The Rock ... Wave Rock!

Christmas was hardly done with and we were packed and ready to go again!
On the 27th December we set off for an overnight visit to Wave Rock in Hyden, 340km east of Perth.
Travelling via the Brookton highway, in what is known as the Wheatbelt area, we made a couple of coffee stops before arriving in the town of Corrigin.

CORRIGIN:

Unique to Corrigin is the Dog Cemetery which was established in 1974 as a tribute to Man's best friend. Marked by a giant dog statue, the cemetery is the final resting place for over 200 beloved pets.

Corrigin Dog Cemetery

HYDEN & WAVE ROCK: 

It was late afternoon when we arrived in Hyden (110km from Corrigin), checked in at the Caravan park and were then directed to our cottage across the road in the "Wave Rock Resort". The resort consists of 14 two bedroom cottages situated on the surrounds of Lake Magic.
After unpacking we were just in time to head to the lake just behind our cottage and watch the spectacular sunset.
Then it was time to start the barbecue and have dinner.

L to R: Some of the Resort houses, Sunset at Lake Magic, the view of Lake Magic from the enclosed outdoor area, sunset.

The following day after breakfast we packed our car again, and headed to the big rock which is just behind the Caravan park.
Wave Rock is a natural rock formation shaped like an ocean wave. It is 14mt high and 110mt long, forming to the north of a hill known as Hyden Rock.

In 1964 Wave Rock attracted international attention when a photograph was published in a New York newspaper. It later got printed in National Geographic and the rest is history!
The sleepy village that an Australian newspaper back in 1999 implied that was expected to die -"the bank opens once a week, no police or high school" -  is very much alive nowadays and living off the tourism industry thanks to it's enterprising locals.

Wave Rock - from L to R: my brother in law, husband, daughter and son in law

We walked all the way to the end of the wave and at the back there is a staircase next to the dam that supplies water to the town of Hyden and we climbed to the top of the wave.

We walked the whole length coming across other interesting rock formations and descended on the opposite side where we joined a walking trail to Hippo's Yawn.

My daughter and I next to an interesting rock

On top of Wave Rock

HIPPO'S YAWN: 

A short walk away was Hippo's Yawn, another interesting rock. We again sat under it and took some photos. It does look a hippo open mouth doesn't it?

Hippo's Yawn

We walked back to the car parked near the Caravan park, and drove to another rock formation 18km away.

MULKA'S CAVE:

Not as well known as Wave Rock, this granite rock is filled with ancient Aboriginal cave paintings - around 450 drawings of mainly hands and depictions of animals caught for food.

This Aboriginal art is thought to be around 3.000 years old, or some sources say over 30.000!!  There's also an Aboriginal legend attached to this cave, a gruesome one!

We then returned to the area across the camping place to go and visit the Wildlife Park.

Sadly, we were very disappointed with this visit, as the only animals we saw were 3 or 4 kangaroos, a koala, a camel and lots of birds. It is a private park and I know they need the entry money to care for the animals, but either the animals were hiding or they just weren't there. It all looked very desolate and rundown and my husband and son in law actually walked out before they even went around the whole park!

So I won't even post photos here.

On our way out of the town of Hyden we stopped to buy water for our trip and while my husband went into the shop I crossed the road to photograp the dozens of interesting tin sculptures that depict the history of the town - stories of the first residents and their names - Russ and his bus, John Hyde and his horses, the first Italians - Carolina and Marco, etc, etc.

All these pioneers helped make Hyden survive and thrive.

And what a nice way to honour those first residents!

Hyden's first residents are honoured with tin statues that tell their stories

And it was time to return to Perth - but on the way back we made a little detour so that I could see the Tin Horse Highway in Kulin.

KULIN: 

What started as a campaign to promote the annual Kulin Bush Races (horse races) held in October every year, has become a fun self-drive alternative route to Wave Rock with lots of quirky and bright tin creations along the road.

The road and the art goes on for many kilometres, but after stopping for about 15 pictures my husband thought it was time to get back on our way...

Still I managed to get a good selection of what makes Kulin famous!

Some of the quirky statues on the Tin Horse highway in Kulin

What do you think?  Could your little town do with some creative road side art to attract tourists?

I leave you with two YMoutube videos about Kulin and it's surrounds and how the Tin Horse highway came about. The first one is quite good with a catchy song.

Enjoy!

27 Dec 2016