Wave Rock

Trip Start Jun 15, 2008

Trip End Jun 15, 2009

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Flag of Australia Hyden, Western Australia, Australia
Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Our third and final excursion from Perth would be to "Wave Rock" where there is a rock that looks like ...... A WAVE(Surprise surprise). We had spotted it in a day trip pamphlet we had picked up in one of the travel agencies in Perth and decided it looked pretty cool. It is near a small town about 400km from Perth called Hyden.

Instead of booking onto a tour bus we decided to rent a car and drive it. The plan was to drive there on a Saturday, have a look around, stay the night and drive back on the Sunday. Easy, Except a last minute invitation to Caroline's Christmas party put a proverbial spanner in the works. The party was on the Saturday night, the Saturday night we were supposed to be spending in Hyden. This now meant if we were to make it to Wave Rock it would require us completing a 800Km round journey while nursing a hangover.

Caroline and Dame Edna

Now I'm all up for a challenge and everything, but, I'm also Irish and the thought of any road journey over 400Km(Roughly Westport to Dublin) and my brain starts to short circuit.

"We'll be hungover" I tell Caroline, "but we'll leave the party early and drink lots of water before we go to bed" She Says. I could tell arguing with her was going to be pointless so it was decided we would get up at 8am and head off.

The party was a real blast and even though some of Caroline's work colleagues questioned our judgment on making the long (and pointless trip in their eyes) to see a rock we were definitely glad we went to the party. Dame Edna even showed up for the night!

But that was the Saturday night, the wine was flowing and spirits were high. On Sunday morning we woke with heavy heads and even heavier hangovers. No time for self pity, a quick shower and we were out the door.

20km's into the trip and I'm thinking what have we let our selves in for

ME and Dame Edna

. Barely two words were spoken between us and we both felt like someone was banging a drum in our head. I decided drastic action was needed to get this trip back on track, so I pulled into McDonald's(Or "MACCAS as they call it here) and ordered two Big Mac meals. Wouldn't you know it, the food did the trick and we both felt ready for the journey ahead.

I would like to say the journey there was breath taking, with amazing scenery and winding roads through valleys and Forrest's but that would be lying. The journey was boring and long, very long. The road was not winding, it was straight, the scenery was not breath taking and the further inland we drove the hotter it became. Even with the air con on full blast the sun would burn your arms through the window.

After 20 games of eye spy and a little game which I like to call "Spot the Roadkill" we arrived. There was a little shop with a car park behind it, from which led a path up to the rock. Stepping out from the car was like stepping into an oven as the heat just blasted you and your body struggles to catch a breath as it adjusts to the heat.

We walked up to the Rock and took a few pictures as we battled with the flies that were crawling in our ears, up our nose and into our eyes. After 4 hours driving we were finally at wave rock and unfortunately like the drive there it was a bit disappointing. We got our photos, doing the obvious "Surfer dude" pose and also got a few photos with another rock called "Hippos yawn" because it looks like a hippos open mouth and decided there was nothing left to do but turn around and go back home.

It was nice to see the rock and maybe if we hadn't been partying the night before we would have enjoyed it a bit more but for us it was not the most enjoyable trip.