Today was our final beach day as tomorrow we head inland to begin the long journey home via central WA… We made the most of the beautiful day by walking to the south end of the Barn Hill Station Beach for a swim in the crystal-clear turquoise waters of high tide….

Everyone got in and enjoyed the refreshing warm water as the day was really hot….

We walked along looking for shells…

and came upon another beached sea snake – this one was white and grey striped…. Klaus got some great pics….

After a morning on the beach, we walked back to camp and did some organising for leaving tomorrow….

Gordie cooked a delicious chocolate cake as it was Kerry’s birthday the next day and we would be on the road… so we all enjoyed afternoon tea together to celebrate Kerry’s birthday early…

Our last evening was spent on the beach watching the last sunset over the ocean… truly spectacular with the red cliffs, gleaming ocean, fiery sun and the almost-full moon rising… a memorable stay at Barn Hill….

The day began with Klaus, Trev and Gordie deciding to go for an earlyish morning fish on the high tide…. Klaus and Trev leaving first and going down the southern end of the beach….

I went for a walk and could not locate them… but took some pics of beautiful Barn Hill Station Beach in the morning light….

The beach is beautiful with interesting rock formations – the colours in the rocks are striking…

The station has great activities for kids… there were even some baby goats and their mother brought into a pen near the playground for the kids to pat…

After an unsuccessful fishing trip in the heat, the fishos returned to camp…. the temperature here is roasting on the beach… it was incredible the difference that the trees in the camp areamade with the air temperature… just like air conditioning – they provided great relief from the heat – it was lovely sitting outside the vans in the shade even in the middle of the day…

Trev launched the drone to have an aerial look at Barn Hill Station and surrounds… and see if there was anything in the water apart from rocks…..

The landscape around Barn Hill was a bit greener than 80 Mile Beach but the caravan park area stood out with its shady trees….

You could even see 80-mile beach in the distance down south…

it was amazing seeing the rock formations against the sand and azure sea – and sky – all from the air!

After lunch we had a swim to cool off and Trev and I walked right to the end of the northern beach – collecting a few shells along the way and jumping in for another swim to cool off…

That evening we watched the sun go down from the cliff above the beach at the front of the park… rich colours in the rocks as the setting sunlight hit them were magnificent….

It was a relaxed pack up today as we only had a short drive from Broome to Barn Hill Station…. Trev was feeling the heat as we put things away…

Rose ably assisted Dave as he backed the Pearl onto the Franklin and then before we knew it they were out and off to the first fuel stop at Roebuck Plains Roadhouse….

The roadworks in the area around the roadhouse were causing havoc and there was quite a long wait to get back on the road after we had all fuelled up…

The roadhouse was packed with all types of vehicles including road trains….

 and a really serious off-road vehicle towing a Landcruiser – a very imposing rig!!!

Eventually we were on the way and turned off onto the unsealed road into Barn Hill Station… Rosie doing a great job as gate wench!!

The road was pretty dusty and dry… and it was great to get the glimpse of the blue ocean as we arrived at the campground…

There was a queue to check in – it was very busy, but we finally had our sites and set up…

The afternoon was spent getting settled in and having a swim down at the beach – a relief as it was really hot and still…

Barn Hill Station is well set up for families and retirees alike – they have a great playground for kids, a bowling green for the oldies… and a great café with coffee, cakes, drinks, freshly baked bread, pizzas and a different homestyle meal available every night….

We had a wonderful 4 full days in Broome relaxing and taking time out from travelling… here is the snapshot of our four days activities:

Swimming at Cable beach was a highlight – the water was clear warm and a beautiful aqua-blue colour with gentle rolling waves… Everyone got in at some point for a swim or a “teabag” (those who wore sunglasses and hats into the water so as not to get hair wet 😊)…

Trev caught a few waves with the mal… Gordie could not go in fully due to his injury…

Rose, Kerry and Beryl had a pampering arvo getting pedicures, and Rose had her hair done…

Dave enjoyed the Swannies game on the humongous screen at the Spinifex Brewery…

Gordie’s arm injury needed a specialist dressing that I could not get at the chemist unfortunately so I went into Broome ED and asking the triage nurse could they possibly give me a couple – it would keep a patient out of their ED and they were so helpful giving me 3  dressings!

We went out for a Thai dinner – delicious!!

A must see in Broome is the markets on a Saturday morning so we spent some time (and money) at the markets…

We parked right outside the prison….

Coffee after the markets at the Dragonfly Café – still there – we went there in 2017 and they had amazing mango smoothies back then…

On Sunday we went to the Anglican Church in Broome and had a great message delivered by the Bishop Daryl Parker on the prodigal son… and how we all need to be found as we are lost unless we have been found by Christ….

