It's December already!!.....

 It looks as though it is not only December, but already the 4th, so I better get a newsfromjude post done. The days are going by so fast and we are more than half way through our time. 

FRIDAY Dec 1st

We left Perth on Friday morning (1st dec), and before we departed we had to say goodbye to Sarah and Glenn. Sarah took a photo of us all to remember the occasion. (She put it on her facebook page later, and it was interesting to read some of the comments. One was from my niece, who was impressed that a bunch of people that she knew, from different parts of her life, all found each other in a caravan park in WA! It really is a small world.)

We had debated several plans after leaving Perth, one to go down south and see the big trees and the treetop walk, and the other to see Wave Rock. We decided to head to Hyden and Wave Rock. There is so much more to see in the South West that we have left that area for another trip one day.

We drove up into the hills (well, Barry did!) and headed sort of east to York, where we stopped for a shop in the local IGA store.

York is the oldest inland town in WA, founded in 1831, and situated on the Avon River in the wheatbelt. It is renowned for its colonial architecture and heritage buildings. I did manage to snap a few photos as we were driving along.....

It was a lovely sunny day, and we stopped for lunch at a parking bay between Brookton and Corrigan. We made sandwiches in the van.

There is a lot of farming country, and I noticed these little stacks of straw in the paddock, and wonder about these, as I have not seen them in SA in our travels?? Might have to ask my farming brothers about them.

We arrived at Hyden sometime after 3pm and booked in for one night, with the option to stay for 2. We wanted to climb  Wave Rock, but it was 38 deg when we arrived, so opted to set up the van, and sit by the aircon and read. Hyden is rather isolated, and our only internet was the Cell Fi Go, unless we went to the Camp Kitchen and used their WiFi. There have not been many occasions when we were out of touch. 

An early night was on the agenda as the temperature was forecast to be 39 the next day so it was planned to walk the rock early in the morning.

SATURDAY Dec 2nd

We were up early and left to walk to the Rock by 6.30am!! Rather early for us these days. What an amazing Rock this is.

It's hard to see the actual colour in the photos, but you can see the sheer size of it.

A bit of information from the brochure............Wave Rock is a granite cliff, 15 metres high and 110 metres in length. Its rounded like shape has been caused by weathering and water erosion which has undercut the base and left a rounded overhang. Water from the springs running down the rock during wetter months dissolve minerals adding to the colouring of the wave.

We ventured up these stairs, and series of chains, to the top of the rock..........

....and here is the Hyden Dam, built in 1928 to supply water to the new settlers, and later connected as a town water supply. 

At the top of the rock is this stone wall, which diverts a lot of the water from the rock into the dam. It must be an amazing thing to see the water rushing down from the top of the rock in a storm.

                                                             

                                                 At the top were these stones...................

.....and this view of the surrounding area.

We had intended walking along the top of the rock following a path marked by the red markers. Well, we found a few red ones and then there were none, and we couldn't see where we were supposed to go. It was very stony to walk on at the top.............

................so we followed this wall back to the stairs and chains that we climbed up on and went back the same way we went up. We would have liked to walk to the Hippo's Yawn, another rock not far away, but by the time we did all this, it was VERY HOT and windy, and the van's airconditioning was calling.

You can see the Wave down below the wall by Barry.

This is looking from the bottom to the wall at the top.

The van was lovely and cool and we had a few tasks to do trying to sort out the problem we were having getting emails. I put a load of washing through at the laundry, did some computer jobs and picked up a book to read.

There were a few other shops nearby that would have been good to visit, and we went for a walk in the early evening to see. Of course we knew they would be shut by then, but it was quite pleasant out at that time. One was the Lace Place, which claimed to have the largest collection of lace in Australia. There are also a large number of walks through the native vegetation, but you won't find me walking too far in the heat.

That finishes off Day 23 and 24.

Be back soon with the next 2 days adventures, if I can sort out an issue I am having with uploading the photos from my phone. All this technology is great if it works isn't it??

Blessings, From Jude