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.
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.