After church we went for coffee at the Chi Mayi café in a lovely courtyard – again still there as we had visited there in 2017…

Rose found a bargain in the sale rack at a nearby dress shop, modelling it for Dave’s approval….

We all went down and set up on Cable Beach for happy hour and to watch the sunset…

the famous Cable Beach camels walked slowly along…

A beautiful tri-mast ketch made a great view against the setting sun….

Klaus seemed confused as to where the sunset was :)….

It was very busy with many people lined up on the beach…

and a myriad of 4WDs along the north end…

We drove out to Willie Creek Pearl farm to have a tour and learn more about pearls… the journey out was along Cape Leveque road…. We met some brumbies grazing on the side of the road unfazed by the cars passing by…

Turning off the main road, we hit the red dirt road and drove on til the turnoff to Willie Creek Pearl farm…

There were metal sculptures at intervals along the road making for an interesting journey – and helpful to follow the correct track in…

The area was very arid and felt very remote with nothing much around…

When we turned the corner and arrived, we were greeted with a beautiful house and grounds with a great showroom and café area….

Carp swam in a lovely water feature…

There were some really creative metal sculptures done by Donna Fortescue…

Our tour guide, little Stewie, was very knowledgeable and had a great sense of humour…

We started the tour in the Oyster Nursery learning all about how the oysters were grown and cared for….and how they seed the oyster to get them to grow pearls as they coat the irritating seed with their nacre…

The next stop was the Harvest Café for morning tea and the legendary family damper…

After morning tea we were taken on a boat tour on Willie Creek seeing the oyster line that was the same as their main farm lines which are located out to sea off the coast as the creek water is somewhat dirty – the ocean water being clear helps keep the oysters healthy and the pearls better…

The oysters are kept in wire frames out on the lines in the ocean and the tide turns the frames over to help the oysters grow and develop the pearls….

They have a resident 4m male saltwater croc, Nigel, and his 2 female companions May and June, in the creek but we did not get a glimpse of them today…

The creek was a beautiful turquoise colour and the sandhills across from the farmhouse were the end of Cable beach…

The tides here are huge and it was low tide when we were doing the tour so we did get a good look at the surrounding shore  – still a very remote area despite the presence of the farm…

We arrived back at the farmhouse and watched as Stewie give us a further talk on how pearls are  harvested and graded – all in all a very interesting tour…

Last stop was the showroom where there were pearls on display worth obscene amounts of money….. beautiful but pricey!

Trev bought me a lovely pearl necklace (single pearl) and Beryl also made a purchase….

We drove back to Broome and spent the afternoon doing groceries and having a last swim at Cable Beach…..

Our last night in Broome was spent at the movies – a really unique cinema that was open air inside – one of the oldest in Australia…. It had some amazing old paraphernalia on display… a really different experience with jets visibly flying low overhead landing at Broome Airport during the movie!!

We had a fair drive today to get to Broome and so we packed up and left 80 Mile Beach at around 8AM….

We had to make a stop at Sandfire Roadhouse – the last fuel before Roebuck Plains Roadhouse near Broome… the roadhouse had an eclectic feel about it with unique gardens and memorabilia….

After filling up with fuel we headed onward up the highway…. driving through some very desolate and inhospitable countryside… treeless and flat much like the Nullarbor..

There were long straight stretches of seemingly endless road with mirages shimmering on the horizon and the earth scorched with the heat….

A 24hr rest stop at Goldwire was where we had planned to break our journey and so we pulled in there to make lunch in the vans…

Just 100m before pulling in, a large oncoming truck kicked up a stone that hit the Titan’s windscreen and chipped it much to Gordie’s chagrin…. Branch offered comfort and some tape on the windscreen – hoping it would not develop into a spreading crack…

At lunch, Klaus confided in us about a “Branch” moment… Dave had been in such a hurry to be out of 80 Mile Caravan Park, he had left his all-important drill he uses to put his caravan legs up and down on the pole at the back of his site.

Fortunately, Klaus saw in and picked it up – he tried to alert Dave but the Wells did not have their radio on at that point….so Klaus decided to see what happened at Broome when Dave came to put his van legs down…

After eating lunch, we left Goldwire and continued north… coming upon some crazy joggers out in the middle of nowhere in the blazing 38-degree heat…. They waved cheerily as we passed….

As we travelled further north the countryside became a little greener and large herds of cattle could be seen in paddocks – livestock belonging to the big cattle stations that are in the area…

A controlled burn was creating some smoke… and providing prey for the circling kites….

