Goodbye Barn Hill

Leaving Barn Hill this morning almost felt like leaving home again. After staying for nine nights it is the longest time we have spent in one place in our nine weeks on the road.

Before we departed though we managed to squeeze in a quick final walk along the beach. As I was heading down the stairs I was met by a young boy and his father. In his hand was a bowl filled with some squid like creatures. When I looked again I realised that the bowl just happened to be exactly like the ones I managed to wash away the other day!

I couldn’t help but ask as to whether they found the bowl or if it was theirs, explaining what had happened the other day. As it turned out they had found it right down the other end of the beach as to where I lost it. I couldn’t believe that it had come ashore, albeit looking a little worse for wear.

As I walked off giggling to myself about it all, wishing I had of done a message in a bottle thing the dad called out and asked if I wanted my bowl back. To which I happily declined.

It is hard to believe that it has really been nine weeks since we waved Darwin goodbye but apparently it has been. Which means we only have another nine weeks of pay left. An incredibly daunting thought indeed. I have thought on more than one occasion now how our savings is just not quite enough to cut it. Oh how I hope I am wrong. Though at the same time what will be will be and no matter what we will find a way to get by. 

Still the fact that the pay runs out at around the same time as Christmas approaches is not exactly the best way for things to pan out.

Today sees us heading a little further down the coast. About two hundred kilometres. Our destination is 80 Mile Beach. From what we have heard and researched the park is going to cost around fifty dollars a night so we will probably only stay two nights. Which is kind of a pain when the setting up and packing away are taken into account but it will have to be pretty special to make spending more money worth it.

As I type we are still about 100 kilometres away. I love that Mr Awesome drives as it is a great opportunity for me to catch up on the journal entries. Not surprisingly I am still days behind. Hopefully soon though I won’t be so many days.

Final day in Barn Hill paradise

Our last full day at Barn Hill. I have really enjoyed being here. It has been nice to be in the one spot for so long. Though I think the girls have found it a bit boring at times. Mind you this has encouraged them to read more and try a little more school work. There are still rather large battles when it comes to doing school stuff but I remain confident that this too shall eventually pass.

Making the most of our last day we headed down to the beach not too long after breakfast. The sun yesterday was particularly harsh so we wanted to make sure we were home before things heated up too much. As it turned out, it wasn’t as hot though by about eleven the winds were starting to pick so we headed home in time for lunch.

I had told Zany that lunch was going to be a salad with some of the new leaves that we acquired the day before from Pam and Bill only I realised if we had them for lunch there wouldn’t be anything for dinner. Much to Zany’s disappointment lunch became toasted jaffle wraps and the salad postponed till dinner.

The rest of the day was pretty much a nothing kind of day. Well a reading nothing kind of day. Which is always a bit nice. Since our trip into town on Thursday where we purchased a few new books the girls have happily been devouring all the words on the pages. Something that makes my heart swell no end.

Having read the final book in the Hunger Games series when we first arrived here I am now without anything to read myself. Well there are a few Les Norton books that Mr Awesome loves laying around but they just don’t really take my fancy yet. Plus I have plenty of crocheting to keep my occupied. 

Mind you I mentioned to one of our neighbours, Marj, that I was out of books to read and shortly after she brought me over two she thought I might be interested in. The friendliness of those on the road constantly amazes me. Everywhere we go we seem to just come across the most loveliest of people.

Day 63 Sept 20

Today was meant to be our leaving day, though we decided a few days ago that we would stay on for another two nights. It is hard to not stay for longer but really there is no reason to. Other than read, walk on the beach and crochet there is not a lot to be done here. Which in many ways is the beauty of it all.

We have noticed that there are quite a few long term residents here. They arrive at the start of the season (April) and stay till the end of October. There are certainly worse places to spend six months of the year. Two of those long termers, Bill and Pam are leaving tomorrow. A few weeks earlier than what they normally would due to some ill health. We have been watching them pack and sort themselves out for the last few days. In some strange way it was all a bit sad.

What wasn’t sad though was when Pam asked me if I wanted to take her little box of lettuces with us. I had said to Mr Awesome at the start of the trip that I would like to take a little herb garden with me but he said it just wasn’t possible. Fingers crossed the dirt doesn’t fall out all through Edna the first time we move.

