While we were overseas, Eighty Mile Beach had been scalped by category 5 Cyclone Laurence, not quite a year ago – 21 December 2009! Winds gusting up to 285 km. The place looked almost barren – what trees remained were half their former size and coppicing. As we topped the last sand ridge and looked down into the swale occupied by the caravan park we realised this place had been transformed. In travelling the distances we do, one learns to distinguish between the ever changing soils and vegetation types thereby adding an interest which most others would simply overlook, describing the journey as monotonous! Some thirty kilometres south of Sandfire we turned off to revisit one of the attractions of this area, Eighty Mile Beach with its isolated caravan park set behind a primary dune, with rows of tall shady trees and palm trees to add to its picturesque scene – Well, that is what we remembered! The dirt track took us through sand ridges to reach our destination and we found ourselves puzzling over the apparent land clearing going on – tangled mounds of dead bushes, uprooted woody vegetation strewn around and then abandoned. The explorer, Ludwig Leichhardt, referred to the ‘ sands appearing to be on fire’ in his diary and as you travel the road to Sandfire, the sight of some of the dune cordons he was referring to become all the more meaningful. Sounds great yet we found a paradise for ourselves in the off-season. Apparently the station owner serves up an in-season Pizza Evening and Sunday Roast with live country music provided by a well-known Aboriginal band from a nearby Community, for the numbers that pour in. Barn Hill Station Stay has a big following in season- folk with 18 years under their belts. His faithful shadow, the Blue Heeler wasn’t his either – another fickle farm character with a chosen few regular campers, she has adopted. Lucky for us, he’d been asked to keep it open through this summer for the first time, giving him 18 months all up. Not only did he tell us about the German couple he filled us in on his job running the Station Stay campground, coming across to work the season from April to September. He was from Coffs Harbour, a prawn fisherman before retirement. The caretaker smiled knowinglyand happily had a yarn with us. This was a treasure of a place and we had to stay another day. An enthralling sight to behold while considering what forces could be driving these swarms. Light of day promptly woke us and for our troubles, we found ourselves witnessing wave upon wave of Kimberley grasshoppers flying past or smashing into our caravan.
#SERENE SCENE MARINE AQUARIUM 3 WINDOWS#
We slept with all blinds up and windows open to take advantage of the wilderness and the refreshing winds blowing. A farm dog had adopted them and they had taken on the care of an orphan for the lady owner of the station. In time we learnt the German couple had come for a week and were now staying 6 months.
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