We arrived in Broome and started setting up… Branch was at the ready to see what happened when Dave realised he could not find his drill….

As soon as Dave got to the stage of setting up the van legs he remembered where he had left the drill… and was devastated … Klaus offered to lend him his (non-existent) drill – Dave gratefully accepted…. And the next thing you know Branch appeared with Dave’s drill …

…much to Dave’s relief and the first time he was really pleased to see Branch… he could have kissed the little blue troll!!

We all went into town to get some supplies – Trev and I located a great butcher – who had the biggest range of sausages we had ever seen – and they were big in size too – Matt would have loved this butcher!!

After unpacking the groceries, we headed down to Cable Beach for a quick look – the beach had lost a lot of sand since the last time we were there… a lot of rocks exposed… but the beach was still beautiful…

We settled in for the night and made plans for the next 4 days we are in Broome….

Trev and I decided to have an early morning walk today to check out the sunrise and see what treasures the high tide had brought in overnight….

It was very serene and peaceful walking over the sand flats in the early morning light…. No one else around yet and a very low tide….

A crab underwater was sifting the sand into his mouth and feeding – his eyes glowing like tiny crystals in the sun’s rays….

We headed back to camp and enjoyed some gourmet (healthy) pancakes for brekky…..

As the beach area in front of the caravan park was beach-combed out with the guests all looking for that awesome shell, we decided to take a drive along the beach and check out the beach as far as we could drive north (to the creek entry).

The drive along was great, the sand was quite firm for most of the way – we had still let our tyres down somewhat – and as we had left while the tide was low, we were pretty much the only ones on the beach – the fishos were waiting for the high tide…

We stopped in a couple of different places to collect shells and look around….

Trev flew the drone and captured some more beautiful images of 80 Mile Beach….

and our shell collecting efforts…

Klaus took some great shots of a crab, and also another sea snake we saw washed up on the beach… larger than the one we saw yesterday….

At one point I found a largish shell with a hermit crab in it… for the most part the shells along the beach were uninhabited – unlike Cleaverville….

We drove back along the beach and saw a pod of dolphins – who disappeared before I could get the big lens on to get some closeup shots…

there were flocks of terns and other sea birds along the waters edge…

and by now the fishos were out in earnest driving up to their favourite spots…

Everyone had a relaxed lunch at their vans, then Klaus and Trev went for a drive up the beach to have a go at fishing, and Gordie walked out the front to also see if he could catch anything…. Fortunately, we had all ordered the chicken parmys that were on the menu at the caravan park that evening as no fish were caught!!

Late that afternoon when the tide had dropped, Trev and I went for a drive along the south end of the beach to take a look – the beach seemed endless – we could only go so far then had to turn around as the light was fading and the parmys had to be picked up at 545pm….

I cleaned the shells that I had collected – pic below of some of them – some very beautiful and colourful specimens – cowries, cockles, scallops, baler shells to name a few….

We really enjoyed our time at 80 Mile Beach but were looking forward to our journey on to Broome tomorrow – and 5 days in Broome resting and relaxing….

Today was a planned slow and lazy day… but you never know what a day may bring….

Trev and I were enjoying a bacon and eggs brekky (Matt would be proud!!)…. When a sound could be heard from the Hunter Van….

Gordie came out clutching his arm looking sheepish and Branch knew exactly what to do….

We went straight over – on examination it appeared that Gordie had sustained a nasty degloving injury to his left forearm… apparently he was kneeling down at the base of the bed and had partially lifted up the bed to put something under it… and the bed promptly fell back down on his arm…

Branch was very sympathetic and checked out the damage… no amputation needed so the wound was cleaned and dressed… with lots of attention from MacGyver and Branch of course….

The morning became more eventful with Branch finding out Klaus had lost his battery cover somewhere between here and Port Hedland…. More than likely on the unsealed road out to 80 Mile… Anyway, Klaus took a drive looking for it…. always living in hope…

The battery fiasco continued to unfold with Klaus noticing some dampness in the base of the battery case (these were his new deep cycle batteries purchased just a day ago in Port Hedland as his 10 yr old caravan batteries finally gave up the ghost…).

On closer inspection he saw to his dismay that he had penetrated the battery with a screw he had screwed in to hold on the battery cover…. Which had fallen off anyway…

MacGyver and Branch sprang into action with a tube of silicon as a temporary seal… what looked like an expensive accident eventually worked out well – a big thanks to Battery Sales & Service at Port Hedland who supplied the batteries… they have kindly offered to replace the battery free of charge… and Klaus can pick it up when we are going to Marble Bar in a couple of weeks’ time….