Late yesterday afternoon we gained some new neighbours. Rather close ones given how many empty spaces were available. It always amazes me how some people think camping is done best when sites are on top of one another. It also amazes me when people want to camp in close proximity to us, because you know, we have children and are (at least to my ears) noisy. Turns out that the new neighbours had children of their own though so perhaps that was why they thought being close would be a good thing.

Their two girls were close in age to Zany and Teapot. One was a year younger than Zany and the other a year older than Teapot. They had the most wonderful time all playing together. Children just seem to be drawn to playing at our camp. Which in many ways is very lovely but today I barely wanted my own children around let alone any extras.

I didn’t exactly sleep well the night before and woke up a tad on the grumpy side of life. To make things worse I was expecting a visit from Aunty Flo and her non arrival was making slightly anxious. As late as I am with most things in life, getting my period is not usually on the list. Unless of course there is a baby growing. Having another baby is the absolute last thing I want. My baby making days are done and dusted, I am quite happy working with the ones I have rather than starting again with new additions thankyouverymuch.

In slightly happier news though yesterday, despite it's somewhat dubious start, turned out to be a bit of a cracker of a day. Once every one else had caught up on the whole getting up thing Mr Awesome and I enjoyed our coffee together and these two little fellows decided to stop by and say hello. I really do love watching birds.

Shortly after Mr A, living up to his name realised that I was not necessarily in the mood for dealing with the trials and tribulations of children and bundled the little two up and took them down the beach. 

After enough peace and quiet, when I felt able to deal with the never-ending tirade of the cries of mum that are inevitable whenever I am in the presence of children, I mustered up the energy to walk down to the sand and investigate what they had all been up too. 

As it turned out they had been up to some pretty masterful sand castle creating. Standing there, surveying the scene before me, my heart began to swell as I was once again reminded of just how incredibly awesome Mr Awesome actually is. Something tells me there are few fathers that would spend a morning creating a sand castle masterpiece such as this.

Back to Broome.

The day got off to a rather unusual start as when we awoke we were greeted with bit of foggy mist. Having had limited experience with such weather phenomena I am not sure whether to call it fog or mist. 

Either way it was kinda cool not being able to see more than ten feet in front of ourselves. 

Sadly though it didn’t hang around for too long. Which was probably actually a bit of a blessing because we had an early start on the road today.

Originally we had only planned to stay here at Barn Hill for a week. We had enough food to stay a week here, two nights at 80 Mile Beach and then two more at a free camp on the way to Port Hedland. Only we like it so much we just don’t want to leave.

As we watched some other residents head into Broome yesterday to restock their supplies we realised there was no reason why we couldn’t do the same which would then enable us to stay here a bit longer.

So today that is exactly what we did. Headed back to Broome for a bit of shopping and some lunch. 

A day or two before we left last time we came across a particularly awesome butcher. His meat was all organic grass fed and came cryovacced which meant it lasted for a month. It is also very reasonably priced. Unfortunately for us we discovered his awesomeness right after we had filled up the fridge so we were limited on how much we could get. 

Of course that fridge is now relatively empty and I am just a bit excited to be able to fill it up with just good meat. I am also a bit excited about having lunch at Matso Brewery. When we were staying in Broome I ran past it a few times and thought how nice it would be to actually go there but for whatever reason we never made it.

Matso’s did not disappoint and their food was as good as their beer and cider. I was particularly proud of myself because the caesar salad with prawns I ordered was brought out without any prawns and I spoke up about it. There was a time when I would have just let it slide because I don’t like to cause a fuss but I really wanted prawns. They were mighty tasty so I am super glad I spoke up.

Of course I did momentarily beat myself up about it all because the waitress told me what a bad day she was having. And while she might not have said I made it worse I naturally took it as being implied. In between beating myself up about adding to her woes I wondered what it was that actually lead me to such thought processes. Such complex beings we humans are.

Joining in with

Yet another day in paradise

Today was not unlike yesterday. Lots of relaxing and just being with each other. Mr Awesome decided he wanted to try his hand at fishing. Primarily because one of the old locals gave him some bait and told him how to find his ‘secret’ location.

