Once again I was up before sunrise, packed up and headed off. By the time I reached the Stuart highway the sun was rising and I headed south to Alice Springs. About 40 km further I saw a wondrous sight. The sun was at the back of me and I saw a bright light reflecting from the road ahead. It looked like a copper color rod lying across the road, reflecting the sun. I slowed down to get a better look thinking that somebody might have dropped part of their load.

As I got closer the color changed to bronze and I saw that this was no rod, but rather something with a ‘Z’ shape stretching across the national highway from the middle of my lane, across the white middle line,back  into my lane and across the other lane terminating in a small neck and much bigger head that was raised above the grass verge on the side of the road. It was an awesome sight of a King Brown that was around 5 meters long. Needless to say I did not stop for a pic (scared), but also swerved to avoid running over this magnificent creature.

The road continued forever and south of Tennant Creek I stopped at the Devil’s Marbles. This landmark is right beside the highway.

See more images at:  https://www.google.com.au/search?q=devils+marbles&biw=1366&bih=639&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0CEgQ7AlqFQoTCJuIocPyhMkCFcTfpgodvyUEMw

After a short break I came across a 4wd that had rolled, the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel. That served as a reminder of the dangers of long distance driving and the need to have regular stops. I was getting very tired and eventually pulled of the road for a few hundred meters to set up camp for the night. I was an hour away from Alice Springs.

The next morning I drove through Alice and headed for Coober Pedy. Many hours later I reached Coober Pedy and refueled. 22 km south is a lesser known gravel road that turns east and reaches the famous William Creek 163 km further on. William Creek is situated on the Oodnadatta track which is one of the famous Australian outback tracks. This is also the location of the internationally famous William Creek Hotel. It is famous for its superb steaks and the fact that it is situated on Lake Eyre.  Lake Eyre in turn is famous for standing at 12 meters below sea level. There is a very basic caravan park cum camp ground.

The bar and associated decorations

I spent an hour in the bar before enjoying a brilliant steak in the dining room. The bar had been cleaned up from the previous time I had been there.

The next morning I headed south along the Oodnadatta track along lake Eyre which was sparkling as it reflected the light of the rising sun.

Dazzling Lake Eyre

An hour or so later I turned west again on the road to Olympic Dam which is a massive BHP mine. Another 25 km or so I reached the very neat town of Roxby Downs. See https://www.google.com.au/?gws_rd=ssl#q=roxby+downs

This town had been developed for the workers at Olympic Dam.

I continued towards the Stuart highway and reached the town of Woomera. This is the town where many missile tests took place in the 50s and 60s. The word ‘Woomera is from the aboriginal and means ‘spear thrower’. See my pics below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woomera_(spear-thrower)

Just before I reached the highway I took the pic below as my farewell to the red dirt country.

The last of the Red Dirt

I was keen to be on my way and heading to Burra in South Australia. I had heard from a few sources that the Burra Hotel served a mighty fine fare. I had a few more hundred km to go and arrived there in the late afternoon. After settling down I was amused to see a line of geese parading along the river in the caravan park. That evening I had my meal and have to say: ‘I can vouch for the food at the Burra Hotel’.

Getting Home

The next morning I set off on the last leg from Burra to the Victorian highland a trip of 810 km.

This took me 10 hours to complete including stops. After all this time it was good to be back

• 4 Weeks  -  10500 Kilometers:
• Home – Alice Springs – Tanami Track – Broome – Gibb River Road – Kimberley – Katherine – Home.         What a trip!!!!

I had seen enough small places (Coconut Wells and Quondong Point) on the Dampier to be hungry for a longer and more detailed stay. I set off early one morning for Cape Leveque and One Arm Point which are situated at the top of the Dampier Peninsula. Once you turn off the Broome to  Derby road the Cape is another 225km away. After the first ten kilometers of bitumen the road becomes a graded gravel road that slowly deteriorates from bad to woeful. The idea was to head for Leveque and One Arm Point and then to work my way back to Broome along the southern side of the Dampier.

Not everybody knows that the stretch from Broome to Leveque, King Sound, Derby and beyond has some of the highest tidal differences in Australia. At Derby the differences are over 12 meters at certain times of the year. This results in the coastal waters running into and out of Kings Sound at one heck of a speed. I have been up the Fitzroy River when the tidal surge came in from the sea like a tsunami heralding the next high tide. It sounds as if one is standing on the banks of a river rather than an ocean shore.  Consider what effect the tides have on the harbors in the area. The piers are built on pylons 12 meters high. How do you load a boat at the spring low tide??

