Barn Hill Station

Wednesday the 26^th August it was time to leave Broome. For the last few days we were under a tree that some Whistling Kite birds were feeding in. So we were finding backbones and legs and skins of various animals around the camp site. I heard a clunk and went outside to find a backbone of an animal sitting on the generator box. It was pretty funny but it also meant a lot of bird crap. So before heading off there was a bit of washing down to be done.

Next stop was Barn Hill Station. It is a working cattle station but has a caravan park next to the beach. This was the view from our site.

We met friends there, Lynn & Wal who we met two years ago on our NT trip, and for those close followers of the blog, you might remember we stayed with them at their place at Seaham. Wal had built the house in the shape of an eagle. We had been in touch with them and knew they would be there. In between theirs and our site was Craig and Sharon. They have been here since early April work on the place. They had a regular beautiful, almost manicured lawn outside their van as they had planted and watered it. It was an oasis amongst the dusty sites and a great place for many happy hours.

The first afternoon went for a beautiful swim down the beach. There are some amazing rock formations which are referred to as the ‘lost city’. It is a really nice spot with rockpools around a few spots.

The first night we had a great happy hour with those already mentioned and Marg and Kev from the other side of us. There was also Chris who is Craig’s mate who works on the cattle station, his wife Jen and their son Daniel who had flown in from Melbourne that day. The next night we had chicken dinner with them all and a fire at a location that will remain nameless. It was a top night, lots of laughs. The laughs began with Craig getting bogged in the sand.

We have taken an unpowered site which was only $25 a night. The solar is so strong here that the solar panels have no problem keeping the batteries charged. The amenities blocks are quaint as they have no roof. You can get a tan just sitting on the toilet. You don’t need roofs on them as it doesn’t rain except in the wet season and there are no guests at that time.

Linda and I tried our hand at fishing. We had a couple of big fish on the line but they broke us off each time. We need to get some heavier gear. Wal and Lynn are great fisherman. Wal used his cast net to catch some live bait which on one particular day there was heaps of. There were some quite reasonable size mullet so Linda and I had some fillets crumbed for dinner that night and they were fantastic. The mullet we took were not in these photos.

Craig and Chris told us about the beaches north and south of the caravan park and how the rocks and beach were beautiful. We had a walk to the south side on Sunday the 30^th. You can only get around the point at low tide and this day was super low tide. We weren’t disappointed. The rock formations and colours were amazing. There was a baby eagle in its nest on top of a rocky outcrop. It was amazing how water was just draining out of the sand and out of rocky areas as well in some places. It was quite a long walk.

On Monday morning we walked up to a lookout near the caravan park. There was a cairn (monument) atop the lookout which is a historical landmark constructed by Alexander Forrest during his expedition to the Kimberley in 1879.