Heading back inland to Wave Rock

I am not going to lie.  As beautiful as Esperance was, it wasn’t hard to leave with those neighbours beside us.  Still it did take us a good while to actually get out of the van park by the time we stopped and chatted to everyone.  As we hopped in the car I looked at the arrival time our navigator had and thought that surely can’t be right.  I mean we only had less than 400km to go but surely that wasn’t going to take us five hours to get there.  Obviously the navigator knows us too well and can now plan its trips based on our speed and how long we will stop for (not really but it was only about 10 minutes off in the end). 

Half way there we did stop to stretch our legs, fill our tummies and top up with fuel.  They had a little outdoor area with a cage with rabbits.  That certainly entertained our kids for a long time but eventually we had to get back in the car and keep going.  There were storms around but luckily we seemed to miss them all and no bushfires were started from the lightning which is definitely a bonus.  Before we knew it we were pulling into the Wave Rock Caravan Park and booked in for a night.  The lovely lady at the reception let us pick which site we wanted so we quickly picked one nicely positioned half way between the pool and playground that seem to be on relatively flat site.

So our first task was to go for a swim.  It was a lovely hot afternoon and the pool area was a welcome sight.  After a nice and relaxing swim (which isn’t really true as it is never fully relaxing with two kids hanging off you) we headed off to Wave Rock.  It was so cool to see something we had always wanted to visit and tick off our list.  The only thing I was surprised about was that it wasn’t as long as I expected.  I honestly thought that it would go for a kilometre or not (totally unrealistic I know).   It is still magical and the colours are beautiful and best of all you can climb up on top of it to take in the view of the local area. 

Hamish trying to climb up (in the wrong spot).

Trying our best surfing pose.

Check out the view at the top (well as far as the kids and I walked).

On our way back to the caravan park I saw a snake on the path in front of us.  It was fast though and was off the path before the others could see it.  We read up on the flyers of the area and found out that there were a few more things that we wanted to see so decided to book in for another night and unhitch the car.  The unhitching was easy but as we were putting down the caravan legs a pin broke on one of them, rendering it absolutely useless.  We have since found out that we were advised incorrectly on the handover as to how much to wind down the legs.  It certainly is not until you hear the van creak; it is pretty much once they touch the ground!  Hmm not so happy as that is now the second thing we have been incorrectly advised or not told.

Looking back down on the campground.

We made it - this is where we stopped and waited for Dad who explored further.

Hamish and I checking out the rock more.

Unfortunately when it came time to have showers we could not get the hot water system to stay on, instead it kept flicking to error mode.  Just brilliant, it doesn’t work on power, and now it is not going to work on gas!  Luckily we had enough hot water still for us all to have a quick shower.  I mean realistically we could have trekked over to the amenity blocks but we like the luxury of our shower and having everything right there.  It really is starting to feel like we are limping into Mandurah, but hopefully it will all be sorted out by next week.  The silly thing is the hot water did stay on later that night and then the next morning!  Temperamental might be a great way to describe it and at least we could give the service centre the heads up there are now issues with it on gas.

Still we decided to make the most of everything and have a nice BBQ dinner over at the camp kitchen area (which is probably one of the best we have come across).  We even heard from Ian and Gwen that they were thinking of coming up here the next day.  It was welcome news but we did ask that they leave the riff raff at that caravan park.  It was a great evening and we loved the smell of the rain nearby on the trees - so calming.

The next morning we headed across the road to the Wildlife Park to see the white Kangaroos.  I thought they must have been albino but the lady said that they are a rare breed from South Australia.  Before we even found the Kangaroos we discovered that there were so many other animals here and I just fell in love with the wombats who were fast asleep on their backs.  There were also koalas, camels, donkeys, millions of birds, rabbits and the list could go on and on.  For only $24 for all of us to get in it was definitely worth it as we got to pat and touch so many of them.

A white kangaroo.

The friendly camel came up and let us pat him.

The donkeys were friendly too.

After we had seen all the animals we headed back inside to enjoy the treat of a yummy morning tea.  We had certainly worked up a good appetite after all that walking around.  Finally before we left we headed into the toy soldier museum.  It was certainly interesting and there were lots of the different wars all set up but if I had my time again I wouldn’t have gone in.  Don’t get me wrong, if you are into the history then that sort of thing is brilliant, but with two little kids it was like holding a lolly out in front of them and saying they couldn’t eat it.  Mind you there was a little table with a few play things set up which did entertain them for a while, but they kept being drawn to other things like the castle set up.  Pretty sure people would know that the modern day army tank does not belong in a medieval castle!

The roof of the café was decorated with dried sunflowers.

Sleepy wombat.

Think this swan was a bit confused as he was trying to impress a statue.

From here we returned to the van for a bit of a rest before heading out to see Hippo’s Yawn and the nearby caves.  We honestly haven’t had to deal with touristy tourists for a while and I had forgotten how some people really seem to hog a photo opportunity rather than taking the photo they want and moving on.  Instead we waited patiently while they took their photo in the Hippo’s mouth and then when we got all ready for our photo they just walked on in behind!  Honestly though it isn’t anything major and if that is the worst that happens in our day we are very lucky.  The caves were another 18km drive away and whilst they were interesting it wasn’t anything we had seen before.  We were also very lucky and managed to get in and see them and get out just as a massive bus load of tourists rolled in.

Hippos yawn.

Aboriginal paintings in the cave.

The fence to the caravan park was pretty cool.

From here it was back to the pool for a refreshing dip before having some happy hour drinks with Ian and Gwen at the camp kitchen area.  Then it was a quick walk back to wave rock for one last look at it and we managed to get a photo of the kids with Ian and Gwen.  I think the kids are certainly going to miss them as even that morning at about 8am Hamish asked where they were.  Kayla also just walks in and makes herself at home inside their very nice caravan. Our hot water system again wouldn’t work.  We do joke that it isn’t a fan of night times as it did work in the morning.  This will certainly make the next few days interesting and maybe we will end up hot footing it to my sister’s place in Mandurah and hogging her shower!

Tin statues in Hyden (which is where Wave Rock is).

Hamish looks pretty impressed.

Checking out the rock one more last time with Ian and Gwen.