Day 47: Barn Hill Station Beach Stay

 After a steamy day yesterday, a significant temperature drop overnight made sleeping comfortable and we woke to a light Easterly Breeze which was also refreshing.

We also have a bit of shade at our campsite

I went down to the office at 7.30am to collect our preordered Fruit Loaf which was still warm and a nice treat for breakfast.


A morning walk on the beach after breakfast is our plan, as the temperature is very comfortable, and it will be low tide so I can get a look at where all of the fishing hazards are. It was not too hard to work out why I got snagged yesterday afternoon.

Where I was fishing there is a large rock shelf offshore only visible at low tide. It extends along a lot of the beach. It makes it pretty interesting for the many fishermen launching their tinnies off the beach. I saw one later on at about mid tide running up and down close to the shore looking for a passage through.

It was very pleasant walking along the beach at low tide, plenty of firm sand, rocks and pools exposed everywhere and sea shells waiting for Carole to collect them.


They have big tides here and now there is a huge expanse of sand exposed compared to yesterday afternoon





There is a surprising lack of sea life in the rock pools, but small shellfish cling to the rocks, like the small barnacles below



Some areas are really rocky blocking car access along the beach, but there are several access points for vehicles






The caravan park is huge and runs along the shoreline. The view below is of a large section that has unpowered sites.


We left the beach further down from where we entered and ended up walking back along the redcliff top and into this area of the caravan park that we didn't even know existed. A wildflower or two was spotted along the way.


This one is a Mulla Mulla, apparently quite common in arid areas


Butterfly Pea ?

We ended up back at the park office and activity centre where a very serious game of lawn bowls was under way, apparently a semi final.


Tonight is the State of Origin and they are having a hamburger night in the cafe area where there is a large screen and limited seating. We were hoping they may also be serving pizza tonight but, but not the case. Looking at the seating arrangement, we figured we would be better off watching it in our van.


Cafe with most seating overlooking the bowling green

The decision to eat at home was a good one. We had some steak that we bought at Birdwood Downs that we cooked for dinner, if it wasn't so far away I would drive back and buy some more. 

Even better I could watch the State of Origin on the on the caravan TV from the BBQ when cooking the steak.


View from the BBQ through the caravan window

Great to see the Blues have such a conclusive win over the Maroons. Maybe we should have gone down to see it on the big screen at the Cafe, as there are plenty of Queenslanders on the road, very few from NSW, and lots of AFL supporters.

Tomorrow we move on the Eighty Mile Beach.


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