Week 12 – Barn Hill Station – Port Hedland – Karratha

The road into Barn Hill station was interesting – 10km of rough dirt and sand road. The van handled it very well and we were lucky enough to score a powered site right on the beach. This station is miles from anywhere and is a working cattle station. However, they supplement their income with a “caravan/camping site” right on the beach. The beach is deserted for hundreds of kilometres north and south. Perfect for fishing, swimming and collecting shells on the beach.

We went for a long walk along the beaches in the afternoon and saw some amazing rock formations fronting the beach.

Pa had a fish but lost his lure again. So no fish.

We had a swim in the ocean and it was extremely salty, but refreshing.

Pa cooked a roast pork in the Weber for dinner, it was yummy!

Pa also flew the drone just before sunset and got some awesome photos.

 Our site is 2nd row from beach, 3rd site from bottom.

Our intention was to drive west to 80 mile beach the next day but we had a recurrence of the battery not starting the car in the morning. We jumped it and drove along the highway to charge the battery but it died again when we had to stop for fuel. The prospect of a flat battery and the chance that we wouldn’t have a powered site at 80 mile beach to charge the jump starter, made us decide to skip 80 mile and head for Port Hedland direct to source a new battery. We drove over 400km and arrived in the afternoon at the golf club where we unhitched (without turning the car off) and then Pa went into town to get a battery.

 Port Hedland is a mining town in that it is the main export site for iron ore and salt in this area. The trains that carry the ore from the mines inland to the port are huge – 2.6km long.  It takes two trains to fully load a ship and they load 6 ships a day! Because of this it is a major town and the auto electrician fitted the new battery pretty quickly – only $240 for a heavy duty 4WD battery.

We headed next to Karratha which is also a mining port, this time serving the major iron ore mines at Tom Price and Hammersley. The town is pretty new having been built mainly in the 80’s to service the expansion of the port. 

The nearby town of Dampier is also the site for the North West Shelf gas port, where most of Australia’s natural gas comes in from the offshore wells.

Dampier also is the home of the Red Dog, immortalised in the film of the same name. The Red Dog memorial tells the story of the dog who chose his owners as he travelled around the Pilbara.

Karratha is also a big salt producer as the area is very flat with access to the sea. The salt flats and evaporation ponds are huge. They export most of the salt from the port to Japan and Korea where it is mainly used in glass making and pharmaceuticals. The salt piles next to the jetty are huge.

We visited Hearson’s Cove, the town’s swimming beach, looking for a swim but the tide was out. Nanna looked for shells on the beach while Pa walked out to the sea, almost 1 km.

On Sunday we visited Point Samson and Cossack just north of Karratha. Cossack was a major port for the cattle and sheep industry in the late 1800s, early 100’s before the ships became larger and the port was moved to Point Samson. Point Samson has a huge jetty where they currently export iron ore from the inland mines.

The historic town of Cossack was hosting a major art competition with a market day. We spent a few hours wandering around looking at the art. Some were awesome, but the judges obviously had no taste. The winners were pretty average.

The next move is westward but we will have to slow down as we skipped a few places due to the car. Exmouth is next on the list after a free camp in the bush.