Perth to Wave Rock to Perth

October 9 to October 16

Geordie Bay, Rottnest Island

Monday morning we had an early start to meet with the ferry from Perth City, out through the Swan River past all the mega-rich mansions, and on to Rottnest Island. Once on the Island we did the guided bus tour, which not only gets you around the whole island (about 22km) easily, but the commentary gives a better overview of the sites and history of Rottnest.

Aside from being a fantastic and picturesque holiday island today, it was the first salt mine in WA (in the early 1830’s), a “boys reformatory”, and for nearly one hundred years was an aboriginal prison. Although we had cool temperature, the wind was unusually gentle and the sun was out, so it was a great day to visit.

A Rottnest local, the Quokka, not Leah

Tuesday we planned to leave our caravan park near Perth City and visit the Avon Valley, about 100km east of Perth. About 9am Leah was just returning to the motorhome when she slipped on the shade cloth that the caravan park has laid on the ground (where the annex goes). Putting her left hand out to break her fall, she broke her wrist. A quick trip in an ambulance (photo for you, CJ), and a few hours at Midlands Hospital, we had Leah in a cast and needing to see an Orthopaedic Specialist to assess the damage. The break can’t be assessed until the swelling recedes, so we have an appointment to see a specialist in Royal Perth Hospital next week. We will fill you in on the details in our next blog post. Hats off to the Western Australian public hospital system, Leah had fast and attentive treatment from both the paramedics and the hospital.

Leah being well looked after

Fortunately we had no firm plans for the near term, so we decided to still visit the Avon Valley area, and extend the eastern trip so we could return to Perth next Wednesday. Monday night we stayed in Wundowie, around 60km from Perth, at a Member Stop Over (CMCA member’s property where they welcome fellow motorhomes to park on their property). We were met by Ron and Kerry, who were very sympathetic to Leah’s predicament, and had cooked fresh scones for us. This was way above and beyond the host requirements but much appreciated under the circumstances.

Wednesday we travelled to Northam, the start point of the Avon Decent, a well-known river race each August (subject to river flow) where everything from kayaks to speed boats tackle the rapids of the Avon River for 130km towards Perth. After encountering very few RV Friendly Towns in WA, the Avon Valley (and further east in the Wheat Belt) have gone out of their way to be RV friendly and attract the touring market.

No words can describe the spectacle of Wave Rock

We drove to York to stay at their free overnight parking area, right on the Avon River in town. They even offer free power for four lucky campers, and we scored the forth! We reciprocated by doing a shop in their IGA and filling up our fuel before departing on Thursday.

One of our tourist brochures recommended a tourist loop drive to visit Wave Rock, a well photographed granite formation deep in the Wheat Belt. We had planned to visit from the south as we left WA, but decided to do the 600km loop drive as we had time to burn waiting for the doctor’s appointment. The loop drive takes you via many of the sights in the region and through numerous small, friendly farming towns.

Hippo's Yawn rock formation

Thursday was the first hot day for this region, 35⁰C, but low humidity, so it was a nice change from the cold. We visited a couple of very large monolith granite rocks in the region, which range from the third largest in Australia (behind the obvious largest, Uluru). Many of the rocks aren’t fully exposed like Uluru, with much of the rock hidden underground. Narembeen has a well presented Grain Discovery Centre, mapping the history of grain farming (wheat, oats, barley, etc.) in the wheat belt. We stopped overnight in Narembeen, the shire offering unpowered sites at their caravan park at no cost.

Wave Rock from the top, note the water diversion system

Friday was a short 85km drive to Hyden (pronounced eye-den) and to Hyden Rock, home of the amazing Wave Rock formation. It doesn’t matter how many photos you have seen, this rock will still have you in awe. We were recommended to visit outside of weekends, and we had no trouble getting photos without anyone else there. The whole Hyden Rock, including Hippo’s Yawn and other cool rock features, was a great morning’s visit, with plenty of walking tracks around and over the rocks. Hyden Rock has a reservoir “hollow” which was once the fresh water collection and storage for the surrounding area. You can see the water diversion system on top of Wave Rock in some photos. The Wave Rock formation wasn’t even known outside of the locals until a photographer won an international photo competition in the 1960’s.

Tin Horse Highway leading to Kulin

We visited another rock feature about 20km away, The Humps, and Mulka’s Cave, housing hundreds of Aboriginal rock paintings, mainly hand prints. From there we drove via the Tin Horse Highway to Kulin. This started as another local tourism idea, originally to advertise the Kulin annual horse race, farmers have erected fun and inventive sculptures featuring horse likenesses in interesting poses. The sculptures now cover some 20km leading into the town.

Kulin have a terrific free overnight parking area just off the main street, and the pub has a pizza night every Friday night, we couldn’t have planned it better!

Gorge Rock with swimming pool, look closely,
Leah is down there somewhere

Saturday weather was close to awful, 17⁰C max, 40-50km/h winds and showers. We still managed to visited the Motor Museum in town, receiving a guided tour from the elderly local who set it up, and walked the Macro Carpa wildflower reserve (yep, more wildflowers). We decided to stay Saturday night in Kulin as the locals were friendly, the camping area is quiet and the weather certainly wasn’t ideal for driving.

Sunday’s weather was far better (but still only 17⁰C max) so we head back through the wheat belt towards the Avon Valley. We visited our last large rock, Gorge Rock, which was the local swimming pool and recreational area (public hall, footy field) for the Corrigin and Kulin region from the 1920’s.

We arrived back in the Avon Valley and stopped at another RV Friendly Town, Beverley.