on a bank overlooking the beach that high enough up to be safe from any wandering crocs! There wasn’t a whole lot to do on the peninsula except sit and watch the sunset into the ocean while swatting the heaps of flies attacking our face! They always seem to emerge at the most beautiful of settings, determined to challenge your will be be one with nature. Read more about our battles with the Aussie flies!

We did walk onto the beach careful not to linger to long and staying away from the waters edge.  There were heaps on little crabs running about, many had left their outgrown homes nearby. I found some of the most beautiful and unique shells there.

Sticking to our camping sleep schedule, we are usually in the bed super early and up when the sun comes up at a startling 5:30 am. I can finally say that I have become a morning person on this trip! As I layed in the back of the Jeep gazing out into the pitch blackness surrounding us all I could hear was the sound of crashing waves. The sound of the ocean can usually put me to sleep in minutes but this particular night the realization that we were two girls completely alone in the middle of nowhere sleeping with our back door open freaked me out. I envisioned a scary man living out in the bush watching us and I decided we sleep with the doors closed and locked. Stacy and I differ this way as she feels safer when no one is around where I feel safer when there are strangers nearby that could hear my screams if need be!

I woke up early with the sunrise and in the light of day, the peninsula looked so peaceful and beautiful. I felt a little silly for being such a scaredy cat. This was the most beautiful spot we had camped at so far. We both would have loved to travel all the way up to Cape Leveque, located at the very tip of the peninsula but we had to head back to Broome to pick up our new travel buddy as planned and begin to make our way south.

To see more photos of the Dampier Peninsula CLICK HERE.