And that was not all the positives – Klaus went into the reception desk at the caravan park to see if anyone had handed in a battery cover…no one had, however one of the maintenance staff overheard Klaus and came over – he had found one on the road… and yes it was Klaus’s… God’s providence is amazing!!

We all had some chores to do catching up on washing, but once we were sorted, we went down to spend some time on the beach…wading in the shallows…. Picking up some beautiful shells…

Klaus found a beached sea snake which was still alive…we watched as the tide came in and the sea snake finally swam off…

Trev put up the drone and took some spectacular footage of the beach and surrounds….

The area is so remote and stark…apart from the small oasis of the caravan park….

The water is an iridescent turquoise but a little milky due to the fine nature of the sand – it is so silky that it does not take much for it to remain suspended floating in the water and takes ages for it to settle on the ocean floor…. Only to be picked up immediately by the ongoing swell of the ocean…

We had a very enjoyable and relaxing day…. Looking forward to a repeat tomorrow!!

We had a fair drive today from Cleaverville Beach to 80 Mile Beach and so hit the road just after 8….

We had to stop for fuel at Roebourne and as we pulled out a wide load pilot vehicle came past in the opposite direction. We pulled over and let the convoy go past – 2 huge wide loads of mining equipment – fortunately there was room for us to pull over on the verge….

As we drove on we crossed a few dry creek beds…and some with muddy puddles and green gums with brilliant white trunks soaking their roots in the mud….

Coming in to Port Hedland we saw increasing heavy industry… gas plants…

In the distance we could see the huge cranes and conveyors at the port loading the ships with iron ore…

The landscape around Port Hedland is very arid and bare – not really appealing…

We passed long trains with carriages full of iron ore heading to the port.

The large salt washing and stockpiling area was busy with the bright white salt shining in the sun as it poured from the tall conveyor…

The salt crystallizers lined the side of the road in….

We stopped to pick up some supplies and have a coffee… then filled up our fuel tanks… and the Wells expelled a lot of water in the carpark…did Dave grab a quick shower while we were all inside the shops??

Leaving Port Hedland the countryside was very barren and desolate..

We were now frequently meeting big road trains with 4+ trailers carrying bulk mining and fuel supplies….

Occasionally there were unusual rocky hills, mesas and outcrops that broke up the expanse of flat desert…

There were big quarry sites churning out huge amounts of rock…

After a brief stop at Pardoo Roadhouse it was not much longer, and we turned off to 80 Mile Beach – back onto a dirt road… we crossed over the grid and into the station where 80 Mile Beach is located….

The dirt is becoming increasingly deep red the further north we travel….

As we drove in, we passed some steers walking along the side of the road- one moved onto the road in front of the Weiss’s Landcruiser eyeing them off….

A ute towing 3 large tractor tyres was smoothing out the road – very effective as the drive in was great!

We reached the entry to 80 Mile Beach Caravan Park – it was an oasis in the desert with large trees and palms – the only large vegetation for kilometres!!!

As we drove over the hill the blue of the Indian Ocean came into view…

We had great sites near the beach entry and quickly set up so we could go down and have a look at the beach…

The white sand stretched for miles in every direction as the tide was out… the blue water in the distance looked inviting but we were told by the reception staff (and the locals…  and the blow-ins… literally everyone had a story…) that the beach was not suitable for swimming due to sharks, rays, seasnakes, crocodiles and stingers… and due to the fact there was no medical attention available unless you went to Port Hedland or Broome – swimming was a no go…which seemed strange as stinger season was over and we had swum in places like Quobba and Coral Bay…. Anyway….

The beach was littered with myriads of shells so the shell hunting began….

Sunset again was lovely – the park had a viewing platform that people would sit at and watch the sun go down… we went for a walk right out to the water’s edge and watched the sky change colours and the sun disappear over the sand flats….

We awoke to another beautiful day with the sun rising over Dixon Island. As it was Sunday we had planned to go in to Karratha for church and then explore the area including Dampier…

Karratha Anglican Church was very welcoming and the people there had come from all over Australia – many of them to work in the mines and mostly all young families…

After a lovely time of fellowship, we went into the town centre to Lo’s Café and enjoyed coffee sitting in the well-groomed park outside… there were some interesting sculptures and a water feature – all in all a great place to relax…

We then drove on towards Dampier – past the Rio Tinto salt mines….

and very interesting little sculptures in the salt crystallizers – there was an Elvis…

a Nativity scene…

a shark school….

And others…

Each salt crystallizer is harvested after 18 months when the evaporation of the sea water has caused a salt layer of 300-500mm to form. An average of 420 000 tonnes of water is evaporated each day in the Dampier crystallizers. 67 tonnes of seawater yields 1 tonne of salt. The salt is washed after harvesting and stockpiled ready to be shipped.

