Hyden to Esperance

 Thursday 2 June, 2022

We were off to a bright and early start today, driving 4 km down the road to Wave Rock. It was a bit drizzly at first but the sky cleared and we were able to enjoy a great walk along the side of this huge rock, from the Wave to the Hippo’s Yawn. The granite rock was very reminiscent of Uluṟu. It was formed about 125 million years ago and has been exposed for 60 million years.

After a coffee stop back in Hyden we set off on a considerable detour to see the 15 km Tin Horse Highway which stretches east from Kulin. There were dozens of horses made from old drums, bits of farm machinery and even an aeroplane. Some were very clever with witty titles like the tennis playing “fillypoosis”, or “Ben Horse - A Charlton Horston epic.”

Our trek back to the main Highway took us along about 100 km of almost perfectly straight road, ending with a crossing of the marshy and salty Lake King. We saw some painted silos as we entered Ravensthorpe. After a quick coffee and loo stop we continued on to Esperance. Out to out right we could see the “cloud of doom”, the biggest, blackest, most threatening storm clouds I have ever seen. Fortunately it didn’t come after us and we only had a few minutes of rain near the end of our 530 km journey.

We arrived in Esperance after dark so haven’t really seen anything yet but we did walk from our cabin to the pub in town for a very satisfying meal, and now we’re watching the Trooping of the Colour for the Queen’s Jubilee.