80 Mile Beach

After leaving Broome we travelled about 320 km south to 80 Mile Beach Caravan Park which is on Wallal Downs Station. I have to say that this was the most uninteresting stretch of road we have travelled on so far and that's saying something!

Its 10km of red dirt road off the main highway, a very isolated place, Port Hedland being the next town another 280 km down the road. We originally only planned to stay one night but almost as soon as we settled in we decided that two nights would be needed to really enjoy it.

The beach is huge, even bigger than Cable Beach in Broome, and there are fewer people there. The caravan park is entirely powered by a large diesel generator which runs 24/7. There is a shop and all the usual caravan park facilities.

We visited the beach several times, in the morning, late morning, dusk and at night. It was different each time and each day.

It was OK to drive along the beach and as you can see there was plenty of room. There was hardly anybody there so we pretty much had as much space as well needed to ourselves.

The beach is just covered in shells and soft corals that have washed up from the nearby reef. I have never seen so many shells on one beach nor any such corals just laying on the beach. Some of them were still brightly coloured so may not have been adrift for very long.

I think this one looks like a beanie. It even has the ribbing on the bottom!

 

Shell collecting was more satisfying than fishing. Mike tried a few times but without success. The tides come in very quickly so its a constant retreat back up the beach. Some others caught fish but unfortunately it was not Mike's turn.

 
We saw two more beautiful sunsets and then went back down onto the beach with our torch after dark. The stars were amazing, the Milky Way stretched from one side of the sky to the other and there was no light from the ground to detract from its brilliance.

It was a lovely place to visit. We left there at about 9am and it was already getting really hot and was very windy. The noise from the awning flapping in the wind during the night was enough to wake us up.

I really admire the people who live and work in these remote harsh locations. It must be so hard just to do everyday things in the heat and it is relentless. The elements are always in control up here. People must be very hardy to do what they do and to keep on doing it year in, year out.