QuonDong, just 40km north of Broome WA, is an oceanfront free camp that had been circled and heavily asterixed by a fellow camper we'd met in our travels. According to him, the entire coastline along Cape Leveque is truly beautiful and untouched land. Having now seen the wonders and beauty of Cape Leveque, there's no question as to why anyone would do everything in their power to protect this land.As we took the turn off towards QuonDong Point, we were met by "Save the Kimberley" protestors blockading the road. Their was an abundance of banners, signs, makeshift tents and dozens of people joining together to save their land.
According to their "Save the Kimberley" website, "The company, Woodside, want to start clearing bush in the area they propose for a huge Gas plant. Protesters point out that this development is NOT OFFICIALLY APPROVED by the WA State government. A port and plant at James Price Point would be environmentally and culturally damaging."
Protest photos from savethekimberley.com
We were determined to see for ourselves the land that so many people were fighting for. It seemed however, so were a lot of other people. There were a number of campers at the QuonDong site who had already chosen some very lovely & scenic sites for themselves. Which left us with the choice of either camping right on top of somebody else just to secure a view of the ocean or to sacrifice the view and be comfortable in our own space.
We went with the latter. We found a lovely big shady tree to nestle underneath its branches. As we were negotiating the position of the Troopie to ensure that it was nice and level for us to sleep in, another vehicle pulled up. Just as I moaned and thought it was someone coming to camp right on top of us, the man jumped out of his car and started making a beeline for our camp. He had in his hands around a bright pink bucket which I recall thinking didn’t seem to match his manly persona. He came with a big smile on his face and asked us if “We wanted some Spanish Mackerel steaks?” One guess what we said, and I’ll tell you something, it certainly wasn’t “Oh no, thank you for your very kind offer of some seriously amazing pieces of fish the size of my face but we have some delightful two minute noodles on the menu this evening”. Hell yeah we’ll have some Spanish Mackerel steaks! Thank you very much lovely fisherman who caught the world’s biggest fish and was doing his good deed by sharing his success with the rest of the campsite. He wasn’t doing it so he could gloat and show off cause he was pretty much gone before we could properly say thank you. He could just as easily have packaged them up and stored them in his freezer for another night but instead, he gave. He did something for nothing and we were very pleased to accept his charity.
It got me thinking about people like Bob who happily give without expecting anything in return. Like the man at Pebbly Beach when we were at a very low point right after the Troopie had blown a head gasket and the man came over to our camp and explained that he & his daughters had finished camping and were about to head home and gave us some $9 marinated chicken skewers for us to enjoy. Or the man at Tumut who was giving Tom a fishing lesson during his amateur days and proceeded to tell him that he needed the right lures and just took three out of his tackle box and gave his best ones to Tom. Or the couple at Warrnambool who gave us their prepaid site as they were leaving a day early which essentially saved us $66!!!
There are some really great people out there who do nice things just because they can. And little do they know that it really does make such a difference to people like us. They give me inspiration to not always automatically think the worst of people and give them a little credit where credit’s due.
Give without remembering but receive and never forget. Site : QuonDong Point, Cape Leveque
Rating : 13 / 20
Facilities : Free so it got an additional 6 points. Near the ocean was 2 points. Good shade 1 point. Flat pitch 1 point and fires allowed another 1 ponit. And one additional point from both Tom and I due to emotional swing.
According to Tom, the tea cosey can often double as a beanie, with a complimentary ponytail hole. Yep, we definitely must have too much time on our hands!!
No comments:
Post a Comment