Gambanan Campground and Back to Broome

We arrived at Gambanan Campground on 1^st July, with the intention of staying there for a week or so. It’s right at the tip of the Dampier Peninsular near Cape Leveque.

We’d read some absolutely glowing reports about Gambanan, so were full of hope about the camping.  It’s part of an Aboriginal community about 8 kms south of One Arm Point, complete with free satellite phone in a paddock.  One Arm Point was pretty much a closed town to non-Aboriginals when we were 1^st there many years ago. Now the shop caters to everyone’s needs and you can buy a dining suite, fridge, your fishing gear, groceries and of course kangaroo tails at the same shop.

After the fantastic camping at Gnylmarung Retreat, we were very disappointed when we arrived at Gambanan. So much so we thought we would only stay one night. It had the most fantastic views but the place was a dust bowl, very dark, very fine and dirty dust. Not the red dust that you find everywhere around these parts.

We set up our camp and spread out the camping mats to keep the dust around our van down. Jayne raked a huge amount of grassy straw around to keep the dust down, including outside the car doors so we didn’t take half the dust with us.

We had a fire every night and really great sunsets over the mudflats at low tide.  The weather was warmer at night and in the morning the ocean was sparkling right at our doorstep. So we decided to stay another night and see how we felt the next day.

This happened for 5 nights, and we left there thinking despite the dust it was a truly amazing place. We’re fortunate that we have a shower in the van and we could shower twice a day. We had to turn our black feet back to normal colour before we could get into bed!

It was such a dusty place that even the cockatoos and corellas were filthy as they dug around in the dirt for seeds.   

The 2^nd last night was a full moon at low tide and we were presented with a “Staircase to the Moon” which equalled what you see in Broome - quite amazing. There were lots of campers standing on the rocks at the campground watching this amazing display of colours and the moon rising. The couple camped next to us were from Munich area and flying home to Germany the next day.  They were really sad to be leaving after 7 weeks here.

We went fishing right in front of our van and Jayne caught her 1^st edible size fish ever. She was pretty pleased with herself and the fish was delicious.  I caught a few but nothing edible sized.

Cygnet Bay Pearls was just up the road so we enjoyed coffee and cake one day, and returned a few days later for lunch. Jayne bought herself an expensive pair of pearl earrings and I paid for lunch. My side of the deal was only $11.  They’re building a new restaurant licensed to sell alcohol and have had to jump over many hurdles to get this licence.  The whole area up here is Aboriginal land, and an alcohol free zone.  It will be the only place other than Broome where you’ll be able to buy alcohol.

Regrettably the time came to leave Gambanan and return to Broome for supplies and then head off up the Gibb River Road, certainly the start of a totally new adventure.

However the stars and planets didn’t line up and the 1^st sign of trouble was a flat battery in the Touareg. I’d connected it to the van and then had showers to wash off the morning’s dirt and turn back into bronzed Aussies. In the meantime the new DC to DC charger I had installed in Broome drained all the battery power from the Touareg. I’ll definitely have to remember to turn that switch to OFF.

This was easily overcome, with a quick jump-start from a willing neighbour and we were on our way. 

The first 100 kms south was tar, turning to red dirt and corrugations for the next 90 kms back to Broome. After about 20kms on the dirt the corrugations were worse than 2 weeks prior when we drove up. We tried various speeds to get the smoothest ride, but even 50kms/hr was too fast. So we settled on 40 – 45 kms/hr. and we were being shaken like a cocktail.  An oncoming car meant we had to move back onto the left hand side of the road, and during this manoeuvre we heard a clunk and the Touareg wobbled. I thought we’d blown a tyre, so we quickly stopped but no flat tyre anywhere.

We started off again, but the Touareg wasn’t driving straight, so I knew something was amiss.  Looking under the car we saw the Control Arm on the left hand rear wheel was broken and we couldn’t drive the car, so I hitchhiked back 40 kms (1 hour) to near Beagle Bay where we knew there was phone service.  Jayne stayed behind to mind the car and van, while I rang the NRMA (ADAC) and organised a tow truck.   30 minutes later they’d rung back and told me the truck had already left Broome and would be there in 3 hours. What amazing service. All for free!

I hitchhiked back to the van with a friendly Aboriginal family who invited us to their home in Beagle Bay next time we were up here.

The truck finally arrived at 4.00pm and the car was loaded onto the tray and caravan hitched to the truck.

The ride back with the 3 of us in the cabin was torture as the corrugations were even worse in the truck. We arrived into Broome at 8pm, 9 hours after we broke down.  Broome is in peak season now, so every caravan park is overflowing, and we had to camp in our van at the mechanics garage!  We went from amazing ocean views one night to views of broken down cars and metal roller shutter doors the next!

After an inspection by the mechanic on Saturday morning, we confirmed that a broken lower control arm. It’s a clean break right in the middle of the arm. So the Touareg has left us down for the 1^st time ever!

So my plans of a new Touareg at the end of this year are looking a bit sad and it looks as if it has to be a Landcruiser.  Everybody and I mean everybody that drives on these roads is in a Landy.

When the 7 Broome caravan parks are all full, other camping areas are opened up to cater for the influx of holidaymakers.  We’d heard good reports about the Broome Pistol Club so borrowed the mechanics 4WD and towed our van there.  The NRMA organised a rental car for us so we’re zipping around Broome in a shiny new bronze Falcon XR6. The Pistol Club is nice bush camping - the people are friendly and the facilities are good, although it’s a bit far out of Broome.

We’ll find out Monday morning when the new control arm will arrive in Broome. Hopefully there’s one in Perth which means we’ll be on our way on Wednesday, or if it’s got to come from Sydney or Melbourne it’ll be Friday or Saturday before we’re away. If there’s anywhere in Australia to be broken down Broome is certainly the place to do it!

This problem puts us in a dilemma as it means we need to reconsider whether we go into Arnhem Land - 600kms each way of rough dirt road. We’ll see after we tackle the Gibb River Road first and if the Touareg survives that.  Jayne’s determined to get there, and she’s already checking out the Qantas website and we can get there on frequent flyer points from Darwin.  Where there’s a will there’s a way!