Our last WA beach camp (and definitely one of the best)

Barred Creek, Dampier Peninsula, WA

Thursday 5th - Sunday 8th October

We had previously checked out Barred Creek free camp and thought it would be the ideal spot to spend our last few nights on the Dampier Peninsula. This was the last time we would be camping on the WA coast and it was the perfect beach camp-  soft white sand and complete ocean views. We slept to the sound of waves crashing while the sea breeze provided some relief from the sweltering temperatures. 

We spent our time at Barred Creek:

• walking along the beach at low tide looking for shells, we found some fantastic ones.
• fishing at the inlet when the tide was gushing in. While the boys fished I watched all the turtles swimming along bobbing their heads up. There were also stingrays and lots of schools of small fish as well as some big fish, but unfortunately the boys weren't lucky this time and they didn't catch anything worth keeping.
• cooling off in the clear water. We didn't stay in too long and always kept a lookout just in case. We had been told this area was fine to swim in, but afterwards we were told there is a resident crocodile in the creek! 
• watching the sunset from the comfort of our camp- the sunsets were incredible.
• gazing at the ocean while relaxing at camp during the heat of the day.
• visiting the nearby Willie Creek Pearl Farm. We had only intended to have a look around but the lovely manager offered us a place on a tour that had just started, for free! We ended up taking a boat ride up Willie Creek to see what the oyster farm looks like, then we had afternoon tea before being shown exactly how an oyster grows a pearl (once a nucleus is implanted) and then we got to see a pearl being extracted from an oyster. It was such an interesting experience. We ended our tour in the shop where we were shown 'The Don', a huge, $150,000 pearl.

After Barred Creek we spent 3 nights in Broome doing the boring but necessary jobs. We still managed to have some fun though as we bumped into friends we'd met last year (we actually spent New Year's Eve with them) so they kids spent 2 days playing in the pool with their kids (Tynan and Mahli) and we all enjoyed two sunsets on Cable Beach as well as dinner out at the Divers Tavern. It was a great way to end our time in WA.

After fishing down at the creek Daniel let Jackson drive back to camp along the beach - as you can see he was pretty excited about it!

Getting the fire ready to cook the mudcrab Daniel had just caught

Keep watch to make sure it was cooking correctly (as Brian had taught us a few days ago)

Mudcrab on the beach with a sunset view - bliss.

We were all pretty impressed with the sunset on our first night- our campsite was perfect to watch it from.

Such a special spot

The colours just got better and better

An early morning walk before it got too hot

Some very vibrant soft coral we found washed up on the beach.

Emilia found these shells and used blutack to turn them into fake nails!

She actually managed to make, and eat, her breakfast with the nails on - pretty impressive

Fishing down at the inlet- he tried for quite a few hours on both days but didn't catch a barramundi like he'd been hoping to.

Our campsite in the dunes at low tide.

The kids had a dusk swim to wash off the sand- it was still extremely warm even though it was after 6pm

Another incredible sunset - just making sure we got our fill of ocean sunsets, we won't be getting them again once we get back to Victoria.

Willie Creek Pearl Farm was in such a stunning location on the banks of Willie Creek.

The oyster that our guide opened and the pearl that was inside- so incredible!

Daniel got this great drone photo of stingrays and a car wreck at low tide. This car had obviously tried to cross over Barred Creek at low tide, not realising how soft, and sinky, the sand is.

One of the many turtles we saw

Another night, another magical sunset

Our last beach fire for awhile.

It was hard to leave such a stunning place.

Daniel had to do some very strategic driving to get us through this narrow, curved section of the track- just a few more pin stripes to add to the car!

A few photos from our 3 days at Broome:

Enjoying the huge pool- the kids spent so long in there.

Cable Beach sunset number 1 - we had just all been laughing as a naked man (we nicknamed him Johnny Long Shlong) walked along the beach. Apparently he walks naked along Cable Beach each evening at sunset!!

Cable Beach sunset number 2 with our friends

Dinner at Divers Tavern on our last night in Broome.