That motel in Hyden was expensive-- \$105 a night for a room that was at best worth \$70. But Hyden is all the way on the eastern edge of settlement, four hours from Perth, and has the only motel rooms for a two hour drive around. So we didn't have much of a choice... but $105 will buy you a comfortable night's stay in a one bedroom apartment hotel in central Perth, with parking and breakfast. In Hyden, we got a chilly room and a tiny TV. The horror!
Wave Rock
It's a quick five minute drive over to Wave Rock, a 15 meter high wave in a granite rock. We got there just after 8am, a good time to visit: it was too early for the gray nomads, who were on their second cuppa in the caravan park next door, and all the rude Germans were still at the motel restaurant, no doubt berating the wait staff about their breakfast. (Last night, the Germans at the motel were obnoxious over the way the wine was uncorked. Chris does not let on that he knows every word they say when he eavesdrops on them. They think they're speaking in a secret language, no doubt.)
Wave Rock was, well, a big roundy rock, vaguely like a big ass skateboard ramp, or definitely like a warped surfing wave, with an ugly meter high concrete wall at the crest. The town had used the rock as a water catchment area some decades ago when they installed the wall, long before they realized what a tourist draw it could be. The wall is still there, and to make it even more touristy they added a golf course to the ground above the rock. Try as I might, I couldn't get the wall out of my snapshots. So it stays.
We also were glad that there was no one else there. The town had installed a self-serve parking ticket machine, charging \$6 for the pleasure of parking near Wave Rock. It was broken, so the sign insisted that you visit the kiosk down the road to get your ticket. Sigh. Which kiosk, though? There were four of them, selling, yes, tourist crap. We just said 'oh, fuck this, if the town wants to make money they should fix their machine!' After that \$105 motel room, we felt a little bit ripped off. It's just a funny shaped rock, and there are plenty of those in Australia. We skipped the Hippo's Yawn down the road. No doubt that would've been another \$6 parking fee.
Dryandra Woodland
From Hyden, we cut through some of the wheatfields towards Narrogin. Chris saw a sign that said "Buckley's Breakaway" that was down a side road, in the general direction we were going, so we drove 20km to a small section of badlands, not more than a football field in size. There were some interesting wildflowers there--as it turns out, probably the most interesting of the day. Then we drove to Narrogin, passing our first spotting of 'typical' banksia (Banksia prionotes) outside Toolibin, then a really pretty salmon gum towering over a sheep paddock.
Narrogin was a pleasant town, but the morning was cold, and after stopping at the tourist info office we drove off to Dryandra. I'd heard of Dryandra a few years ago as being a good place to see native bushland, as it was a large chunk that was never cleared. Well... that's not quite the case, as parts of the woodlands had been planted with mallet gum (Eucalyptus astringens), which has bark that's used to tan leather. But still, it appeared fairly virgin.
Dryandra has one of those radio drives, where you drive around the area and listen to tape loops of information at certain spots on your car radio, but three out of the six stations were broken. There weren't many wildflowers... some blue ones here and there, but overall not all that impressive.
Back to Perth
It's 1:00. What do we do? Chris was interested in Swan Valley wineries, so we thought about heading for York, on the far upper Swan River (which is actually called the Avon after an early explorer's mistake). But... we look... and there's no wineries there. All the wineries are in the Upper Swan, which is actually on the edge of Perth's northeastern suburbs--a 20 minute drive from the center of the city.
So we figure, hell, let's stay in Perth, and drive northwest towards Armadale, a suburb. In Wandering, we spot a Telecentre, hop on the Internet to look at last minute hotel deals at www.wotif.com, and boom, we've got a one bedroom apartment at the Qwest West End for $89 a night. Whoo hoo! In fact, we're given the same room we had two weeks earlier. Too funny.
And we drive over, park the car, collect our mail from the GPO, and settle in.
Weird Wildlife Sighting
Nothing much. Yet Another Bobtail Skink, though this one was licking the last remnants of meat off the bones of a roadkill kangaroo. Kinda gross, but interesting.
Oh, and in the plant life category, about 45km southeast of Armadale on the Albany Highway there's feral
lavender growing in the roadside drainage ditches. I've never seen lavender become a weed before.
Interesting.
Where we stayed
- Quest West End Apartment Hotel, Perth $91
- One bedroom apartment. Same room as before!
- Yay! I love this hotel.