Saturday Sept 13th – Sunday Sept 14th, 2025
We left our deluxe accommodations in Kalgoorie and went back to one of the bakeries we had previously gotten lunch in to get something for a picnic lunch along the road on our way to our final stop. The landscape in this part of Western Australia is so completely different as mentioned before. There are no large trees or rolling green hills it is all flat scrub brush and very dry. Due to the dryness there are no herds of cattle or sheep and no crops along this route. The one consistent is the giant water pipeline that runs along side the road bringing water from Perth to this area of the state.
Australia is broken up into 6 states and we are in the largest state of Western Australia. Sydney is in New South Wales and Cairns is in Queensland. Before this trip the farthest west we have been is Melbourne which is in the state of Victoria.
Most of the roadways from town to town are 2 lane highways with frequent passing zones. You see a lot of RVs on the road and a lot of big trucks but not much else. Definitely little traffic.
We stopped for a picnic lunch at 12:30 and watched some local cops set up a road block in the street to stop cars in both directions to do quick breathalyzer tests on drivers. I thought it was strange for 12:30 on a Saturday.
We arrived in Hyden around 3:30 and checked into our accommodations. Our accommodations were inside the national park and had 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, a full kitchen and a great screened in outdoor area with a large table and a grill.
Our accommodations with fake grass in front.
This area has tons of salt flats and ponds.
After checking into the resort we went to Mulka’s cave which has a very convoluted story about its name none of which is true but involves a boy resulting from an unacceptable union that was outcast, resorting to eating children (since he was born cross eyed & couldn’t aim a hunting spear), and murdering his mother. The cave is known for hand prints on the walls and ceiling that are supposedly from 100s of years ago that are attributed to aboriginal art.
The entrance to the cave. You do have to duck to get into the cave but then you can stand up.
Kathy inside the cave looking at the handprints that look like stencil art.
You can see the handprints at the top of the picture (not sure they are original).
After visiting the cave we headed to the main attraction of the area, Western Australia’s answer to Uluru rock, Wave Rock.
It was late in the afternoon so not many people there. The rock is almost 100 feet high and 360 feet long. It is just one side of the 247 acre rock formation right outside of town. You are allowed to walk up to the top of the rock and walk all around the top surface.
Even though the name implies ocean no water was involved in the formation. The shape of the wave is formed by gradual erosion of the softer rock beneath the upper edge over many centuries. The colors of the waves are caused by rain washing chemical deposits down the face, forming vertical stripes. The color changes depending on the light of the day. The rock is believed to be 2700 million years old.
Merv, Michelle and Kathy walking on top of the rock (trying to find a short cut to the parking lot) and Kathy taking shelter under one of the rocks up top. The view up top is very nice but just flat scrub land and salt ponds.
After walking around the rock for a bit, the sun was setting so we headed back to our accommodations for a quick refresh prior to dinner at 6:30.
We had dinner with Michelle’s sister-in-law Carol at a local hotel that also has a pub and restaurant attached to it. There are not many places to stay in Hyden and this was one of the nicest and also accommodated bus tours that come to the area to see Wave Rock. Dinner was a buffet style to accommodate the tours.
After dinner, back to our place and we watched some of the Tokyo world track and field championships on TV.
Sunday – Our plan was to be up and out by 9:30 am to give us a chance to go back to Wave Rock (morning light) and then make the 5 hour trip back home. Unfortunately rain had come in during the night and it had gotten quite cold and windy. Rain stopped around nine so we did go back to Wave Rock but we were unable to take the walk we wanted to take because the rain had done some flooding and the trail was underwater in several places.
We did a few selfies and after 45 minutes we headed out.
On our way out of town they had a historical display of the history of the town done in junk metal. It was quite cute.
Everything had a sign explaining the significance.
The first part of the road the same flat landscape and we had intermittent rain and high winds. There are not many towns on the ride back and the few we passed are very small with no place to eat, especially since it was Sunday.
After a little bit we started to get back into the agricultural fields and one of the biggest crops is canola which they harvest for the oil. Canola is planted in late autumn/early winter and can be harvested in early spring which we are in now. The canola plant gets a bright yellow flower on it and with acres and acres of the crop, all flowering at the same time, it can be seen from space.
The canola is harvested and crushed for the oil. Western Australia produces over 2,000 tons of canola oil. The largest producer is Canada but canola oil in Australia adds 1.2 billion dollars to the states capital income every year. It really is spectacular to see giant fields of the bright yellow flower especially when the sun is shining on it.
We had lunch in a nice road side diner, called the wool shed, which reminded us of Cracker Barrel.
We were very happy when we got back into the forested landscape with all the green hills and sheep and cows and fields of kangaroos. We stopped by the grocery store to pick up a light dinner since we have been eating some very heavy meals the last 10 days.
The last part of the trip was on a new highway that was finished in December and they pointed out to us the possum nets over the highway that the government put in place in several spots so the endangered possum can safely cross the road.
I took this picture off the internet since we could not stop to get a photo. We explained to them that we have turtle tunnels under the roads to help the turtles lay their eggs.
We made it back to the farm by 4pm after traveling 1800 miles in 10 days. We saw parts of Australia we never would have seen and love how Merv & Michelle planned the whole trip to see as much as we could and things we never would have seen on our own. We are also very appreciative to Merv who did all the driving and several of the days were in rainy/windy conditions.
We now have 6 days to do laundry, another family get together, some more sight seeing and visiting some of the open art studios that welcomes visitors for 2 weeks in mid-September prior to leaving for Bali on the 21st.