Personally I am only a fan of fishing if there is a guarantee that fish will be caught. I couldn’t see that this was a guaranteed situation so Lovely and I decided to hang back at camp for awhile. Mr A and the two little ones headed off to the furthest end of the beach they could find.

I probably used my relatively unattended time wisely and did something like crochet or read. While Lovely did some reading of her own or perhaps colouring in. It is a little hard to recall the finer details of it all because I am actually typing this up some hundred and seventy days after it actually occurred. #keepingitreal

Before too long Lovely was complaining of starvation which led me to think the others would be doing the same. In a bid to enter the mother and wife of the year I decided to prepare some food and take it down to the hunters. Lovely decided that packet pasta was the preferred dining option for all so we set about whipping some up.

While some might have found it a little strange to head to the beach with a saucepan of pasta to me it seemed perfectly reasonable. In fact I thought the others would be all kinds of excited to have a pasta picnic on the sand. Well apart from Zany who is not really a fan but I had a few tins of tuna and corn to tide her over.

As suspected the hunger pains had begun to ravish the other two so we were more than welcomed with our meagre offerings of food. As was also suspected no fish had yet been caught. A fun time had been had by all though so little else really mattered.

Lovely in the open topped rock cave

Once every one had finished eating I had the brilliant idea to wash the bowls in the rather roughish surf. Unfortunately I didn’t have the brilliant idea to hold onto the bowls tightly while I washed them in the rather roughish surf and not one but two bowls were ripped out of my fingertips and washed out to sea.

With the dishes taken care of I set about exploring some of the rocks with the girls. There was one particular area where the rocks formed a little open top cave. Lovely thought this was a prime place to try her modelling. There is no denying that the girl is incredibly photogenic.

All the photo taking on a secluded beach made me think of my mate Coombsey and his Naked Tuesday Page. Even though it wasn’t technically a Tuesday I decided to get my gear of and snap a couple of shots to share. Combsey has been diagnosed with terminal cancer but rather than just roll over and give up the ghost he is determined to get out there and make the rest of his life, the best of his life. I motto which I find rather inspiring and try to abide by as much as possible as well.

A photo posted by @aparentinglife on Sep 22, 2014 at 4:37pm PDT

The waves and the wind turned out to be far to rough for fish catching so Mr A packed up and headed home with us all in tow. Weary from a day on the sand and in the sun but full of love and happiness.

It's Tuesday and while I haven't got my gear off I have managed to sort a blog post, which is my other favourite past time for Tuesdays as it means I get to join in with Essentially Jess for IBOT

Still hanging at Barn Hill. Day 59 (Sept 16)

Today I took the opportunity today to finish reading the Hunger Games series. Still amazed that I had written it off when the rest of the world was raving about it.

While I submersed myself in my book the girls happily entertained themselves. Though by the afternoon they started to require my attention.

I loved how Lovely was so insistent on being the one
to run beside her.

Since I had not really done a lot of moving over the last few days I decided it was the perfect time to work on teaching Teapot how to ride her bike without training wheels. There was plenty of flat open ground and not a lot of people around so it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

She has such a great sense of balance and can ride a scooter incredibly well I figured it would not take much to get her biking riding. It was more about building her confidence up to try than anything else.

After a bit of convincing to just have a go she was away and before long the big sisters were in on the act of helping her get started and she was cycling like a professional.

Once the novelty of cycling wore off, or rather we got sick of helping her get started we headed down to the beach to explore in the other direction. So far most of our waking had involved walking to our left. Today we headed to our right. 

It was much like the left only completely different as well.

The rocks didn’t seem to be as red and the distance the water came up seemed to differ as well. We did however find some lovely spots to take a few selfies!

As is so often the case, the walk home so every one else out in front while I toddled on behind, snapping away at all kinds of things that took my fancy.

Including this,

Father and daughter skipping along the water's edge together

which could very well be one of my most favourite photos ever. 

Though this one also rates rather high on the list.

The perfect end to another fabulous day in paradise.

Coffee and creatures

Sadly we had to say goodbye to our wonderful company from yesterday. I think they may well have liked to have stuck around a bit longer but since they had to meet someone in Broome later this afternoon their hands were pretty much tied. Nonetheless the kids made the most of the time they did have and came over for one last play while mum and dad did the packing. 

