11 - 2026 - June - Port Hedland to Broome, Western Australia

 

Entry 11 – 2026 – June – Port Hedland to Broome, Western Australia

It had been 30 days since our last big food shop. Leaving our extraordinarily fantastic camp site for the last month at Doolena Gorge nearby the town of Marble Bar, we made a bee-line for Port Hedland. It was time to re-stock with fresh food and our stash of long-life food items. There was an option of a Coles or Woolworths supermarket and we checked out the selections on offer at both.

With an overflowing shopping trolley, incurring a cost of about $550. Ouch. Our caravan fridge and pantry were restocked for our next period of time away, exploring the Great Australian Outback/Outdoors.

Of course, there was another visit to view the large ships at port. Our timing had coincided with high tide, when the ore laden ships were departing port. It was a wonderful sight, seeing all the activities of a busy port. We saw two ships being escorted by four tug boats each heading out. There were another four tug boats returning to port and another four hooking up to another ship for departure.

Steve spotted one of the locals asleep and snuck up for a photo shot.

When in Port Hedland we utilized the free R.V. campground. You are required to be self-sufficient, with no facilities available. It provided a substantial financial saving from the only other alternative at a caravan park. Departure day is not a quick process. There is a need to acquire water to fill our caravan water tanks, a caravan loo emptying run, time spent at the local laundromat, obtaining some last-minute food items and a top up of the tow tugs fuel tank. On this day, we managed to depart Port Hedland at around 1 pm.

About 75 kilometres up the road, we set camp for the night at a large roadside stop called De-Gray River rest area. It had a nice vista for a road side stop. Though the view at the other end of our site was obstructed.

Continuing north we decided not to stop at Pardoo Station caravan park. It was promoted as a fishing location with a restaurant, utilizing meat from the station paddocks. It presented a different, alluring element, but didn’t distract us from our desire of beautiful panorama environments.

About 80 kilometres up the road for the day’s drive, we set camp at Cape Keraudren Coastal Reserve. Our neurotransmitters were tingling with delight at some of the scenery we were seeing along the drive to where we eventually set camp.

We seemed to had arrived around high tide, helping with the feel-good sensations. Around 5 hours later the setting was quite different. The beautiful views of turquoise-coloured waters had disappeared. The daily tides were running at around the 7-metre mark.

Watching the turquoise water disappear, revealed another landscape of Cape Keraudren. With the high tide, there was the lush green tops of the mangrove trees, sticking out of the water. With the low tide, one’s eyes focus on the gnarly solid looking mangrove tree trunks. It appeared, some of the tree trunks would have likely been about 100 years old or more.

With the tide out, there was quite the bird activity on the exposed ocean flats.

With the tide out, the landscape looked quite dull without a covering of sparkly turquoise water. Walking about on the newly exposed flats provided rewarding viewing. We spotted a set of beady eyes glaring at us from a water covered rock pool. This heightened our senses, on the lookout for other “things,” watching us.

Cape Keraudren Reserve had a serene landscape with a variety of magical shore lines on the Indian Ocean. There was an assortment of different camping options available. Some people were camping on the beach with views of the open ocean. There were several options where you could camp along different areas of the shore line with ocean views. We chose to set camp at one of the bays, with the bay’s frontage surrounded by mangroves. The bay setting, provided some shelter from the constant ocean winds.

The below picture shows our “less windy,” camp on the right and some other camps on the left facing onto the open ocean. The ocean views camp spots, seemed to be buffeted by much stronger winds.

The evening sunsets provided glorious viewing. Each night different from the previous. Though, one morning we woke to a landscape covered by sea fog. Our beautiful ocean views seemingly, had been obliterated.

At times the setting sunshine would light up our caravan reflectors. The picture provided shows the tow tug unhitched, away from the caravan.

The setting of Cape Keraudren Reserve was a wonderful experience. During our stay, most days the weather was magical, enhancing its seaside features.

 

We noticed a marked increase in the volume of travellers out and about whilst at Cape Keraudren Reserve. Seemingly, the beginning of the peak tourist season (June) had arrived. We had managed to allocate a week’s stay at Cape Keraudren Reserve and we cherished every minute. It was another location where it felt sad to leave.

We were travelling north along the Great Northern Highway.

We were departing the Western Australian landscape titled, the “Pilbara Region.” We had spent three months in the Pilbara Region. It was an area with many different scenic locations. There had been a few planned locations we had missed out on, caused by unforeseen circumstances. Grrr. It is quite gratifying on those rare occasions when all goes to plan!

Heading north, we weren’t inclined to stop at available roadhouse or roadside rest areas. All were missing our sort after, scenic settings. The next scenic option was at 80-mile beach with a large caravan park. We had stayed here previously. For us, there were no good vibe memories and we decided to push on. Next up the road was Barn Hill Station stay. It had been 12 years since we were last here. We still had strong positive vibes from our Barn Hill Station experience.

We were now travelling in Western Australia’s Kimberley Region with another “different landscape.”

It is located north of the Tropic of Capricorn with a tropical monsoon climate. Best visited in the dry season with stable weather conditions. The wet season is hot, humid and very wet.

Temperatures throughout the year are reasonably stable, mostly around the low 30’s. The wet season experiences heavy storms dumping large volumes of water. Roads are regularly impassable leaving large areas unreachable due to flooding. An example at Geike Gorge viewed during the dry season with bleaching on the walls showing water levels around 16 metres higher during the wet season.

Barn Hill Station stay was well patronised, with a campground and infrastructure appearing to have expanded around double the size since our previous visit. There were 126 numbered sites for allocation. We had rung ahead prior our planned arrival date and there were no allocated sites available. We were informed there were two large areas for camping with non-numbered sites and we would have no issues setting camp in these areas. No booking requirements.

We suspected the unallocated areas could have possibly been able to cater for around another 75 sites.

It was a “station stay,” with a “rustic,” atmosphere. Yes, it had a tired appearance, like so many other station stays we had experienced. But everything seemed to be in working order.

There was quite a positive ambiance/vibe around the campground.

There was an option of a different set meal each night for purchase with advance notification. We chose to experience lasagna night, coinciding with a live music performance.

There was an accessible lengthy beach providing comfortable walking. We enjoyed a couple of dips in the pleasant temperature ocean waters.

There were some interesting structures, titled the lost city.

 

Our ears were tantalised by a constant background noise of birds chattering around us.

Sunsets over the ocean can deliver colourful viewing at Barn Hill Station. An ocean frontage cliff face providing a fabulous viewing area.

Barn Hill Station Stay was the last available highlight on the Port Hedland to Broome highway. We were entering the area during its peak tourist season period. Advanced bookings were a requirement. It was time to head up the road (about 150 km) and commence our pre-booked locations at Broome. We had made a number of bookings, some around 6 months prior to secure camp locations within the greater Broome district. All requiring full payment either at the time of booking or in advance prior to arrival.