Day 65 Eighty Mile Beach, WA

Just when we thought we had seen one of the most beautiful beaches, along comes this.........

Ladies and Gentleman, may I present, Eighty Mile Beach, a hidden gem on the vast West Australian Coast. So where is it?  It is around 400km South of Broome and about 200km from where we were this morning at Barn Hill Station. You get to this place by turning right off the Great Northern Highway on to Eighty Mile Creek Road and following the red corrugated sandy soil road for 9km.  The road has been recently graded, and being a gazetted road it is maintained by Broome Shire Council.

 From the moment you walk into the reception area to book your site (they don't take any pre-bookings) you get the feeling that this place is just a little bit special. The check-in process is simple and runs like clock-work.  We are handed a map with instructions and it is very easy to find our site and to reverse on to it.  The parks is very large with well over 200 shady grassed sites marked on the map and that doesn't take into account the unpowered area that could probably accomodate another 100. All sites, including unpowered, have water, and our power is coming from generators that I can hear humming in the distance.  And how about those rows of hedges that separate the sites from the road? They are so perfect you would almost think they were artificial (they are not).  I've never seen anything like that before.

The drive to Eighty Mile was almost a mirror image of the drive from Broome to Barn Hill.  It is still Pindan country but interspersed with yellow wattle. But then we pass the turnoff to Shamrock Station, owned by the Argyle Cattle Co, and the country changes dramatically. We see some good quality Grey Brahman Cattle feeding on some fairly decent pasture.  I recall reading somewhere that Shamrock Station has a large area under irrigation so maybe it is used as a finishing depot before the cattle are trucked out.

We fuel up at Sand Fire Roadhouse and it is the first fuel stop we have seen since leaving Broome. There are heaps of cars fuelling up, all towing caravans, as the next stop for fuel heading south is Port Hedland some 300km away.  This is the most expensive diesel we have purchased, coming in at a whopping $2.44/litre.

This afternoon, just before sunset, we strolled the very short distance down to the beach.  It really is a stunning beach and there are lots of cars dotted along the coastline as far as the eye can see.  Philip has already said that he wants to go for a drive along that vast beach so we might just do that tomorrow.  You are allowed on the beach from 7am to 7pm and after that the gates are locked.  We always have to remember that this is a Marine Park and has protection orders in place.  It is regularly patrolled by rangers.

The beach is literally covered in seashells.  I've never seen anything like it in my life. You have to be careful walking barefoot as broken shells can be quite sharp.  I noticed a pamphlet in the office area when we were checking in, showing the different types of shells you could expect to find on this beach so I will pick it up tomorrow and see if I can identify some of them.  The little ones that I did pick up where pretty special.

As we move further south the evenings are cooling down, and last night I was almost looking for an extra blanket.  The days though are still quite warm with temperatures averaging about 30 degrees.  We have intentions of going for a beach walk tomorrow morning.  The beach is very flat so it should be good walking. We are here for three nights but already thinking of extending to five nights. It really is that good.

 

 

Day 64 Barn Hill Station, WA

Surprisingly, I have not a lot to write about today.  I tossed and turned for a long time last night and the last time I looked at the clock it was almost 1.00pm so unsurprisingly, I slept in this morning, not having my cup of coffee until 8.00am.  Philip had been awake for hours by this stage so he went for a long walk to "Lost City" and I promised and I would be dressed and out of bed by 9am for a walk around the very large park.  I wanted to get some GoPro footage, that you can check out at the end of this blog.

After our walk we sat in the outdoor cafe where we devoured their homemade pasties washed down with a very good coffee.  This is also the best place for mobile reception so we also caught up on a little messaging while we were here.  It was also a great place to pull out the I-Pad and start planning ahead.  No longer are we able to get from place to place on a wing and a prayer.  We have found the the caravan parks are filling up readily and with school holidays in Western Australia looming on the horizon, we can no longer afford to sit back.  So, we have planned ahead to Exmouth as this is the only place that we have to be on a certain date for our whale shark tour.  Philip also wants to get the vehicle serviced soon and we were lucky enough to get a service date at Karratha so that is now booked and we were also lucky enough to score a caravan site at our chosen caravan park in Karratha. We both feel a lot more comfortable moving forward now with those dates locked in.  