We were then given cups of fresh hot pod coffee for our child entertainment efforts and I was even more distraught to see these lovely people bid us farewell. Decent coffee is really the only thing that I am longing for while on #ouadventureofalifetime.

As the day went on we took a walk along the beach and found a few little creatures along the way. Mainly of the insect variety. I do love how the girls are not adverse to playing with creepy crawlies. As much as they can be girly girls and get ridiculously excited about all things pink and Barbie, they are equally at home catching grasshoppers, ladybugs and whatever beetle happens to cross their path.

Thankfully one creature we didn’t encounter today was the little sandpiper that Zany was so certain she was rescuing from a life of solitude and despair.

Yesterday, while walking along the beach with another family, the eldest child of which she befriended the day before, she returned with a somewhat stunned sandpiper in hand. Adamant that the poor creature was in need of care and she was just the person to do so she began pleading for me to let her keep it as her new pet and create a home for it.

Instead I convinced her to put it under a tree with a bowl of water in case it was thirsty.

After an hour or so the bird began to look visibly stronger and began walking around a little more. Much to Zany’s disappointment I told her that it was now time to return the bird to the beach. Rather reluctantly she agreed and found a perfect little hideaway for it amongst some rocks. 

It was with great relief to discover it was no longer there today. The real highlight of the whole sandpiper incident though was learning that many sandpipers on the Western Australian coast migrate from places afar afield as Russia. I do love it when our learning is to visible and stimulated from things that interest the kids.

There had been some record high tides in the days leading up to our arrival which had meant that there were a few pools of water left higher up on the beach. Which naturally the girls delighted in laying in. Which would have not been a probably had they not been wearing lovely brand new white rash shirts. (Related who in their right mind would buy their children white rash shirts when you are living in the bush?)

While the children sat in the water I took the opportunity to try my photography skills out for a bit. I couldn’t help but be inspired by all the beauty around me. I also couldn’t help but continually be amazed at just how lucky we are to be out here doing things like this.

Birthday drinks and three course meals.

Not long after we arrived yesterday a little person seemed to appear out of no where. Which is not actually anything unusual. Children have a way of just appearing at our campsite.

As it turned out her name was Jemmina and she belonged to campsite about a forty meters or so away from ours. She was four and had been on the road for a couple of weeks longer than us and was super excited to seem some children near her age.

One of the things I have loved about the trip so far is the way that children just seem to be drawn to one another and friendships formed instantly. There is a real sense of making the most of the opportunity to play.

Before long Jemmina’s mum popped on over to say hi and check that all was ok. We instantly began chatting like old friends swapping tales of where were had been and where we were going. Naturally we were going in opposite directions. It feels like almost everyone we meet that I just seem to click with is going in the opposite direction to us.

Anyway it just so happened that today was Jemmina’s Dad’s birthday. He popped on over rather early this morning making a few jokes about drinking with Territorians as the ideal way to spend his special day. Since he was the birthday boy it seemed only right that we oblige.

All the campers gathering round to enjoy one of the best
roast I have ever had the pleasure of someone
serving me.

The first beer was cracked open shortly after ten, because that is when the pubs open so it is quite a justifiable time to start drinking. And while I realise it may sound terrible to say the last drink was had around ten hours later the drinks were consumed rather slowly and it was all about pace and endurance rather than how much could be drunk.

The best bit about the day, other than having made some rather cool new buddies, was that the campground hosted a roast dinner so there was no cooking to be done on my part. A grand total of $57 for the five of us to be fed a three course roast meal makes for one of the best take out options I have had for quite some time. Sadly we had to bring all our own plates and cutlery so there were still dishes that needed doing but I guess you can’t win them all.

Goodbye Broome. Hello Barn Hill

the road to Barn Hill Station Stay

Moving day. Blerh. I know I shouldn’t feel this way but it so much work packing it all up. Made even more frustrating by the girls refusal to just buckle down and do what needs to be done. Though in all fairness to Lovely she does a relatively good job at pulling her weight it is more so the little two that drive me to distraction.

