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.

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

Day 51 (Sept 8)

The looking behind our little shelter.

In preparation for moving day tomorrow I spent the better part of the morning sorting stuff out. Experience has shown that moving day goes a lot smoother (and quicker) if we spend some time the day before sorting out most of the crap.

As much as we have culled and scaled down our essential living items a true minimalist would probably say we still have far too much. And perhaps they might be right. To me though it feels like really do only have the basics.

After nearly a week without a washing machine it feels like most of the crap is dirty washing though.

Once all the sorting was done I sat back and looked out at the ocean while I worked on the blanket a little more. If I look hard enough I can see whales spurting and splashing. Which naturally excites me no end.

Before long though my eyelids are to heavy to keep open and sleep is my only option. Mr A and I may have done some midnight ocean frolicking under a full moon last night.

While I catch some z’s Mr A took the little ones in the water. It all ended in tears though as Teapot cut her toes on some oyster shells. Thankfully not too badly, just enough to make her want to not be in the water anymore.

It is tempting to extend our stay here longer but the food is starting to run a little low and as much as the expense of paradise is totally worth it we need to remember there will still be so many other paradises on our travels as well.

The big 5-0!

Happy Fathers Day and happy fifty days of travelling! Hard to believe that we have really been on the road for only fifty days. On the one hand we have seen so much but at the same time we have only gone about 1900km from home. 

Since it is Father’s Day we decided to treated ourselves to coffee from the cafe. I am still not coming to terms very well with the whole only instant coffee thing. Especially since back in Darwin the other week I was able to be momentarily reunited with my beloved machine.

Sadly though the coffee was awful. Actually it was quite possibly beyond awful but at the same time it wasn’t instant so I feel I can’t complain too much.

While we were at the cafe, which was also a bit of a shop, Mr A got some more fishing stuff because apparently he still didn’t have what he needed to actually catch something. As you can tell I am highly interested in the whole fishing thing. 

Now that he was adequately decked out in the fishing supply department we headed to a different part of the beach and spent the day fishing. Without much success mind you. The girls got their snorkels out and gave them another whirl and had a great time following a few little fish up and down the water’s edge.

And me? Well I sat under the awning of the car and got my crochet on. Pure bliss. Just before I left for Darwin, well actually in Windjana Gorge, I started working on a bit of a blanket thing. I wasn’t really sure when I started what it would turn out to be as it was just a chance to work on my granny square stitch really. After a few rounds it was looking a lot nicer than I expected so I decided to keep going and make it into a blanket for my niece’s up coming third birthday.

Paradise. Don't mind if I do.

If I thought waking up on a cliff edge at James Price Point was paradise, then waking up at Cape Leveque must be akin to heaven. It was the most glorious feeling ever to step out of Edna and be treated to the beauty of a sparkling blue ocean right on my doorstep. Right there and waiting all just for me.

After breakfast and coffee was done and dusted we donned our bathers, grabbed our snorkels and head out to see what was hidden amongst the water. I can’t recall ever having seen such a pretty blue or such clear water.

There was not actually a whole lot of action to be seen underwater but there were enough little creatures to keep the girls interested. It was a great opportunity for Teapot to practice her snorkelling skills actually. 

The water level was probably about chest deep for her which meant she could happily paddle around sticking her face in and out as she pleased. She had a terrible habit of wanting to look at things behind her after she had swum past them which meant as she looked down and behind her snorkel would feel with water. Eventually though she started to see the errors of her ways.

After living so close to the beaches that were relatively not swimming friendly it is beyond awesome to be able to frolic in the ocean without fear.

By lunchtime I was so in love with Cape Leveque that I knew two nights here was not going to be nearly long enough. Since tomorrow is Father’s Day it just doesn't seem right to have to pack up and move somewhere else.

Technically speaking Mr Awesome has already received his present back in Broome (a go-pro) but staying here for two more nights counts as a present we can all share. Aside from that by paying for it with the gift vouchers that we won thanks to AANT it is not like it is really coming out of our budget.

The bumpiest road. Ever.

It might not look like much here but after travelling it I am sure
it could well be what the road to hell is like.
Interestingly enough though, it did not lead to anything remotely like a hell.

One thing I had not missed in my short time away was moving day. Which is what today just happens to be. We are on our way out to Cape Leveque. A place Mr Awesome is incredibly excited to see. He has heard many a people say they want to go there and was pretty keen to join the list of people who had done so.

After about an hour on the road out there I was quite happy to say that we never made it. 

The road would have to be one of the worst we have been on to date. Any peace or relaxation I may have built up over the past day or two were quickly shredded away within ten minutes of being on this track.

Thankfully though despite my subtle suggestions at turning around we soldiered on to discover one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

According to our road map bibles advance bookings are essential. Which posed a slight problem because naturally we had not done so. Thankfully though an hour or so before we reached our destination we found a signal strong enough to make a phone call. 

We had planned to stay for three days however when I heard the price of paradise I dropped it down to two. The only spaces available were in beachside shelters and it was a little over $100 per night for all of us. Which is about twice as much as what our budget allowed for.

Of course as so often is the case with life you get what you pay for. So as much as we were breaking the bank it was worth every cent.

Our incredibly expensive but totally worth it on the beach shelter

Our shelter which had it’s own cold water shower and table and chairs was located about twenty meters from the beach. It was totally amazing. We were able to back old Edna in next to the shelter and use the shelter as our living space during the day. The best part of this meant there was no need to put all our awnings up as the shelter gave us all the shade we need.

The was however a slight drama as we were pulling into our little camping area. We had read the signs saying that it was advisable to have pretty low tyre pressure, what we didn’t realise though was exactly how low we needed to go. Thankfully though Mr Awesome was able to jump out and let them down low enough before we got bogged in the sand completely.

Feeling rather stupid for our actions we were slightly pleased to see that the same thing happened to two other people following us in.