Wed/Thursday 8th and 9th August 2012 Broome to Eighty Mile Beach

Trip Meter Reading Start – 0 (restarted as Mark stuffed up somehow)

Trip Meter Reading Finish – 411 km
Total Km Travelled – 411 km

Filled  up Coles Express Broome
ULP $1.68 per litre; 55.54 litres @ $93.58
Gas $1.159 per litre; 64.48 litres @ $74.73
Filled up Sandfire Roadhouse
ULP $1.882 per litre; 64.3 litres @ $121.00
Accommodation
Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park
$35 per night unpowered (extra $7 per child, if you tell them); we had the unpowered area all to ourselves and backed closest to the sand dunes; nice green grass, no shade but the temperature was perfect not too hot or cold and perfect for the 80w solar which ran our engel 38 litre fridge all day.  If you don’t need power I would recommend the unpowered camp site as you have more privacy and room and it’s cheaper.

Comments- Luke Baker
At 80 mile beach we camped behind a sand dune; we also looked for shells on the beach.
The next morning me and Dad got up very early and looked for shells.  We walked for miles and came across lots of beutifal shells.  After that we went fishing but we didn’t catch anything.    But a man beside us caught 2 stingrays.  We also drove along way up the beach and came across a seasnake.  It had nice strippy pattens.

Comments- Mum and Dad
Reluctantly left mum and dad in Broome as Dad had to see the Doc on Friday to see whether they can continue their trip.  It was a long straight drive down to the turnoff to 80 mile beach with a 6 km dirt road drive in to the camp ground.  We stayed 2 nights as we promised Luke he could look for shells.  This is one of the few places that you can keep shells legally. 

Well Luke found plenty of shells alright, a couple of bucket loads  Luke promises me he is going to make a big shell picture frame (he better) because I spent 3 hours cleaning and sorting them into sizes into clip lock bags so they didn’t stink the van out.

3 hours before high tide and about an hour afterwards there are about one fisherman per 15 metres up and down the beach as far as you can see.  Of course, we had no luck catching anything, however we took a drive up the beach and I must say even though you could see a mirage either way it was beautiful white beach with more shells than you could ever imagine.  On the other side of the dunes was the cattle station with herds grazing away no more than 100 metres.  Unbelievable!  If it were the East Coast there would be highrises and resorts; this is what makes the west side of Australia so unique; I hope it stays this way for my children and their children to enjoy.