Late this afternoon we once again headed down to the beach for a sunset walk.  Barn Hill Station really is a great spot and I highly recommend it.  Tomorrow we head just a short distance to our next destination, Eighty Mile Beach.  Yes, another beach with probably another amazing sunset.  This place also comes highly recommended from WikiCamps, so fingers crossed.  They do not take any bookings, you just rock up and hope for a powered site otherwise you are in unpowered.  That doesn't worry us at all and in fact it would be good to let the batteries run down a little.  

So that's it for another day in Western Australia. Here is a little GoPro footage of Barn Hill Station.

Day 63 Barn Hill Station, WA

Barn Hill Station is less than 200km from Broome so it was a leisurely drive for us today but we still woke up early and were on our way by 9am.  From Broome we had to backtrack 40km towards the turnoff to Derby but of course instead of turning north we turned our vehicle south along the Great Northern Highway.  It was an interesting drive for the first part as we drove through Roebuck Station.  It is flat open downs country and we watched as a helicopter was mustering cattle to our left.  To our right, in a straight line, are cement pillars standing around a metre in height and around 100 metres apart.  Philip seems to think that the pillars are all that is left of the old telegraph line, and I tend to believe him.

After we pass through Roebuck Station we are back in the same type of country that we have seen right across the Kimberleys.  It has a name, Pindan!  We learnt this from one of our tour guides in Broome. Pindan is an aboriginal name and it is the name given to the red soil country with naturally dense acacia scrub with some Eucalypt trees on plains or dunes.  

The highway is as straight as a die and pretty uninteresting today.  To take away the boredom we started counting cars towing caravans or camper trailers.  There were so many that we decided to count the ones that weren't!  It is unbelievable how many nomads are now on the road.  When we first started our journey it was almost as if we were the only ones on the road! 

We kept our eyes peeled for the turnoff to Barn Hill Station but we needn't have worried.  All we had to do was follow the caravans. The road into our stay is a red sand and after the recent rain was a little wet in parts but nothing that would hold us up.  We passed some pretty decent cattle that we not one bit distracted by all the vehicles passing them.

There were three caravans in front of us at check-in so it took a little while to be served, so it gave me a good opportunity to look around the cafe/reception area.  It is all open air and looks very inviting so I'm sure Philip and I will head there tomorrow to sample their coffee and amazing array of cakes.  

This afternoon we headed down to the beach for a dip in the water and to walk to the "Lost City" that is similar to the ones at Litchfield.  These however, being right on the beach are quite impressive.  The beach here is lovely.  Miles and miles of unspoilt beauty.  There are so many shells along the beach and my friend Kate would be in seventh heaven!  We stayed on the beach until the sun set in the west.  Cable Beach it is not, however it has a beauty all of its own.

Day 62 Broome, WA

 Around 7pm last night we thought we had a disaster as the power inside our van suddenly died.  Philip went outside to look at our power source just as the gentleman from next door walked out of his van.  He said that he still had power and Philip plugged into his power point but......nothing.  So it was back inside the van to check all fuses as I had heard a popping sound just as the power went out.  Philip found the circuit breaker that I heard and reset it, but still nothing.  We were really scratching our heads and also cursing that it was a Saturday evening and we wouldn't be able to get anyone to look at the van until Monday!

Meanwhile, outside we could hear people talking so Philip went outside and it turns out that everyone along our side of the road was without power!  (The old mate that said he still had power didn't realise that he was running on battery power, apparently).  Anyway, after phone calls to management, who were very apologetic because they couldn't find a key to get to the main power board, the manager run extension cords to those that needed power through the night, ie. those on breathing apparatus, and we elected to just run on battery power.  The electrician arrived early this morning to restore power and it turns out that a camper had come in late, put down his power legs - right on top of his extension lead that immediately threw out the whole circuit.  Fortunately no-one was hurt.

Anyway, what about today.  Well we woke quite early so decided to do the Jetty to Jetty walk, around 7 kms.  It is really just an extension of the walk we have been doing most days but walking earlier this morning was very pleasant.  When we got back we decided to skip breakfast and just save our hunger for lunch.  But first we decided to get in one last swim on Cable Beach.  Amazingly, it was very quiet on the beach this morning, and we can only presume that people have been partying hard and sleeping in, as it is a long weekend here in WA.

