Wave Rock.......who in Australia hasn't heard of Wave Rock? A 'must see' for any who visit this part of The West. But, as I explained in my last, this was not always the case. It only gained its wide National and International status after a photograph of this extraordinary lump of granite won a New York competition.
Before we take a closer look at this natural wonder, let me regale you with another little known fact....'Wave Rock' is not a rock in its own right at all.....it is the curved face of a huge granite boulder, the 'Hyden Rock'.
This all began some 2,500 million years ago, when a mass of granite known as the Yilgarn Block covered the entire southern half of WA....underground. Fast forward to a mere 100 million years past, and the three domes of what is now Hyden Rock had been formed by underground erosion. They did not actually become exposed for another 40 million years, when the softer material around them was eroded away. Hyden Rock could now see the light of day, including the incredible wave formation on one of its faces.
I hope this map provides some perspective (there's that word again). The famous wave is but the tiny section on the northern face of this massive outcrop.
I have been unable to find an aerial photograph of the total expanse of this massive lump of granite but this shot, courtesy of the Internet (and marilynbridges. com) hopefully gives you some idea of how the wave fits into the scheme of things here. The dark streaks which are a real feature, and emphasise the curve, are black algal remains plastered on the rock's face.
So much for the background. No sooner had we set up, than we set off! I was still coming to grips with the fact that the rock was the backdrop to our park as we made our way through the camping corner
to short the pathway beyond
which soon had us standing at the eastern end of The Wave.
This was, for us, a mere sneak preview. It was latish in the day, and I was not happy with the light and the shadows across the rock face, but neither of us could stand the thought of leaving our first glimpses until the following morning.
The shadows were not the only problem. Although they don't show in this shot, there were hordes of gawking tourists strewn right along the wall, some as far up its curve as they could scramble, others posing as if surfing the wave. We decided that a very early start the following morning would hopefully overcome both problems.
It did. The shadows were gone and the only 'touro' in sight was 'she who gallops ahead with the verve of youth'.
'The Wave' is one hundred metres long and fifteen high. I took shots in the early morning light
from all possible angles and directions but still could not get it all in one frame, but this one comes pretty close. And as you can see, those who come to admire this oddity of nature, are not early risers!
At the far end of the wall, a trail leads through the casuarinas to the local dam.
The dam? How does this rate as a tourist attraction? My initial thoughts entirely, but I was proved wrong. All shall be revealed. This same trail also takes trekkers to various rambles across the top of Hyden Rock, reached by a climb up these stairs,
Before we take a closer look at this natural wonder, let me regale you with another little known fact....'Wave Rock' is not a rock in its own right at all.....it is the curved face of a huge granite boulder, the 'Hyden Rock'.
This all began some 2,500 million years ago, when a mass of granite known as the Yilgarn Block covered the entire southern half of WA....underground. Fast forward to a mere 100 million years past, and the three domes of what is now Hyden Rock had been formed by underground erosion. They did not actually become exposed for another 40 million years, when the softer material around them was eroded away. Hyden Rock could now see the light of day, including the incredible wave formation on one of its faces.
I hope this map provides some perspective (there's that word again). The famous wave is but the tiny section on the northern face of this massive outcrop.
I have been unable to find an aerial photograph of the total expanse of this massive lump of granite but this shot, courtesy of the Internet (and marilynbridges. com) hopefully gives you some idea of how the wave fits into the scheme of things here. The dark streaks which are a real feature, and emphasise the curve, are black algal remains plastered on the rock's face.
So much for the background. No sooner had we set up, than we set off! I was still coming to grips with the fact that the rock was the backdrop to our park as we made our way through the camping corner
to short the pathway beyond
which soon had us standing at the eastern end of The Wave.
This was, for us, a mere sneak preview. It was latish in the day, and I was not happy with the light and the shadows across the rock face, but neither of us could stand the thought of leaving our first glimpses until the following morning.
The shadows were not the only problem. Although they don't show in this shot, there were hordes of gawking tourists strewn right along the wall, some as far up its curve as they could scramble, others posing as if surfing the wave. We decided that a very early start the following morning would hopefully overcome both problems.
It did. The shadows were gone and the only 'touro' in sight was 'she who gallops ahead with the verve of youth'.
'The Wave' is one hundred metres long and fifteen high. I took shots in the early morning light
from all possible angles and directions but still could not get it all in one frame, but this one comes pretty close. And as you can see, those who come to admire this oddity of nature, are not early risers!
At the far end of the wall, a trail leads through the casuarinas to the local dam.
