Wave Roce to the Pinnacles

April 22 -23, 2008 Amazing Sights in Western Australia
We spent quite a bit of our day traveling through incredible open farm and bush lands. We have been fortunate to have been traveling off the main roads and enjoying the scenery of what real Australia is all about. We go through many small towns, some so tiny that you might miss it if it weren’t for the ever present Hotel/pub facilities that seem to be present in every local burg. We drove a few miles on a single lane road, moving over a couple times for on-coming traffic. Fortunately the roads are pretty quiet. One morning we think we saw less than a dozen other vehicles on the road in over 100 miles of travel. We went to the town of Hyden and were very impressed with their “ROCK” It is this incredible granite formation – 50 feet tall by 350 feet long. The scientist think that the rock is somewhere in the area of 2,700 million years old. This rock simply seems to pop up out of the surrounding bush land; one doesn’t realize it is there until you are almost right upon it. One side of it looks like a wave ready to break, the coloring of rusty reds, oranges, tans and grays give it a real look of rolling motion. Wave Rock was remarkable. We walked around on and on top of this monolith for an hour or so; we found “Hippo’s Yawn” and several other interesting formations. We continued west through the Wheat Belt, We stopped for a quick afternoon break in the town of Corrigin; they have hosted the “Dogs-in-a-ute” contest. They broke the record in 2002 with 1572 utility type trucks and dogs. These utes are very popular in Australia. The $60,000 raised for entering your dog and ute went to the Royal Flying Doctors Service. To commemorate their win and the contest they have “dogs in utes” statues throughout the town and on the sign as you enter their community. Interesting place indeed.
Our next day’s travel took us back to the coast. We love the Indian Ocean, so incredible in the color and clarity. We enjoyed the mornings drive, though the country side. We stopped at a 90 year old suspension bridge over the Avon River in Northam. The Emu Downs Wind Farm was the next stop along our way; they have 48 wind turbines that generate enough power for 50,000 homes a year. These windmills were about 225 feet tall with each blade being over 100 feet long. This was an incredible instillation and appears to be quiet successful. We arrived in Cervantes and had a crayfish lunch; this area is known for their seafood. It was fun to sit by the ocean and eat lobster from a fish and chips shop. The afternoon brought us to two more incredible stops. We went to Thetis Lake and saw the Stromatolites – these rocklike formations were created by oxygen breathing organisms that developed on the limestone, 1900 million years ago. In other words they appear to be the oldest life forms known to man. They form in shallow water and are best seen near the edge of the lake. Next we went to the Pinnacle Desert. There we drove and walked through 1000’s of limestone formations. It was a very surreal area, looking somehow other world like. The pinnacles range in size from a few inches to over 10 feet in height. Their colors and shapes also vary with every turn of the head. This stop was definitely one of our “Top 10 things to see” in Australia. We continue to be in awe of this amazing experience that we are privileged to be having.