Day 38 – Broome to Barn Hill – Travelling the Big Island

19 July 2019

Gym session, coffee, camp packed up and we were outta Broome and heading for Barn Hill Station less than 2 hours away. Every time we move locations I am surprised anew by how busy it is up here. On arriving at the turn off to Barn Hill around 1130 am, we followed in the 4 vehicles that had been travelling in front of us. We were able to get the 2 unpowered sites we were after, however it didn’t look like they had many, if any powered sites available.

After lunch, we went for a bit of an explore and a swim. The beach dropped off quickly, so the waves were breaking really close to shore and the undertow was very strong. It was a lot of fun mucking around, however Bill and I got dumped an absolute ripper. We went tumbling over and around each other and both ended up with sand absolutely everywhere. Showers were followed by a roll on the stations bowling green. It has recently been re-done, so what I understand used to be a fairly casual affair is now all a bit serious. A man that appeared to be overseeing people using the green walked up as I was asking Mum and Dad a question about the game. He announced that he would show us how to bowl. We all said, ‘oh no, that’s fine’ however he again announced that he would show us, and proceeded to pick up one of Dad’s bowls and put it straight in to the gutter! After which he said ‘bit heavy’ and walked away! He is winning biggest tool of the trip so far. It was made worse by the fact that he had watched us put a couple of practice bowls down already and had commented that we had obviously bowled before. Tool.

Anyway, after that, it was Bill and Mum against Dad and I with Dad and I winning 4 to 1. It was all a good bit of fun.

Barn Hill had a real community feel about it. It seems that some people might stay for weeks or longer. We watched an excellent dice game being played by about 40 people that we were just a bit too late to join in with. It was very simple and fun so we purchased some of the special dice so we can play when we get back home.

Another beautiful sunset was followed by dinner, triominos and bed.