The dam? How does this rate as a tourist attraction? My initial thoughts entirely, but I was proved wrong. All shall be revealed. This same trail also takes trekkers to various rambles across the top of Hyden Rock, reached by a climb up these stairs,
followed by a haul up the granite slope where a chain hand hold has been provided for the infirm of knees, hips or legs in general,
and finally, another set of steel stairs.
A cautionary sign at the base of all this warns against inappropriate footwear. Common sense, one would think. Not so, dear readers...whilst we did not spy any high heels, we saw many in thongs and other equally inappropriate foot attire clambering their way around the heights.
And there before us was the dam, a water storage of limited capacity, but which receives that which it stores via a most ingenious system.
The previous day, when looking at the top of Hyden Rock from a distance, we had noticed what appeared to be a restraining rampart wall running around its side.
Odd, we thought. Oh well, we'll see what this is all about tomorrow. Restraining wall indeed!
This has nothing to do with restraint, safety or anything of that ilk......this is a water trap and funnelling system. Rain water pours down the granite slopes of both this and the neighbouring outcrop to be trapped at the base of the wall which has been cleverly engineered to utilise gravity to feed the water directly into the dam.
This sign in the granite shows the extend of the catchment walls around both outcrops.
During a normal rain event, these walls capture and direct about 40% of the fall into the dam. The rest soaks into the rock and pools in various low spots. When it pours, as it can do out here (as we discovered later) up to 80% of what hits the granite ends up in the dam. How wonderfully creative and simple this is.
And the system is not far from the top of The Wave.
From our vantage point here on the upper slope of the rock, you can appreciate just how close our park was. The white patches showing between the tops of the trees are the vans and other park infrastructure. Beyond that, at the right of the shot, is the silver surface of the rather grandly named Lake Magic....perhaps on some occasions, but not during our visit as you will see later.
The surface of the rock is far from smooth, and it did surprise us to learn that when wet it can be quite treacherous.
Another surprise for us was to see the amount of surface water which accumulates across the rock face, and the degree to which this apparently impervious, hard lump of granite supports vegetation, ranging from trees and shrubs
to patches of mosses and lichens.
Water stained scars and fissures can be found all across the rock surface and these rock pools help sustain more than just plant life.
This little local lizard was more than happy to pose for a photo as we wandered into his sun room. What a fine example of nature's camouflage he presented...although he is pretty distinct here, when he finally decided he had spent enough time in our company and scuttled off, he almost disappeared against the background colours of the rock.
A little further on during our meander we could see down onto the trail which leads from the corner of the park to the eastern end of the face of The Wave. Location, location!
By the time we returned to the base of the rock we were thankful for our early start....the hordes were beginning to descend. There had been something special about wandering along the face of The Wave on our own.
But now it was time to head in the opposite direction. We were off to Hippos Yawn, along a 1.5 km trail which begins at the eastern end of The Wave. Much of this took us over the rock of the base of the outcrop
whilst a few sections veered off into the nearby scrub
or ran just beyond the limit of the rock face.
In many spots the face of the rock bears the scars of it birth and extraordinary age....cracks, holes and overlapping plates of granite all speak of a tumultuous formation and a stoic weathering away ever since. This really is a venerable rock, a genuine ancient of this planet.
It was not hard to see why Hippos Yawn is so named. As to its formation, let me cut a very long scientific explanation short....in this case, the hole, a 'talfone' is believed to be the result of internal geological wear and tear when salts and crystals within the rock expanded and exerted enough pressure to break open the surface and leave the sort of hole we see here. This is an on-going process. In ????? years time, Hippos Yawn will become Hippos death as this entire rock crumbles away.
At the risk of being considered something of a Philistine, I actually found the rock formations next to The Hippo almost as interesting.....like great dollops of chocolate ice cream on a cone.
From Hippos Yawn it was back to the park for us, off through the car park which caters for the myriads of day trippers to the area
and along a very well made and maintained walking trail through the salmon gums to
the other public car park of this area, that which caters for visitors to Wave Rock itself.
One thing we must say about this entire area....the facilities provided for the visiting public are grand. Good and well cleaned toilets bocks and BBQ areas and adequate parking spaces cater for all needs. The locals do take their task here seriously and with obvious pride.
There are some other visitor attractions in this area we did not visit. The Humps and Mulka's cave, 16 kms north of Wave Rock, did not manage to exert an attraction greater than our need to watch the World Cup final, but we did take the time to check out the Wave Rock Resort, Lake Magic and some of the local tourist lures on which I shall report in my next.
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