See some links below re Dampier peninsula

The Dampier Peninsula is a peninsula located north of Broome and Roebuck Bay in Western Australia. It is surrounded by the Indian Ocean to the west and north, and King Sound to the east. The northernmost part of the peninsula is Cape Leveque

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dampier_Peninsula

http://www.kimberleyaustralia.com/broome-cape-leveque.html

http://www.cygnetbaypearls.com.au/

The trip was long and dusty, but I arrived at One Arm Point later in the afternoon. This is an Aboriginal community at the top of the Dampier peninsula. It has a supermarket, a servo and a few public buildings. The coastline has several rocky outcrops just offshore . There are some pearl farm or oyster farm businesses that have their premises just out of town. There also is a crude short runway to land a small plane. Here at One Arm Point the tidal waters rush into and out of King Sound, depending on tide.

Island off One Arm Point

View from Camp ground

For more images see: https://www.google.com.au/search?q=one+arm+point&biw=1366&bih=639&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CCYQsARqFQoTCJuSwL6A28gCFYWklAod8uoCIQ

I headed back down the road from One Arm Point and spent the night a t a local camp ground close by. The views towards the evening glow after sunset were great, but the running tide made it sound as if I had been camping in a river. The facilities were basic.

The next day I went down the road and turned off towards Middle Lagoon. After a sandy track for many kilometers one arrives at a great camping ground with trees and its own beach. The grounds are expansive and have a small rock ledge over the sea. There you look into 15 – 25 foot of crystal clear water and see corals, turtles and fish swimming by. I tried some fishing but did not catch anything.

I camped for the night and had a lovely evening under a big tree.

See  link below for better images from that Dampier area than my crappy pics.

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=one+arm+point&biw=1366&bih=639&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CCYQsARqFQoTCJuSwL6A28gCFYWklAod8uoCIQ#tbm=isch&q=middle+lagoon&imgrc=_

James Price Point (JPP)

The next day I continued south and decided to visit this destination as I had read about this point of controversy in the months leading up to my trip. Woodside Petroleum intended clearing a few sq, kilometers of coast and building a gas refinery. It was going to have a major harbor construction as well. In short this caused an international outrage and likeminded people congregated in the area to protest and stop this from happening. History shows that a few years later the project was canned. This area will remain pristine.

At the turn off to JPP the protesters had set up a camp so you could not miss the place. I drove along the 30+ kms to get to JPP. It is stunningly beautiful. Red sand cliffs line the beach into the blue Indian Ocean waters. Great spots for fishing emerge at low tide with the tidal difference of up to 10 meters.

I camped on the cliff for a night and spent the next day exploring the area. At low tide I dived on a reef that was about 50 meters from the low water mark. I saw tracks of turtles that had beached the night before to lay their eggs. Evidence of nests were everywhere. Makes you wonder how people can destroy such natural beauty just for profit. I had a local aboriginal elder explain to me why they were protesting. Another regular at this spot showed me dinosaur tracks that were visible at low tide.

I asked some of the Aboriginal people where they would go fishing in this area. They described a place 10km up the coast. I went there on day 2 and caught these two trevally.

I went back to Broome the next day, much wiser and enriched. I have since been back to this location twice more and loved it.

That’s a big ask! First we need to define what constitutes a beach that can be considered for this list. I am not talking about the longest or widest or most sandy etc, etc. By the way, the longest beach probably is the Coorong from Kingston to the Murray River mouth in SA. It is over 150km long. I did that with the boys some 15 years ago in my great GQ Nissan Patrol. That was a decent trip.

I would say that some of the defining criteria for the top 5 might be: (I would love to hear from readers what some of the other defining criteria might be).

• At least 1km long with a sandy beach of decent width at low-tide,
• Not dangerous to human life; ie no crocodiles, blue ring octopus, Box Jelly fish,
• Attractive natural setting ie defining natural beauty or pleasing features,
• Definitely not overdeveloped or overrun by human beings,

Top 5:

I cannot name all 5 beaches that deserve to be in this list. I have not seen 5 such beaches. However I have been on one beach that definitely fits the bill.

So my first beach would be Cable Beach in Broome WA. I have been there several times.

Then I have two more beaches that might make the list.

The first could be the beach at Woodgate Qld. between the Theodolite creek and the Barrum river. It is just sensational, stunning and has a chill factor when you are there.

The other beach is at Lammermoor on the Capricorn coast south of Yeppoon. I wonder what other readers may think.

So…….I  can propose only these:

1. Cable Beach, Broome, WA

2. Wood gate Beach Qld

3. Wineglass Beach Tasmania       https://www.google.com.au/search?q=wineglass+beach+tasmania&biw=1366&bih=639&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CEMQsARqFQoTCOK3hM–38gCFQblpgodRzMKdg

  Pic credit:  Touchdowndownunder.wordpress.com

4.  Whitehaven Beach Whitsundays

5.  I have not seen it yet.