Wednesday 12th June 2013 – Port Smith to Barn Hill

After breakfast we drove the sandy track to see the cliffs at Cape Latauche Treville, about 10 km north of the lagoon.  Wow!!  They were so white – made of a very chalky clay rock.  It’s amazing that it is not more eroded.  We drove right out to the edge of the cliff – quite a sight.

Cape Latauche Treville

GPS reading

On the way back we saw more Brolgas (a bit less shy then yesterday's mob - maybe there are more vehicles along this track).  

Brolgas

Brown Kite

Then it was back to check out the lagoon in daylight.  Walked out onto the sand at the mouth of Port Smith.  I can’t imagine it would ever have been a port of any substance but a pretty spot.  Back to the shop for icy poles before heading for our next camp at Barn Hill station (just up the road).

Barn Hill is a lot more rustic then Port Smith and Eighty Mile Beach but very shady and grass underfoot in the spot we have looking out over the ocean.  Toilet/shower blocks are very basic – don’t even have a roof but are clean and quite adequate.  Apparently one block down the other end has a roof so I guess it would be very popular when it rains.

Tomorrow night we were booked into the bird observatory just out of Broome for three days but have just found out that the road in is closed because of the recent rain and that council is too busy repairing the Cape Leveque road to get to this one.  Consequently we booked another night here at this lovely spot and then two nights at a caravan park in Broome.  After that we have two nights booked at the Mercure – a little treat.

We asked the lady at the shop about swimming and she suggested that we might find a rock pool big enough to get wet. 

Camp at Barn Hill

No crocodiles in here!

When the afternoon cooled a little we did go searching.  There are stairs down to the beach which have been washed out at the bottom.  There has obviously been some wild weather recently but no sign of it today the sea is as flat as a pancake.  The stairs have been replaced by a ladder that gets you to the beach.  Yes we did find a pool to get wet in but you would hardly say it was big – refreshing all the same.

Wednesday night at Barn Hill is barbecue night and quite a few of the residents got together around the barbecue.  We didn’t have anything to barbecue so settled for our Thai Green Chicken Curry instead.  And another great sunset!

Met a pleasant couple in the next door caravan who were on their way back to Perth after spending some time in Broome.  They filled us in on a few things to do while we are there.  A game of cards before ‘hitting the sack’.