It is hard balance deciding how much energy to exert getting them to do what you ask and just doing it yourself. Oh the joys of parenting hey?

Today we say goodbye for real to Broome and make our way to Barn Hill Station. Which is on the way to Eighty Mile Beach and is really only hour out of Broome but by all accounts a fantastic place to stay. I am a bit excited to be leaving civilisation if you will. As lovely as Broome is I am glad to not be anywhere near a town.

Barn Hill is a working cattle station. The outskirts of which adjoin a rather exquisite beach. As this part of the property is not the best for housing cattle the owners have made it available for camping. There are limited power sites and plenty of room on the edges of the stunning red cliffs. As there was minimal pricing difference between powered and non powered we decided to take the powered option. It also appeared as if the powered sites were slightly more shaded.

Camp Barn Hill

We were intending to stay for four nights so it made sense to unpack everything. That way we could live in comfort. Not too long after unpacking everything we knew that we would probably be staying for a little longer than four nights as we were so instantly in love with our surroundings. Oh and it was ridiculously cheap. Like $27 a night cheap, which after the $50 per night at most van parks felt like the bargain of all bargains.

Before long Zany and Teapot had befriended a few children that were already there and Mr Awesome and I were enjoying the tranquility and simplicity of life on the road. (Read as we were sitting in our chairs under the shade of a tree having a cold cider.)

This really is the life.

The access to and from the beach

Joining in with Malinda

There are worst ways to start the day

As I lay here, shivering away under a blanket designed for someone much smaller than I, my brain seems to have gone into overdrive in the thought creation department. Which would be much better if it wasn't sleeping time. Though I guess for some just after five in the morning isn't really sleeping time. 

I have been awake for a little over half hour now. Zany woke me to inform me of her being cold and smelling wee. Which is not really the best of news in any mother's book. 

Turns out that Teapot had wet the bed in the night. I sent Zany to snuggle in my bed as I tried to think of the best way to deal with all that was before me. 

I shouldn't really complain though as she is still only little and these do happen. Especially when you fall asleep before you have had a chance to complete your nightly ritual of teeth, toilet bed. I really have no one but myself to blame. I was more interested in my crochet and watching the stars appear than bedtime duties last night. Mother of the Year right there and this current situation I find myself in is my prize. 

In more MOTY moments I may have just pulled the doona over the wet patch rather than change the sheets. Hence why I am scrunched up in a ball under an ill fitting blanket debating my own need to go to the toilet. 

The downside to this caravanning life I currently lead is that Edna does not have a loo inside her. Which is only really sucky on cold mornings like this. After watching the grey nomads at the van parks continually have to empty their little boxes of human waste from their flash toilet including vans I am a bit glad it is not something we have to deal with. 

The sun is all but up now. A light glow is trying to peak in through the windows. For the most part though our awnings slow the process down. Delaying the start to our days just a tiny bit. The birds however are trying their best to let us know they are up and catching all the worms. Their songs and melodies are calling out from the branches of most trees nearby. There are worst ways to start the day I guess. 

The urge to urinate can no longer be ignored. I finally manage to find the gumption to get out of bed, put some warmish clothes on and traipse across the cold damp grass to the toilets. I love how there is no roof on them. 

The fear of disturbing sleeping children prevents me from returning inside Edna. It also means that coffee must wait a little longer. Suddenly a whistling kettle does not seem like the wisest purchase. 

Instead I wander down to the ocean. I have been listening to the waves crash since I woke. The tide is on her way out now. I find so much comfort in the soft calling that she makes ebbing away on the shoreline.  

Turns out that the sun was not nearly as up as I thought she was allowing me the opportunity to catch most of her graceful rise. It always amazes me how crowds flock to watch the sunset but on the way up no one is around. Though I am pleased for the solitude right now. 

As I watch the golden ball rise higher into the sky I marvel at how quickly it gets up. Unlike myself. Some days even on #ouradventureofalifetime dragging my feet out of bed can take in excess of fifteen minutes. Why that is I am not really sure. Perhaps the incessant mum cries have something to do with it. Children can be so relentless some days. 

Today I have the upper hand. As much as I may have been woken in what some might say was not the best way, how I actually started it was on my terms with the sun and the sea by my side.