Day 23
Thursday
26 July
80 Mile Beach – Barn Hill Station
6.20am I was up and going to the loo. The sun was just cracking the eastern horizon and I made the mistake of checking it out from the top of the hill before returning to the van. It was too lovely to waste, so I told Paul I was off for a walk.
I grabbed my camera and returned to the beach. Only a few people could be seen, mainly women with bags ready to fill with their daily pickings of shells. They are eager to get out and see what treasures the tide has brought in overnight.
The shells make quite a noise as they tumble about in the rolling surf, before being deposited on the sandy bank. I wasn’t out to look for shells, just happy to be out in the early morning light, watching the waves roll in, the birds frolic in the shallows and checking out the interesting patterns on the sand.
When my watch said 7am, I turned around and made my way back, eyes down, as the sun’s glare was too great to deal with. I was back by 7.15am and Paul was up eating breakfast. I joined him and then it was into work mode. At 7.45am, an early one, we were negotiating the ridiculous corrugations once again.
We were glad when the highway presented itself and we could return to flat road and a smoother ride. Blue sky, green and black scrub with a dash of purple and the red dirt reached out before us.
We stopped at Sandfire road house for fuel and not long after the sign said 310km to Broome. The Roebuck Plains stretched out around us. We saw cattle heading to somewhere, a large wedge tail eagle and a small skippy that bounded across the road in front of us. All the while I was going through last year’s photos, finishing up to the end of May. It has been fun going back over them all, I am glad I have had the spare time to go through the collection and begin whittling down the shots into albums.
The plains gave way to tall scrub again. There has obviously been plenty of rain up here too, as the place is still very green and lush looking, except for a section 200km short of Broome where a fire had gone through scorching the earth. We had plenty of vehicles passing us heading south, silly buggers. Our journey was relatively unimpeded by traffic making for an easy run up.
1030am and we had reached the big white tyre signalling the entrance to Barn Hill Station, Broome only 120km up the road. We pulled onto the red stuff once again, opened and closed the gate and then began the 9km journey sea ward, corrugations to enjoy once more, not!
A few extra gates and we finally found the caravan park perched on the cliff overlooking the blue water beyond. I paid our $105 fee, was given directions and then relayed these to Paul as we drove around to our site. Having to back in, we began to take the car off, when disaster struck once again. This time Paul had forgotten to remove the safety chain and as the car rolled back so did the metal base that the tyre sits on. I was yelling stop and Paul put on the brakes getting out to inspect the damage. Expletives galore, he took a deep breath, continued to take the car off and move the van in to place and set up, before tackling the new problem. I told him he likes playing MacGyver, creating new problems, so that he can invent bright new ways to fix the problem. This time a long jimmy bar came out and he swung around on the end until it was kind of back in shape. Sheesh!!
Needing a circuit breaker, we closed up and went for a walk. We were told we shouldn’t go swimming as a large croc had been lurking in the waters. I wasn’t planning on it anyway, but now it was completely off the list.
The beach is a little harder to get to than 80 mile. There is a set of stairs to traverse and once on the beach it is a fairly easy walk. We wandered up the beach, me immediately taken by the vibrancy of the colours; blues and oranges on max intensity and that is in the middle of the day when the colours are generally washed out.
We walked until Paul had calmed and then returned to the van, both of us ready for lunch. We sat around after, enjoying the view from our van over the water. I read a few tourist pamphlets and then had a look at the banking, noticing an anomaly and having to ring ANZ to have it looked into.
We were then ready to head out for another wander, this time through the park. There were plenty taking advantage of the free lawn bowl and as many watching in the make shift galleries. It was certainly keeping the oldies amused. We continued on through the generator area and found the goat track that also takes you down to the beach, though it took us a while to work it out and we ended up wandering along much of the cliff top first. It did give a good view.
Working out the path, we made our way down to the beach once more, this time near the rock formation, “The Pinnacles.” We were happy to just walk, so continued up the beach, continuing to be amazed by the rock structures, whethering, textures and colours. We were also happy to pick up the odd flat rock and shell to add to the collection.
We walked a fair distance before deciding to turn around and return. The sea was being claimed by the tides once more and we were able to clamber over rocks that were hidden during our first walk. So many rock pools were left behind and they were interesting to look into and watch little fish dart about. They were also great place to paddle and cool off.
Once back at the van, I set about going through the photos taken. Paul took the time to read quietly before organising his fishing gear for tomorrow and checking on the crabs he had attempted to keep alive, they weren’t.
The sun was beginning to dip and I figured I should head out to a spot that I could take some more pics. The rocks at the shore line were well exposed now and we were able to clamber about them. They offered an ideal spot to take photos of the dipping sun. Paul wandered off to check on the fishermen further up the beach.
Once the sun had disappeared, the sky came alive with pinks and purples which set off the red rocks brilliantly. I stood there admiring the scene and the almost full moon blazing above. It was truly magical.
We returned to the van and got straight into dinner. Paul had located the rego check company taking our money and we finally got an answer and a guaranteed return of our funds, fingers crossed it happens.
We spent the evening enjoying the music offered up on the Ipod, surfing the net and reading all before turning the lights out on another gorgeous day.
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