Between Broome and Port Hedland there is a genuinely long stretch of not much at all, and we felt every kilometre of it in the Prado with the kids counting road trains for entertainment. Then the highway kicks you toward the coast and there’s 80 Mile Beach — one of the longest beaches in the country, flat and wide and stretching to a horizon that doesn’t seem to end even by the standards of a trip that had already redefined “far” for all of us.
What It Is
A large, well-run caravan park sitting directly on the beach, roughly 250km from Port Hedland and 280km from Broome — genuinely remote, genuinely worth the run. At low tide the beach exposes a vast expanse of firm, flat sand and shallow water; we walked for the better part of an hour along the waterline one morning and saw almost no one else the entire time.
Life on the Sand
Fishing here is properly good — whiting and queenfish came up regularly for the campers around us, particularly on a running tide, though we’re better at eating fish than catching them. The scale of the place is the real draw. Sunsets stretch long and colourful across the flat horizon, and once you get away from the park lights, the night sky is remarkable — some of the best Southern Cross and Milky Way visibility of the whole trip.
If you time your visit for August through October, this stretch of coast becomes one of the country’s great migratory shorebird spectacles — hundreds of thousands of birds, some having flown over 10,000km non-stop from Arctic breeding grounds, stopping here on their way south. We were a few months early for the big numbers but even the resident birdlife kept the kids entertained for a full afternoon.
Gear Notes: What Earned Its Keep
Flat sand for an hour in each direction means sand goes everywhere, in everything, permanently — a proper sand-free microfibre towel earned its keep here more than almost anywhere else on the trip. Shake it out once and it’s actually clean, unlike the cotton towels that turned into sandpaper by day three.
With the sky doing what it does out here after dark, we skipped the string lights one night entirely and just sat out with our rechargeable lantern turned right down low, so it wouldn’t wash out the stars. A cheap pair of compact binoculars is also worth the glovebox space — for the stars, and for the shorebirds if you’re passing through in season.
Practical Info
Location: 80 Mile Beach Caravan Park, Kimberley Coast, between Broome and Port Hedland Access: 2WD Sites: ~300 powered and unpowered Facilities: Flush toilets, hot showers, pool, dump point, kiosk with basics and fuel Fires: Permitted in designated areas Nearest town: Port Hedland (250km), Broome (280km) — stock up properly before arriving Best for: Birdwatching (Aug–Oct), beach fishing, stargazing
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We came from Barn Hill Station. Next: Karijini, and gorges that reset what we thought Australian landscapes could do.