Nature's Hideaway

Middle Lagoon, Dampier Peninsula

10.04.2012 - 16.04.2012 35 °C

Nature's Hideaway at Middle Lagoon is a tranquil coastal camp in an isolated cove, 180km north of Broome, with stunning views over Pender Bay. It took us more than two and a half hours to drive up here on a fairly rough unsealed road suitable only for 4WDs.

Nature’s Hideaway at Middle Lagoon reminded me strongly of the Southern Mozambique’s coast near Inhambane. We have a number of beach holidays there and I think it’s the remoteness, the coconut trees, the wonderful beaches, the rustic campsites and the mosquitos that are similar.

It is not easy to get there with a very rough 80km 4WD road to negotiate before you get to the sealed road close to Beagle Bay and then there is another 30km single track sandy road to get you to Middle Lagoon.

We saw many Black Cockatoos whilst in Nature’s Hideaway and they are such a pleasure to watch. Then there are the ever present noisy black ravens.

One afternoon whilst lying on the beach after a swim I saw a number of dolphins swimming in the bay, about 500 meters from the shoreline. I quickly gathered my mask and fins and tried to swim to them but about halfway I felt that there were stingers in the water. I decided to abandon the swim with the dolphins and swam back to shore. On the way back I was stung three times and I saw at least one box jelly fish close to me. This made me very anxious to get out of the water because box jelly fish is the most dangerous and venomous creature on earth. Luckily the stings were not serious and a quick spray of Stingose solved the problem. I was lucky; apparently a venomous sting only gives you a few minutes to live. I saw dolphins many times after that but did not go after them in fear of getting stung again.

In night we had snapper for dinner as a local aboriginal offered me a fish as they caught too many to consume themselves.

There is no mobile network coverage at Middle Lagoon but if you walk across the bay and climb one of the high dunes or rocks you just get enough signal to download e-mails and messages but not strong enough to send any. The satellite phone came in handy to make the arrangements for the replacement of the damaged awning.

We stayed for six days before driving up further north to the tip of the Dampier Peninsula to One Arm Point, where we will camp for 2-3 days before returning to Broome to get the damaged awning replaced.

Road to Middle Lagoon