Day 7 – Wave Rock and Perth

Wave Rock

Wave Rock did not disappoint. It is a stunning geological feature. What was nice is that we could get close and personal as well as take photos without hordes of other people like us trying to take photos without others in them. There were a number of walks that we could take, and we elected (or should I say I elected) to climb onto the rock and look over the countryside. I was glad we did because the wave is just part of wide rock formation that was rather entrancing. We could see out to a wetland and lake nearby, one of the waterbodies is very salty and one is encouraged to bathe in it. However, I suspect that is more likely to be a summer activity, not when it is 15°C like it was when we were there.

After clambering over the rocks we walked to another feature which is called the Hippo’s Yawn. It is a very cute feature of the rocks and looked very much like a hippo yawning.

Hippos yawn

We spent around two hours enjoying it and then it must have warmed up a bit as the flies then started appearing. Coincidentally it was time for us to leave and head back to Perth to drop off the Beast.

We called into the local bakery where Bev got us one of the best coffees we had during our travels. There was 359 kilometres to travel to our destination.

The road selected by the GPS took through a couple of little villages which all had the abandoned to flies feel about them. Most were very tidy, nonetheless. The terrain continued to undulate with wheatfields after wheatfields. Occasionally there would be a flock of sheep in a field. Remarkably this was less boring than a drive I did from Adelaide to Coonawarra which was flat and straight with us all begging for a corner to break the monotony. We stopped at a quiet town called Brookton for our lunch in a park outside the old railway station which the townspeople were attempting to save.

We came off an escarpment which makes up the Perth Hills. They are covered in eucalyptus forest with lots of housing in them. I would not like to live there if a fire came through. I was told later that quite a number of people have lost their homes due to fires in the past.

Our new accommodation was in South Perth in an apartment hotel complex. We found it quite easily and dropped our bags off before taking the Beast back to the rental car agency, but not before I went searching for fuel to fill up the vehicle.

It was a good car to drive in although it had a number of quirks and I never did figure out the adaptive cruise control despite reading the manual several times. Otherwise it drove well and was very comfortable and reasonably quiet on the roads. I was surprised at its fuel efficiency given its size, getting around 6.4 l/100k. A good part of that time I was doing around 110kph.

The Beast aka Mercedes GLB

We walked back to Elizabeth Quay after having got some food for our meal that night. We stopped in at a bar on the windy waterfront and had a drink enjoying the comings and goings of the ferry before we then headed back to our apartment on the ferry. It was an eight minute trip across the Swan Water. I found out that it is very shallow only about half a metre with a dredged channel of 2 metres to which the ferry must adhere. If the ferry veers off that channel it is stranded.