happy first birthday!

Our eldest celebrated his first birthday with friends and family at the park opposite where we lived in the city in Sydney. Our daughter had a combined pirate party with her brother in our backyard for her first birthday. Our youngest turned one at Middle Lagoon at Cape Levecke and he also had a party to celebrate the momentous occasion. 

Arlo was surrounded by new friends we've met on our travels, the Nelson- Hauers, Kate, Roo and their family of four kids and surrogate grandparents Gail and Terry. The camp site was decorated with homemade bunting and balloons. Arlo had a little help opening a few pressies that his grandparents and great grandmother had sent too. Thank you so much Jo for the beautiful photographs!

Thanks Gail and Terry for the bubbles! 

What's a party without games? The kids played pass the parcel and had a treasure hunt. The kids had to read and follow the clues throughout the campground. The final treasure was an....

ice-cream cake! A yummy treat for a stinking hot day! I made a carrot cake with cream cheese icing for the adults (but a few of them tucked in to a slice of both!) 

Happy Birthday Little Manny. You mean the world to us and you've brought us endless love in the first year of your life. Thank you for all that you bring to our family. 

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western australia: cape leveque

When people think of Cape Leveque they will probably think of the eco resort, Kooljman. A number of communities call Cape Leveque home. Tourists are advised to 'check in' with the community office before visiting the communities. There's plenty to see up there including the Cygnet Bay Pearls, Beagle Bay Church (decorated with pearl shells), One Arm Point and Whale Song Cafe. 

Kooljman looks like a neat place to stay. If we hadn't taken the van up there we'd have booked a shelter on the beach and erected the tents. What a magic place to wake up! Kooljman has a restaurant so we treated ourselves to a delicious lunch.  

The beach at Cape Leveque was one of the most beautiful I've seen. Though the photos don't do it justice the red cliffs edged on to the white sands and out in to the turquoise ocean. The water was warm and we had a great time mucking around in the current with the kids. Baby A and I returned back to our towels and clothes just as they were floating away on a rising tide so it was a scramble to collect our bits and pieces but it didn't take long for everything to dry!

We'd hope to visit Lombadina and Beagle Bay after Kooljman but we'd cut it fine and pulled in to Middle Lagoon in time for dinner. In retrospect, if it fit the budget, the best way to see the Cape would be by air and then car. You can fly in to Kooljman. The seal we'd road will open it up to tourists though and make the trip more bearable. For better and for worse. 

western australia: Middle lagoon, cape leveque

Middle Lagoon is a bush camp on the Dampier Peninsula about 130km from Broome. It is only one of two places you can take a caravan. From the stories we'd heard about the place we had prepared ourselves for the rugged road and booked ahead. 

The drive took us a little over 4 hours with no stops. We lowered the type pressure to about 20/25 and took the corrugated sections really slow. Our kids did great. They listened to their audiobooks and snacked constantly but they didn't whinge. Thankfully!

We'd been told that there was 70km of dirt but there was more like 110km in total. Those last 30km from the turn off into Middle Lagoon were almost unbearable (in that we just wanted to be there!) 

We arrived to find people on our site. They hadn't let the office know they were staying on so we had to drive around to find another site where our van wasn't going to take out low branches and where we'd have plenty of shade. In the end we had site 45 which was shaded by the most beautiful gums that were also ideal for a hammock and slack line. 

We had six nights up at Cape Levecke and our friends, the Nelson's-Hauers, (ourfamilygapyear.com) were with us for five. The kids had a ball. The Wrights (wrightroundoz.blogspot.com) and their family of four girls joined us later in the week and surrogate grandies, Gail and Terry, whom we met at Warroora Station were up there too!

We also met another family from Victoria, author Kate, Roo and their four kids (tothekimberleyandbeyond2015.blogspot.com). 

As it turned out we had quite a gathering up at Middle Lagoon. It was good fun!

There are two beaches to choose from at Middle Lagoon, toilets and showers. At $50/night for our family we utilised the facilities. 

If you plan to stay you do need to take your rubbish with you when you leave. It's a bit ordinary but locals reckon the road will be sealed within two years which will make it easier to get services up there. Bitumen has been approved and local industry have been campaigning. 

There are plenty of things to see on day trips from Middle Lagoon including Kooljman, the pearl shell decorated Beagle Bay Church and Whale Song Cafe (which is only 5km away). 

J also got out on his kayak. It was the same day that L (the Nelson-Hauers) went spear fishing. Jo and I had the kids and while we were sitting there another camper generously dropped off a bunch of excess fish they'd caught. The boys came home with nothing but we shared with them! It was a huge feast that night!

Playing in the red dirt after ringing Ma for her birthday. 

Love this dirt!

This is pretty much how the camp looked. A playground!