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Enanty Barn Mingenew

We seem to have been inadvertently looking for quirky camping spots to stay for a day or two at a time, so that we can enjoy the peace and quiet, while going for walks through bush land and townships.

Deciding to weave our way around the midwest and reading reviews on Wikicamps and Camps Australia, we decided upon Enanty Barn, just outside of Mingenew. We filled up the van with water at Morawa after our stop at Canna, and travelled on to the Barn.

You can stay there for one night only, and be self sufficient, as there are no facilities. We thought it would be off the road further, maybe in a paddock, with more room around it for travellers to stay, but alas, it was right on the roadside.

However, we were the only ones who stopped there, apart from a motorhome who pulled up either for a brew, or just to see the barn.

It was built around the late 1800s, out of stone, rendered with plaster. The building is still intact, albeit some of the walls have seen better days. It has a new corrugated iron roof, and obviously is being cared for, possibly by a volunteer group.

There are only three rooms to the barn. One large one, taking up half the space is for the animals, though it wouldn’t hold many. Maybe calves or sheep to rest on cold wintery nights. 

The second largest room would have been the kitchen, a family room, dining room all in one. It has a hearth, at the moment covered with dirt and sand that has blown in, with a place cut out of the bricks to light a fire and place pots on a rack on top to cook the meals. The floor was the same as the barn, dirt and sand combined. 

On the walls in the barn and the utility room, there were framed photographs showing what daily life was about. Not for the faint hearted. The last room, was behind the kitchen, and accessed from outside. This room has a wooden floor still intact, but near the open doorway, the ends are decaying, due to the exposure of the weather.

It’s one of those tourist spots, not well advertised, but on several traveller’s apps. It’s on the main Morawa-Mingenew road, but it’s signposted and well worth the visit to see how the history of the area evolved.

Unfortunately, some farmers in the area haven’t embraced the idea of direct-drill seeding, as some of the early hopefuls are in the paddocks already. The oldies it seems still believe in setting fire to the stubble left from last year’s crop, therefore all the surround areas have to put up with smoke drifting here and there throughout the region.  

Apart from the double and triple road trains passing about every half hour, the sunset was magnificent. Dark reds and orange on a clouded sky added drama to the landscape. 

We sure do have fantastic sunsets, and sunrises, in the west, whether it’s on the coast, slightly inland in the farming community, or deep in the centre.

Get out here and take a look. If you’ve done it, tell us about your travels and suggestions.

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