Barn Hill Station

It was with some sadness that we left Broome and headed south – we felt we were on the tail end of the holiday even though there were still quite a few weeks to go.

Our next destination was Barn Hill Station – a cattle station that probably makes more money catering for the grey nomads. It was about 130ks south of Broome. The park is in a beautiful setting with red cliffs and a great beach.

We got a shady spot, although very dusty. The power was limited to 6 amp hours but the lady checking us in said that it might run our aircon – hers runs ok.

We got set up and lit our Cobb ready for tea. The Cobb flames initially then settles down so after ½ hour it is ready to cook on. 

                                      

 As the Cobb was flaming the Station Caretaker, Craig, came running over to say that no fires are allowed. Unfortunately our campsite was quite open and opposite the shop/office and someone saw the flames and complained. We talked him into letting us cook our tea on it for that night, but we couldn’t use it again for the duration of our stay.

The next day another caretaker walked past and heard our aircon going and told us off. I didn’t realise he was in charge and started arguing the point but he just kept on walking. (Even more annoying because the lady checking us in had indicated it was ok!!)

People kept walking through our campsite as it was across from the office/shop, and we found that really annoying. We always respect other people’s campsites, however, in the end, we started doing it too! (What’s good for the goose…….)

Our campsite might have been shady, but it meant that sap was falling on our car and caravan. It got too much for Randall in the end, and he cleaned up the caravan so we could at least see out the windows!

                      

The beach at Barn Hill was amazing! It was much better swimming at high tide – low tide you had to walk for ages to the water and there were lots of stones and shells to tread on on the way. High tide was beautiful and of course the water was lovely and warm. The scenery was beautiful with lots of unusual rock formations as we walked along the sand.

                  

The one below kind of looks like the Sphinx!

                             

One day it was really cloudy - the first day like that for months!

                           

Two ladies we met at Gumbanan at Cape Leveque, Chris and Di turned up and we enjoyed having a chat and a cuppa together.

Randall pulled out his pipes a couple of times, which I really enjoyed

We did lots of walks along the beach – saw whales in the distance and a greedy sea snake washed up while struggling to digest a large fish.

                                  

Our new best friend Craig had suggested places to stay on our way to Karinjini, and as we were leaving he came over to say goodbye, which was nice.

Our first overnight stop was at a place called De Grey’s River and it was very nice, with shady and grassy spots. From there we went to Port Hedland to resupply and do some admin bits and pieces. We stopped at an information bay just outside the port and spent about an hour or so on shady tables and seats.

                       

Then straight into Port Hedland – first off to a place where you could watch the big ore carriers coming and going. Then we did our shopping, and fuel stock up, and treated ourselves to new camp lounges. We had looked with envy at many caravaners with these chairs. We think they’ll be worth it – only trouble is they are big and bulky to fold up, and have to travel on the bed!

                        

We left Port Hedland quite late and we needed somewhere to stop overnight, so, gravel pit it was! It was actually quite nice to be off the red dirt. Later two young backpackers girls pulled in after dark – I think that they were glad that we were there!

We watched Q and A on Eastern Time ,outside in comfort on our chairs– 7.30 instead of 9.30, so less chance of falling asleep! The road was very noisy – mining road trains roared past all night!!

We looked forward to arriving in Karinjini National Park the next day.