We didn't stay very long because Philip was trying to darken his screen while reading his book and turned his whole screen black!  We were frantically trying to google on my phone how to restore his phone, with no luck.  When we arrived back at the van and stood in the darkness we could just see enough on his screen to once again up the brightness.  Wwwhhheww!

Lunch today was at the Mangrove Hotel.  We have walked or driven past here nearly everyday and it always seems busy so that is usually a good sign.  The outdoor area is lovely as it sits high above the mangroves, with views that stretch for many kilometres over Roebuck Bay and beyond.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again, but what about the colour of that ocean! 

It was a near perfect day weather wise, and we are just hoping this wonderful weather will follow us further south tomorrow.  For lunch Philip ordered the garlic pizza and I decided on the braised beef rib on mash with a pickled papaya.  The pickled papaya grabbed my attention and I must say that it was delicious alongside the beef and potato.  It sounds weird, but it worked!

After lunch we did a last minute grocery shop as we are staying at places over the next week that are a little off the beaten track.  Our next major town will be Port Headland.  I'm not sure how good the mobile reception will be at Barn Hill Station Stay, so if I don't post anything over the coming days be warned you will have a lot to read when I do have coverage!

Day 61, Broome, WA

Our time in Broome is almost drawing to an end with just one more day until we pack up and move on.  We have enjoyed our time here very much and will be certain to return.

So, todays tour was to see the Dinosaur prints on a tiny little island in the Roebuck Bay Marine Park.  The tour is family run with Mum picking us up in the 52 seat bus and taking us to where our boat was waiting for us.  Her daughter Lisa and her husband Will, were our tour guides.  We all had to don reef shoes for this tour as we were wading through water and walking across rocks that may be slippery.  Philip already had reef shoes from his trip to New Guinea and had packed them in the van for this trip.  You had the choice to hire reef shoes for $10 or purchase for $22.50.  I chose to purchase as I know we will need them when we get to Ningaloo.

After Lisa had given us the safety talk we made our way to the edge of the water and then waded in knee deep to board the boat.  The tide was out, but was coming in rapidly - at walking pace!  Once we were aboard it was anchors away, or so we thought. The anchor cable became tangled in the winder so it was a matter of feeding the anchor out and then reeling it back in, several times!  I think if there were not tourists on board there may have been a swear word or two issued between husband and wife.

As our tour was very much dependent on tide times we sped across the bay to reach the little island to see the Dinosaur Footprints and Lisa promised us that the talk she would normally give on the way over would now be given on the way back, which it was.  Once we reached the island we all disembarked and walked the short distance across the sandy, shelly beach to where the dinosaur footprints were imbedded in the sandstone rock.  They are very impressive and I still can't get my head around the fact that they are more than 120,000,000 years old! Will gave a very informative talk about how the prints came to be and said that his talk changes each time somebody from the University of Queensland pays them a visit. There are literally thousands of prints in the area.  This strip of coastline, 80km, has the most significant number of dinosaur prints then anywhere else in the world with some 20 varieties of dinosaur.

Once we were all back on board the boat, Will steered us towards Barred Creek where we drifted slowly along the mangrove edged creek with its turquoise waters and marvelled at the birdlife.  We were all keeping our eyes peeled for the Snubfin Dolphin but we weren't lucky enough to spot one on this tour but we did spot a giant manta ray. While we were cruising along, Lisa prepared some delicious grazing platters for all on board and you could have either, Champagne, Orange Juice, Tea or Coffee to go with it.

Our van park is nestled in amongst those trees

 

The four hour tour passed very quickly and in no time at all we were back to where we started from.  When we arrived home we made ourselves a light lunch as we were still quite full from the grazing platters and later this evening we decided to go back to Cable Beach to watch the glorious sunset.  This beach is so beautiful and once again there were dozens of cars on the beach to watch the sunset.  There were also two teams of camels making their way along the beach this time and everybody seemed to be enjoying the ride.  We debated whether or not to do the sunset camel ride but have decided against it.  We rode camels in a Bedouin Camp in the Middle East and I didn't really enjoy it that much.  It's the getting on and getting off that's the worry.......

