Wave Rocking

It was the Queen’s Birthday long weekend recently and a great opportunity to escape the city for a few days. The destination: Wave Rock near Hyden.

Hyden is a small farming community in the wheat belt area about 300 km south-east of Perth that also benefits from the tourism of Wave Rock. There is more than one way to get there and we chose a different route for each direction of the journey to maximise sight-seeing of the area. On the way there we drove via York, Quairading, Bruce Rock, and Narambeen. It was really beautiful driving through the bushland reserve area of the Perth Hills and into the open farmlands. It is wildflower season and everything is green and lush with all the rain we have had. There are multiple rock formations in the wheat belt area and our first stop was Kokerbin Rock 40 km west of the town of Bruce Rock.

Kokerbin Rock is the third largest granite monolith in Australia with Uluru being the largest. Many of these rock formations have special significance for the Nyoongar people, the Aboriginal community of South West Australia. Many are also surrounded by preserved bushland and some have picnic and camping facilities. At Kokerbin it is possible to clamber up to the top of the rock and enjoy views out over the farmlands. It would be easy to think that these large rocks would be of a standard uniform shape and be all smooth with round edges. They are actually all very different and have many features that distinguish them apart. They can also have valleys and cracks in them and we were surprised to see so much vegetation growing on them in patches from mosses and small plants to large trees. Kokerbin Rock was a great rest stop in our journey and we loved being the only two people exploring the top of this massive rock.

Views over the farm lands from Kokerbin Rock

Boibs at Kokerbin Rock

From Kokerbin Rock we continued on to Hyden with the last stop of the day being the Rabbit Proof Fence. This State Barrier Fence was constructed between 1901 and 1907 in a desperate attempt to keep rabbits and other agricultural pests from the east spreading to Western Australia. There are 3 fences in different areas stretching over 3256 km. Gate 54 of the north to south No. 1 Fence is 50 km from Hyden so we stopped off to see it on the way into town. We’re not sure how effective the fence was but it was interesting to see it all the same.

The Number 1 Rabbit Proof Fence

Hyden is a real sleepy hollow and there wasn’t much happening or open over the long weekend apart from a music festival at the Wave Rock Caravan Park right next to Wave Rock. The festival goers seemed to stick to the camp site though so we hardly noticed it at all. However, we did get up early on Sunday morning to beat the no doubt hungover festival goers to the rock and mostly succeeded.

Wave rock forms the north side of the granite hill of Hyden Rock. The wave is 15 m high and 110 m long. Its wave-like shape is caused by weathering and water erosion resulting in an undercut base and a rounded overhang. The colourful stripes are a result of water dripping over the rock dissolving the minerals. We enjoyed a lovely fresh morning ‘surfing’ the wave, walking over the top of Hyden Rock and to nearby Hippo’s Yawn, and a 3km loop to the salt water Magic Lake. We returned at the end of the day for sunset at the top of the rock and definitely stood out amongst the festival goers. Apparently an animal pattern onesie is the current festival must-have item.

Wave Rock!

Justin surfing Wave Rock

Some of the gulleys and vegetation on top of Hyden Rock

An interesting boulder on top of Hyden Rock

Walking around the side of the rock

Cracked granite

Hippo's Yawn

Walking loop to the salt water Lake Magic

From Wave Rock we continued to The Humps and Mulka’s Cave, another rock formation in the area. The Humps is another granite rocky outcrop about 15 km from Wave Rock and Mulka’s Cave is at the base of the rock. The cave takes its name from the Aboriginal legend associated with it and is a protected area for the Aboriginal hand stencil paintings present in the cave. We enjoyed a long walk clambering up and over the rock, admiring the views and the large interesting boulders strewn over the top of the rock. The Humps was probably our favourite rock of the weekend.

Views from The Humps

Interesting boulders on top of The Humps

Aboriginal hand paintings in Mulka's Cave

View from Wave Rock at sunset with The Humps in the background

In the afternoon we spent some time admiring the Hyden Metal Street Art. The figures are creatively and cleverly made from scrap farm metal and tell the story of the town’s history from being traditional Aboriginal land, to the arrival of loggers, to the start of farming, the mechanisation and electrification of the town, and diversifying into tourism. It’s a very clever and creative display and we enjoyed perusing it.

Hyden Metal Street Art

Pot plants at the Hyden Motel

Monday was a public holiday and time to head back to Perth. We drove back a different route via Kondinin (small but proud), Kulin, Corrigin, Brookton and Armadale. Before Kulin we made a small detour to Buckley’s Breakaway, an interesting landform where white cliffs and gullies have been formed from the underlying clay by erosion of the top layer of orange laterite. Definitely worth a stop!

Buckley's Breakaway

From Buckley’s Breakaway we continued on to Kulin and the highlight of the area: The Tin Horse Highway. This clever community art project is a display of tin horses of all shapes and sizes made from scrap farm metal to highlight the Bush Races weekend every spring. Some of the horses are really creative and we enjoyed some good laughs on the 20 km stretch. A must see in the area. The rest of the trip was filled with rolling fields full of yellow wildflowers (and the occasional field of canola) as if straight from a postcard, so beautiful.

Some of our favourites from the Tin Horse Highway at Kulin

All in all it was a great long weekend away and a refreshing break from the city.

It was also a big weekend on the family front with Daniella’s first birthday on Saturday, Bron’s brother Craig’s birthday on Sunday, and young Joshua’s first day of nursery school on Monday!

Until next time xxx