Location: Corrigin to Hyden

Region: Wheatbelt

Dates: 28 August – 29 August 2023

Temperature: 4-27 degrees

Our plan while in WA for the next 5-6 months; with Louise kindly offering her house as as our base in Perth, is to explore the bottom half of the state by taking 1- 3 week trips away at a time. If you think of it like a daisy with Perth the centre, our loops will be like the petals. Due to our delay in leaving the East Coast it will be too hot to travel the far North this year so we will save that for next year.

We have my daughter Carly arriving on Saturday night on a short three day stay as she heads to Singapore so we decided to take a short trip and on Monday 28th August we head East from Perth towards Brookton then Corrigin where we will stay two nights, leaving the van and just taking the car the extra distance to Wave Rock, a total of 330 kms from Perth.

The drive out is filled with lots of green and gold pasture all the way from Brookton to Corrigin which surprises Rob and I; thinking it would be sparse and dry, but this region is known as the Wheatbelt and covers a vast area both West and South from Perth. It’s beautiful country.

We camp for the night at free camp in the centre of town. Nice and flat, quiet with public toilets nearby that are well maintained with soap and paper towel. It’s surprising how important well maintained facilities become when you travel like this!

On Tuesday we head out for Wave Rock, leaving the van at Corrigin. We can stay a max 72hours.

We pass through Kondinin, then stop at Kalgarin to admire some artwork and check out some wildflowers before heading on to and Hyden and Wave Rock.

Wave Rock is a now a chargeable experience for visitors and the park includes a cafe.

The rock is a short stroll from the car park and there is a bush tucker walk on the way. The face of the rock presents itself around a curve and it is a breathtaking sight. It’s darker than I thought it would be and the colours and sheer size of the curve are extraordinary to say the least. Rob and I goof around trying to sit on the curve and he tries to Surf it!

We walk up the rock and across the top taking in the catchment and views. It has been quite interesting to discover so many outback areas originally used these large rocks to catch and contain water and many are still in use along with other newer systems. Wave rock still has many areas of the low walls originally built around it in evidence of this practice.

As we walk we see a Sandalwood tree which is rare as these were nearly all collected out of existence in this area due to their export value to Asian counties for joss sticks (incense). We also see lichens and a few wild flower growing in Gnamma holes on the top face of the rock.

We continue walking, making our way down and then across to take in Hippo Yawn and then further on to the salt lake which is near the resort.

We finish our walk around the park taking in the wildlife and as we go read about Mulka’s cave nearby. The cave has a very interesting story about Mulka which I will leave for you to discover if you visit and is thought to be one of the most prodigious examples of Aboriginal Art with over 200 hand prints in the cave. Worth a visit.

Wildflowers and the Granite Way tomorrow..

Love to all, stay safe and practice kindness. xx