It will be a leisurely day tomorrow and we will eat out for lunch.  We haven't really decided where at this point in time but I'm sure it will be good no matter where it is in Broome.

Day 60, Broome, WA

Another relaxing day for us with a yoga practice in the morning followed by a drive to Cable Beach for a couple of hours at this very beautiful place.  We once again hired sun lounges and an umbrella and settled in with a good book.  Philip took to the water straight away but he wasn't in for long before he returned and  pronounced it just a tad too cool, even for him.  I was content to just lay in the sun with the breeze blowing gently across the sand but eventually I decided to brave the water, and yes, it was very cold!

We stayed for a couple of hours before hunger got the better of us and we returned to the van to cook up a stir fry for lunch, washed down with a couple of Matso's Mango Beer.  For some unknown reason I didn't sleep very well last night so after lunch I lay down for a nanny nap.  I knew that I would need to do this otherwise I would fall asleep at the movies.

Can we talk about Tom Hanks for a moment.  You either love him or hate him but after watching him in "Top Gun - Maverick" at the movies this evening I am 100% in love with him again.  The movie is fan-bloody-tastic!  If you enjoyed "Top Gun", some 36 years ago, you are going to love the sequel.  It is full of action, as you would expect, with just a little drama and a bit of romance thrown in for good luck.  If you get the chance, go and see it.  

The one hundred year old outdoor Sun Theatre, with its sling back canvas chairs, evoked memories of the outdoor movie theatre that was in Julia Creek when I first moved there in 1977.  It could be it's twin sister and I dare say there were outdoor theatres just like it right across Australia.  I had to jiggle around in my seat quite a bit to see the screen but taking the pillow helped.  We munched on the obligatory popcorn during the movie and it was the freshest and crunchiest popcorn I have ever eaten.  Mind you, I now have a pain in the belly from eating it, but it was worth every mouthful.

It's actually quite late but I'm too hyped up to sleep. However, I will have to sign off now, as we have another early tour tomorrow and I need to try and get my beauty sleep.  Night all.

Day 59 Broome, WA

Willie Creek Pearl Farm was our destination today.  We were the first to be picked up by our bus driver, Ann,  who said that she would have a full busload to take on the 45km journey to Willie Creek.  Willie Creek Pearl Farm is around 10km off the sealed Cape Leveque Road, but after the recent rain, the sandy road was quite wet and boggy.  It was a bit of dodging and weaving around puddles of water to reach our final destination.

As soon as we arrived we were met by our tour guide, Lisa, who took us to a room that held large water tanks used for spawning.  Lisa was a great story teller and we learnt about the whole process from spawning to pearl harvesting that takes around 2-3 years.  I had no idea that it was such a labour intensive business, and can understand now why quality cultured pearls are so expensive.  The pearls at Willie Creek are saltwater pearls as opposed to freshwater pearls grown in the South Pacific region.  One of the things that really surprised me was that lines of oysters are brought from the ocean on to a boat, every two weeks, to be individually cleaned of barnacles and molluscs. I won't go into the whole process but you should google it yourselves sometime as it is very interesting.  Another interesting thing we found out is that the pearl shell, mother of pearl, is being trialled as a bone graft substitute.  It is ground down and turned into a paste and early trials have got the scientists very excited.

After the video presentation by Lisa we were taken to our waiting boat for a cruise around the bay (how incredibly blue is the Indian Ocean!) and a stop at one of the oyster lines so that we could be shown how they clean the oyster shells.  As I mentioned before, it is very labour intensive and hard work.  It was mentioned that the people that work at Willie Creek are all locals and not backpackers as it is a more reliable workforce and it is a family run business. 

Once our cruise was finished it was time to head back to the main building for tea, coffee and their famous Willie Creek Damper. They were very yummy and our choice of the Cold Pressed Coffee was the perfect accompaniment. 

 Lisa once again gathered us all together for our final presentation to show us how the pearl is harvested from the oyster shell.  It is also a very sensitive process to extract the pearl and then replace that pearl with an imitation the same size so that another pearl can be grown.  The oyster will produce three pearls and each one will be slightly bigger and the quality will decrease.  So bigger is not better in the pearl world!  The pearl that Lisa harvested in front of us was quite big and it was the oysters last pearl.  (We had it valued later in the day and it was valued at $750.) Lisa also extracted the prized pearl meat from the oyster.  This pearl meat sells for a premium right around the world.

