Dampier/Karratha - Barn Hill Station 20/7/12 - 7/8/12

Dampier/Karratha - Barn Hill Station

Township of Karratha

Dampier and Karratha are 2 major iron ore mining ports located on the central Pilbara Coast, 1,550 kms north of Perth. They are within 20 kms from each other.  Karratha was founded in the 1960's and is the fastest growing town in Australia. This is due to the tremendous growth of the iron ore industry. It's a busy modern town and is full of people wearing florescent orange and yellow tops and blue trousers (work uniform) and small white 4WD utes with flags. A very industrialised place. We caught up with shopping here and drove to Dampier where we booked into the small and only caravan park there. The caravan park is situated very near to the main port which operates 24 hours a day loading iron ore on to massive ships transporting the iron ore around the world.



Iron ore loading at Dampier

Red Dog Memorial

There were 2 main reasons to visit Dampier. The first was the North West Shelf Project, Australia's largest oil and gas resource development. And secondly, the 'Red Dog' memorial.

About a year ago we didn't even know where Dampier was until we saw the Red Dog movie which was set in this area. Red dog was the remarkable story of a dog in the 1970's who wandered about the Pilbara Region and other parts of Australia picking up rides in cars, trucks and trains. He became a well known identity. After seeing the movie we said we must go to Dampier and visit the Red Dog memorial on our travels, which is what we did.

Dampier Beach

We visited the North West Shelf visitor centre which gave insight into the gas and oil drilling and production. This development is one of the world's largest LNG producers and supplies oil and gas to Australian and international markets. Other places we called into of historical signficance in the area were Roebourne, Point Samson and Cossack.

Cleaverville Beach

This was a nice beach to stay for a few days. The camping sites stretched for 2-3 kms along the sand dunes. As it is located only 26 kms along the coast from Karratha we could get good phone, internet and TV reception. We stayed here for a week as we wanted to see the Olympic Games opening ceremony. Many people camp here 3-4 months during the winter season. This is a popular fishing and recreation area. We were able to take the kayak out on the sea one fine, calm evening and came across a couple of dolphins close to us which, initially, we thought were sharks. The heart pounded quickly for a few moments.

Caravans/Motorhomes in the dunes where we stayed

Cleaverville Beach

Desert Sturt Pea at Cleaverville Beach

Port Hedland

We called into Port Headland for the day to have a glimpse at the economic heartbeat of Australia. Red dirt = iron ore = steel = your car, house, caravan, even the kitchen sink. Here you can see the movement of huge iron ore carriers and salt ships. Port Headland is progessing quite rapidly (similar to Karratha) with new development. South Headland is located 18 kms inland from Port Headland and houses the majority of the population.

This is salt, not snow (salt mining, Port Headland

trucks used for transporting iron ore

                    




From Port Headland we travelled 250 kms north to 80 mile beach stopping off at a couple of rest areas on the way, one being a very popular spot with caravaners, De Grey River.

80 Mile Beach

Eighty Mile Beach

This place was recommended to us by several people. It is situated 10 kms off the main highway, almost half way between Broome and Port Headland, down a rough unsealed road. The view of the sea was a stunning turquoise blue as we neared the caravan park right on the beach front. This caravan park was very good but expensive. The beach was huge with white powdery sand. Swimming was not possible as it was very shallow with the tide going out a very long way and also there were warnings about sharks being common in this area. Most people come here to fish off the beach. If you are not into that, then there is little else to do except relax.

View as you arrive into 80 Mile beach

Barn Hill Station

Further north, along the same stretch of coastline as 80 Mile is Barn Hill Station. Again, this place is located 10kms down an unsealed sandy road off the main highway. We did get bogged in soft sand when we swerved to avoid a rock protruding. With a bit of ingenuity we placed our rubber mats joined together to make a rubber track behind the rear drive wheel and reversed out of the soft sand. It worked well especially as we had the weight of the caravan behind.














Barn Hill Station has character, unisex showers and toilets with cubicles open to the sky. The shower water is heated in black tubbing which runs cool if you are late in the day for your shower or extremely hot in the middle of the afternoon. We had a great site on top of a cliff overlooking the beautiful blue sea.





Toilet and shower block





The sunsets from our site were magnificent. Every Sunday for $15, you get a 3-course roast dinner, plus entertainment from a local Aboriginal band, mostly playing 50's - 60's music.  There was dancing as well.  A really good night.  The menu was beef soup, beef roast with fruit salad and ice cream.  As this is a cattle station its no wonder beef featured on the menu.    There would have been over 200 people to be catered for. The station also baked their own bread, rolls and pizzas which were for sale every day. Barn Hill was a good place to stay for a few days. The beach was good and OK for swimming and fishing.








ready for our roast dinner

Beach at Barn Hill

coastline between Barn Hill and Eco Beach resort

One day we walked to the Eco Resort along the beach 7 kms away. There were lots of interested rock formations and caves. On reaching the Resort we saw that it was in an idylic location in a beautiful bay, with accommodation ranging from eco tents to ocean front eco villas. A lot more expensive than where we were staying. We found a little pool in the sand to cool off in. On our return walk we had to traverse over the headland as the tide had come in over the beach.





looking out of cave






coastal walk back to camp








We don't mention about the weather because it's always perfect blue skies, day after day.  It's usually only the wind that spoils it.  We haven't had any rain since beginning of June.  We are now in August.  It's no wonder people come up from down south and stay in these areas for months.

We had an enjoyable stay at Barn Hill, 4 nights, which was very reasonably priced.

Our next blog will be from Broome to Wyndham.