Jackson takes the bait at Pender Bay

Pender Bay, Dampier Peninsula, WA

Monday 25th - Saturday 30th September

We had enjoyable and unique experiences at each of the places we were lucky enough to stay at during our time exploring the Dampier Peninsula. As I write this blog post it is our last day before Broome and we all agree that our time at Pender Bay was the best of all the great times we had up here.

In our opinion the camp spot we booked, a high spot on top of the red cliffs with uninterrupted views of the ocean, was the best in the whole campground. We spent a lot of our time gazing out over the vast sea watching whales, turtles and huge schools of fish. We also got to enjoy the everchanging sky- from the pastel colours of the sun rising over the distant cliffs to the storm clouds that began rolling in to signal the start of the ‘build up’ (the time before the wet season) to the glittering stars that covered the night sky. It was all spectacular.

We had many great experiences but by far the funniest one was when Jackson and Daniel went fishing one morning. Emilia and I were on the beach with the car just up from the rocks the boys were fishing off. After fishing for a couple of hours with only a few bites they came back hot and tired. I offered Jackson a muesli bar expecting him to readily accept as he is always hungry. ‘I’m okay thanks’, he answered, ‘I just had a prawn’. ‘WHAT?’ I cried. He then explained that he’d gotten a bit peckish while fishing so had eaten one of the prawns they’d been using as bait. GROSS!! To make matters worse that particular small bag of prawns had already been out as bait a few days prior and had been refrozen. We made him drink a full drink bottle of water so that if he started vomiting at least it would come up a bit easier. Thankfully he made it through the day without getting sick and hopefully in the future he’ll remember that bait is not food for humans!!!

Our other (non bait related) experiences at Pender Bay included:

• Watching a whale mother and calf swim by reasonably close in (good enough to see without binoculars, but the view you got with the binoculars was awesome). The calf must have been practising breaching as it spent nearly the whole time it swam across the bay coming up out of the water before splashing back down. It didn’t quite have the right technique so it was super cute watching it try.
• Walking along the rocks at low tide at the southern end of the bay admiring the intricate rock formations and the stunning colours on the cliffs. The walk took us to some caves and rockpools and Daniel managed to find the natural pool we’d heard about. Up near the edge of the cliffs was a circular pool surrounded by high rock walls- it was crystal clear and so lovely to swim in.
• Doing a day trip to Middle Lagoon where we swam in the calm bay and walked along the beach. It is another beautiful location and we could see why everyone raves about it.
• Swimming, fishing, and walking along the beach at low tide and exploring – the variation in tides was getting bigger each day as the full moon approached. The tide was super low on our last night so we were able to explore the rocks all the way out to the point, there was so much to see. We found heaps of great shells and saw crabs, clams, an octopus and heaps of beautifully coloured algae, sea grass and coral growing on the exposed rocks.
• Making friends with the resident green tree frog up at the showers – the kids played with him every evening when we went up for our before bed rinse (and cool) off.
• Watching the sunset from a lookout high on the cliffs.
• Waiting in anticipation for the arrival of the storm that we saw brewing to the east. The sky went black and the wind got wild. By the time the storm reached us it was just super strong wind, no rain. It rained heavily about 15kms away but we only got a few drops. It was so amazing to watch the clouds change colour and shape as the storm rolled over the bay- we had the perfect viewing position up on the cliff.
• Whilst the rest of us relaxed at camp during the heat of the day Jackson built himself a cubby and made a spear (following the instructions from Harry who has been learning the local method to make a spear at school).
• On our last day we hired a boat from a nearby campground, Smithy’s, that is just to the east of Pender Bay. Emilia decided to stay at camp as she didn’t feel safe in the ocean in just a tinnie, so it was just the three of us. We left early and were on the water just after the sun rose. It was so calm and just stunning out there. After about an hour we saw a few schools of fish swimming through the coral spawn so we followed and within a few casts Jackson hooked onto a decent size Amberjack (we thought it was a tuna). He was lucky to get the fish in as he’d forgotten to put a trace on when he set up his rod. The rest of the time we saw heaps of fish but the only other fish they hooked onto were two school mackerels that was only just big enough to keep. We still had a fantastic time though as we saw turtles, a seal (who swam really close to the boat), dolphins, huge bait balls with tuna jumping wildly through them and after the boys had dropped me off they even saw a big bronze whaler shark who circled the boat waiting for them to catch something!!

Pender Bay was certainly an unforgettable experience.

Our incredible campsite on the cliff

Sunrise on our first morning at Pender Bay - the sunrises made it well worth getting up early each morning

Whale watching- the bay was so calm it was easy to spot whales

The view from the lookout we went to one evening.

Enjoying the view - some friends we met on the Gibb River Road are walking up to join us

The view from the lookout- amazing

Another day, another incredible sunrise

The rocks the boys went fishing off - this is where Jackson ate the bait!

On our walk along the base of the cliffs Jackson became very interested in these creatures...

...he picked one up and it curled tightly around his thumb.

The colours on the rocks and cliffs were just stunning

We found this walkway through the cliffs- as you walked through you could see the sandstone being gently blown away, eroding the hole even more.

Some of the rocks were so unusual.

One of our favourite rock formations - we think it looked like a tower on the Taj Mahal. 

This one looked like the silhouette of a lioness

The hidden rock pool- just spectacular

One of the many interesting conglomerate rocks we walked over

We walked along Smithy's beach at super low tide and Jackson found remnants of what would have been some very large shells.

Smithy's beach at super low tide- the sand had turned a red colour as the preceding high tide had reached the red cliffs and taken the red dirt back into the ocean

Later that afternoon the sky turned black and the wind picked up- it was incredible watching the wild storm roll in.

The next group of photos are from the morning we hired a boat and went out fishing. For the first few hours we were the only ones out. It was just beautiful out there.

We were just a tiny speck in the huge bay.

Jackson using all might to pull the fish into the boat!

The proud fisherman with the first (and biggest) catch of the day.

Trawling along the bay looking for schools of fish.

This video is when we were in the middle of a huge bait ball- tuna and birds were feeding on the small fish. We got to see so many tuna literally jump right out of the water - it was so cool to watch. The boys tried hard to catch one but the fish were not interested in the lures unfortunately.

On our way down for a swim after the boys dropped me back at camp.

We were enjoying the water until lots of small jellyfish started prickling us- they seemed to like soft areas of a bodies so we ended up with small pricks all under our bathers. We had to get out of the water and shower to get rid of the sting.

The exposed rocks were like little gardens- there were so many different things growing on them.

The octopus Emilia found - Daniel ended up giving it a helping hand to get back to shore.

The bay at low tide looked so lovely in the last bit of sunlight

Heart Rock

We stayed down on the beach waiting for the full moon to rise. I was super excited as the moon was rising 2 minutes before sunset so the sun was meant to bathe the moon in a red glow- unfortunately the moon was hidden behind some low lying clouds and didn't poke out until we'd gone back to camp - it still looked lovely though, just not quite what I'd hoped for.

Enjoying one final look out at sea, and one more incredible sunrise, on the morning we left.

The tide extremely low on the morning we left.