After this final presentation we were taken into the showroom where we were shown some examples of size, colour, lustre and shape of the oysters.  We were shown a giant pearl that was valued at $150,000. It was the largest that the farm had ever produced and was not for sale.  We were invited to look around the showroom and try on anything that caught our eye.  We chose to go and eat our pre-ordered lunch and come back after lunch because there were a lot of people inside the showroom.

Our grazing platters were delicious, one was Seafood and the other was Meat.  I forgot to get a photo but the seafood included smoked salmon, crumbed calamari, fresh prawns, and a little marinated pearl meat, with a side salad and dressings along with a couple of pieces of baguette.  The meat platter consisted of rare roast beef, prosciutto, paté and salami with accompaniments.  After we had devoured our platters we made our way into the showroom to browse the beautiful collection of pearls.  

Now, the burning question is, did I buy something?  Of course I did! The 15% discount across the whole store made it a no brainer 😜.  

I love it as it is so me. It is so weird because my eyes fell on it the minute I walked into the showroom.  I tried on many more but kept going back to this one.  I had no idea though, until the sales lady pointed it out,  that the little diamond chips are Argyle Champagne Diamonds.  I got my Argyle Diamond after all.....

This was a really great tour and I'm so pleased that we chose it.  Tours on our journey around Oz have been an excellent choice for us.  Undoubtably, we could have driven ourselves to Willie Creek Pearl Farm but to be able to sit back and enjoy the journey with a bus driver who regaled us with a lot of interesting facts about Broome made it very worthwhile and we have found this with all the tours we have participated in. 

Tomorrow is Cable Beach day as the weather has improved considerably and it will be lovely to soak up the sun and wriggle my toes in the white sand and splash around in that bluest of blue ocean.

Day 58 Broome, WA

 The day started out sunny, enough to take a nice long walk, but by the time we arrived home and had eaten breakfast, the clouds were once again rolling in from the west.  It wasn't going to worry our plans though as we were going to wander through the Broome Town Centre and then on to the museum.  The museum however did not eventuate as it is only open from 10am to 1pm and our intention was to go there this afternoon.  We will go another day.

I really like the town centre of Broome.  It is quite a small centre at just two streets long and three streets wide but that makes it very easy to navigate.  It has been magnificently landscaped and the parking in the centre of the street is unlike anything I have seen before. Parking is on two sides of a median strip that runs up the middle of the street, if you get my drift. Once you park your car you walk up the centre of the strip until you come to a pedestrian crossing.  It is very safe for pedestrians and works a treat.

There are some great sculptures scattered throughout the centre depicting life as it was when Broome was just a fledgling town. The Chinese probably had the greatest influence in the area and there are many buildings and alleyways named after them.  Even the open air cinema in Chinatown was first owned and operated by the Yamasaki family.  

We found a museum dedicated to the pearling luggers with two large luggers sitting proudly in the grounds.  I couldn't believe how small they were and shuddered at the thought of life on board those ships.  No wonder so many lives were lost on those luggers at sea.  Our tour to one of the pearling farms is tomorrow so we will no doubt learn a little more about the industry and history.

Most if not all of the buildings in the town centre are cyclone proofed with iron shutters covering windows.  (Philip says it is to stop theives but I prefer to not think like that. 😁) Living on the east coast of Australia we don't really hear too much about cyclones on the west coast but I have no doubt they get their fair share.  

There are a lot of shops selling pearls but as I know very little about what to look for in a pearl, we bypassed all those shops.  To tell the truth I am not a great lover of pearls for myself but I love how other women wear them.  I'm more of a diamond girl myself 😉.

I'm still trying to empty some of the food out of my freezer (I think I have an addiction for buying goods that need freezing) so we had lunch at home.  Today was a chicken (from the freezer 😂) and bacon fried rice.  I think fried rice has to be one of my top ten favourite dishes and I know Philip loves it to.  It's such an easy dish to prepare, particularly if you have leftover rice, which I did.

Well folks, that's it for another day.  I will have a more interesting blog to write tomorrow after our tour.