Well, I've done a lot more than just Wave Rock (there is no "the" in the name) over the past couple of days. Part of my quest is to find a geocache in every local government area (LGA) in Australia, and there are many small LGAs in the southwest corner. This means I have ended up, and will continue to end up, in some very off-the-beaten-track places. Yesterday I found myself in Merredin, three hours east of Perth. I opted to take a roundabout route to Wave Rock so I could fill in a couple more LGAs. It was getting late in the day and was told that many people who work in Merredin live in Narembeen. Surely enough, I was picked up by a guy driving there. I was probably only one lift away from Hyden, where Wave Rock is located, but I decided to call it a day in Narembeen. After pitching my tent, it was time for some pub grub and a glass of wine. All but the smallest country towns will have a pub, but you must order early (or call ahead to see what time their kitchen closes) as I've learned the hard way a few times. As I feasted on a chicken "parmy" with chips, someone recognized me from Airlie Beach! A couple glasses of sauvignon blanc would round out an adventurous day. Last night was very warm with no wind and no chance of rain, so I didn't even bother putting up my rain fly. I just love these country towns...
This morning I was up early after not sleeping particularly well last night. My plan was to stock up on some food and instant coffee to make whilst camping but I've decided I'm getting takeaway coffee in the morning and eating at the pub in the evening. On this scorcher of a day, I make my way to Wave Rock via Kondidin. The rock is amazing!
At 15 metres high and more than 100 metres long, Wave Rock is known as Katter Kich to the Noongar people, and is part of the much larger Hyden Rock. Crystals from Hyden Rock are said to be some of the oldest in Australia at 2.7 billion years old! It looks like you could easily take a surfboard to it, but a few people have skateboarded on it (a practice that I wouldn't encourage or approve of). After waving my arms with glee, I did the Hippo's Yawn walk, and the rock couldn't have a more fitting name...
Whilst I was thinking of camping here at Wave Rock, the cafe isn't open and I didn't bring any food with me. After more than two hours at Wave Rock I made my way back to Hyden. Even though it was nearly 40 degrees with loads of flies, current COVID-19 restrictions aren't allowing the dining room at the bakery to be open; my only option was to sit outside. I wanted to charge my phone, but they were nice enough at the library to allow me to sit for awhile. Some interesting metal sculptures exist here in Hyden.
Much like over east, GoogleMaps in the west is inundated with railway stations that haven't existed for many years. Standing outside in the fly-blown heat, a truckie heading back to Perth would pick me up. We did a brief stop at Corrigin for a geocache and a photo, and I had him drop me at Brookton.
As I looked at my map, and my goal for the day was to be a wanderer in Wandering. The food at the tavern is supposed to be delicious. I made it as far as Pingelly where I tried to hitch to Wandering, but daylight ran out on me, and I went to the local pub. You really feel like you're about a million miles from Perth when you're in these small country towns. If I waited a couple of months or so, the fire would be roaring. Fish and chips would be my pub grub this evening, and I'd play pool and chat with a bloke named Aaron. One of the coolest things about travelling round Australia is chatting to locals at these country pubs. The barmaid allowed me to pitch my tent behind the pub but Aaron invited me to crash out on his verandah. With a few beers on this lovely evening, we chatted the night away as I felt very peaceful.
What an adventure it's been these past couple of days as I've seen Wave Rock, dealt with extreme heat and flies, feasted on some delicious pub food, seen some interesting country towns, and met some wonderful people. I'm sleeping contently tonight as I'm looking forward to even more adventure.