Arriving in Dampier we stopped at the Red Dog memorial statue… made famous by the movie of the same name…

Next stop was Dampier lookout which gave us a great view over the town and the port of Dampier….

You could see the ships waiting to be loaded up and the conveyor belt that the Rio Tinto salt was loaded on with…

The palms looked inviting down on the beach area, so we drove down to look for a place to have lunch…

The beach was lovely, and the area had been well planned and landscaped….

We walked over to the sailing club and decided to stop there for lunch…  “The Shack” was serving cocktails so we took advantage of that… Beryl enjoying a delicious looking mocktail…

Dave was very excited as the Swannies were playing so he went upstairs to watch the game…

Trev and Gordie went for a quick dip…

We drove past one of the jetty’s where iron ore was being loaded onto the big cargo ships…

As we were cooking a communal roast that night we then headed back to camp after picking up some supplies…driving past some harvested crystallizers still with their little sculptures intact….

While dinner was cooking, we went for a walk over the rocks as the tide was a long way out….

There were some creepy things in the rock pools…. Lots of octopi that squirted water at you as a defence mechanism…

some small colourful coral outcrops as well….

The sun set and we sat down to a delicious roast dinner with pavlova (courtesy of Beryl) for dessert…

The hermit crabs were out again… accompanied by a spider carrying her million babies on her back…. Cleaverville Beach was up there with Sheringa Beach in SA for after-dark creepy crawlies….

We awoke to a lovely day – sunny with just a slight breeze… the view out our bedroom windows was second to none!!

There were a few spots we had decided to explore today that were north of Cleaverville starting with Point Samson where apparently there were a couple of good beaches for swimming.

On the way out to the point, we passed a lot of mining activities as Port Walcott was located at the end of Cape Lambert…

The town of Wickham was also on the way out – they had a great entry to the town with a large mining tipper on show…

The area is sparse and dry with intermittent clay pans and salt deposits as well as mangrove areas….

We arrived at Point Samson and checked out the main beach first – the wind by this time was up a bit and the water was murky and choppy – not inviting for a swim… and I was feeling half-baked with the cold even with Codral on board…

The very lengthy jetty at Port Walcott was clearly visible with multiple container ships lined up to be loaded with iron ore…

We drove around to Honeymoon Cove which was reportedly a great swimming spot….

….again it was windblown and not particularly inviting although Gordie and Trev jumped in for a quick swim… they then caught up with a local bloke who said he used to swim there all the time – until he hit his head on a rock when diving in!!!

Gordie took advantage of the free shower….

The rocks were very striated with multiple colours around the cove – really interesting to look at…

The gulls took advantage of prime positions on the rocks…

Out to see we could see a lighthouse on an island…

We had a quick look at the boat ramp at Point Samson then drove back along the cape to turn out to Cossack – an historical town that is no longer inhabited.

Cossack was named after the HMS Cossack in 1873 (It was previously known as Tien Tsin) – the town was the birthplace of the WA pearling industry until it was moved to Broome in 1886. After the pearling moved to Broome and the decline of the gold rush the population of Cossack dwindled… it was not suitable as a port for the larger ships and thus the jetty ay Point Samson was built.

There was a gaol there which is still standing today…

as well as the post office and telegraph office…

the Customs and Bond Store near the boat ramp…

and a few other buildings which have been restored with the assistance of Hamersley mining and the government.

In 1913 the area had a leprosarium established on the other side of the river to Cossack to cope with a leprosy outbreak. This was closed in the 1930’s when the last of the patients were moved to Darwin.

There was a small community in Cossack until the late 1940’s when it was finally abandoned. Much of the area is heritage listed and there are plans to continue the restoration of this lovely historic site.

We drove up to the Reader Head Lookout from where we looked down on Settler’s Beach which looked beautiful…

Across the water we could see the small island with the lighthouse on it that we saw from Point Samson… you could see the abandoned lighthouse cottage on the island…The island was Jarman Island and the lighthouse was the 7^th to be built along the WA coastline. It was built with prison labour using preformed cast iron sections shipped from England in 1888.

After spending some time looking around to find a coffee shop… none to be found… we went back to camp for a late lunch and relaxing afternoon… the beach area is very interesting with the rocks a real conglomerate type – a mix of shells, pebbles, petrified wood all compressed into rock formations… the tide went out a long way and the sun set quickly… the end to another beautiful day in WA….

We had a walk down on the rocks, relaxed and watched another beautiful WA sunset….