Heading South Aug 2011



  After 9 weeks at Barn Hill it was time to move on.But before we went we paid a last visit to the Sunday Market .

 We really enjoyed our time here and there was so much to do with organised activities and just going for walks on the beach or having a go at fishing.



Sundowners at Barn Hill


 Our first stop on the highway south was for M/T at Goldwire which is one of the Main Roads rest areas that they have upgraded over the past few years. They are quite big areas with toilets and dump points at most of them.  The next one down the road at Stanley was even bigger but we didn't stop and went onto Sandfire roadhouse for our first  taste of "take away" in quite a while.
 Our night stop was at De Gray River where we eventually found a place to set up up from the river a bit. It was very crowded and very shaded down by the river and as we rely on solar we opted for a spot out in the open. We actually spent 2 nights here  before heading into Port Headland and stocking up the larder.

Sunset at De Gray

 Our next stop was at the Yule river where there is only a small area and because we were fairly early we managed to get a spot and then had a nice evening with some other travellers . We only had about 12 rigs in for the rest area which was a big change to the 30- 40  rigs that were at Barradale where we stopped for the night  further on .




 Lynn and Sam chatting at De Gray

 From the Yule River we moved on to Karratha and after a brief visit to a fabulous craft shop we wandered on to Miaree Pool  at the Maitland River where we had lunch. There was a large No Camping sign so we started to go on further and then spotted another track that led down to the river, so after parking the van and taking a walk we found a lovely spot with grass and water access.

Maitland river

Miaree Pool

  While we were there Rob appeared and had a quick fish in the river and got a small bream which he said he would use for bait and was talking about his travelling companion Deb who it turned out was at Sheringa Beach with us in SA.
Unfortunately often idyllic spots don't last and the wind came up and was blowing the dust from the road behind the van so that everything was covered in red dirt. 
 The bird life at the river was really something with lots of budgies in the tall gum trees and Ducks on the river.
The budgies came in quite close and were sometimes seen on the ground picking at seeds, but the ducks roosting in the trees was really amazing .