Barn Hill Beach Side Station Stay, Western Australia, Australia
Saturday 22nd August 2020: M&M arrive – tonight the Park has a 3 course meal and music for $20 on the lawned area in front of the shop. Jessie Gordon plays the ukulele and sings mainly jazz – she is very good and has a great rapport with the audience. She’s based in Perth and is here with her partner Alex who is looking after the sound system - he is a doctor in Broome – somehow they make that work. A wonderful night with the setting sun in the background and then the skyline glowing through the trees and a few on the ‘dance’ floor.
A bit of history about Barn Hill – Today Barn Hill is a working cattle station with over 800 head of cattle. Janice Bell has been here for 35 years – she found herself as single mother of 3 children and went on to establish the Barn Hill Station Stay on the edge of the Indian Ocean while raising children, building up the cattle station and building a home from mud bricks. The red Pindan soil sets likes concrete - good for bricks – and you can have year-round access without getting bogged in the wet season. Today it is a real family affair and a tribute to her hard work and tenacious work ethic.
Sunday 23rd August 2020: Today there is huge bushfire to be seen south of here but it doesn’t impact the station – Janice and her daughter ride horses along the beach in the late afternoon to check that it’s not on their property. Mark has some success with the fishing rod today – 3 fish – the envy of a few others on the beach. There are a few market stalls on the grassed area in the morning and towards evening a bowls competition takes place. Another day in paradise.
Monday 24th August 2020: Two nights here has morphed into four. The bushfire seemed to settle over night, but it does start up again during the day. The fish aren’t biting for Mark today, so we supplement the whiting fillets from yesterday with some Tasmanian salmon from the freezer for our last night together as M&M need to speed up their return to Perth for appointments. There’s plenty to do at Barn Hill if you so choose – a 2 rink synthetic bowling rink, Tai Chi each morning, some sort of game or games each evening, Saturday dinner with good entertainment, BYO BBQ night with music, swimming and beach walks. They have pony rides for kids and a couple of goats to keep people entertained. The showers and toilets of corrugated iron are rustic, but very good. We have met Helen here who knows Tamra Vlahov and Rick (Three Springs butcher days) who knows Peter & Gaye.
pamandpete
2020-08-25
Sounds like Barn Hill has ticked your box. We will have to go into Barn Hill one day and check it out one day. My school friend Chez and her husband Rob do love it there. I think the photo is a cross between a dog and a lion.