Wildflower, Wheat & Granite Belt Holiday 2020

 

WA Wheat & Granite Belt Holiday 2020

With all that had happened in 2020 with Covid, by the time the end of winter had come,  we really needed a holiday.

The plan was to go north to places like Karajini National Park, Coral Bay, Exmouth, etc..

However every other holiday maker and retired grey nomad in WA had the same idea and we would watch for days on end as 1000’s of holiday makers drove north through Geraldton on the pilgrimage north.  Karajini was booked solid and reports were coming in of standing room only at coastal towns and businesses struggling to cope with the influx and lack of staff.

We don’t do crowds very well so we opted for a quieter and less travelled route to explore a different part of WA. With the timely recommendations from a couple who had travelled on the Eco Abrolhos as guests and a bit of research from ourselves, we had a great route planned – travelling East not North!

The plan was to start off travelling through the Wildflower Way, getting our fix on the winter blooms before heading further east through the Wheat Belt, past the Rabbit Proof Fence and onto the Granite Boulders before tracking SE to eventually end up at Wave Rock at Hyden.

All in all it was a fantastic trip; uncrowded, lots of interesting small towns, amazing natural landscapes & rock formations and a little over 2000 km’s travelled in total.

  First Stop was just over an hour from Geraldton at a wildflower walk called Depot Hill which is about 10 minutes’ drive from Mingenew. This walk has a huge variety of wildflowers and the bottom half had lots of everlastings, Cats Paws, Kangaroo Paws and other colourful flowers.

 

The walk also has some interesting WW2 history as the place was a special forces training area. The remnants of hand dug trenches at the top of the walk are still easily visible and make excellent spots to view the orchids. It’s the largest amount of Cow’s Lip Orchids we’ve ever seen.

On the way into Mingenew (and a compulsory stop at the Mingenew Bakery) we stopped at a paddock that had cows happily crazing right along the roadside.

From there we moved onto the town of Three Springs and made base camp there for a few days so we could explore the surrounding area. The town’s free camp area is a short walk into town, was clean and tidy and for $10 we got a key to the modern and clean amenities which we could use for up to 3 days. Bargain!!! You could even return the key for a full refund but we (along with many who stay) donated the money back to the council who manage it.

A short drive away is the Dookanooka reserve which is reported to have great wildflowers.

It’s not a place with massive fields of everlastings but if you get out of the car and look around on foot there are heaps of hidden gems and a lot of unusual orchids.  We found a lot of wildlife tracks (Echidna’s and Marsupials) and saw a few Kangaroos.

However it was the bird life that we spent the most time watching & photographing with many breeding pairs of Galahs and Black Cockatoos. 

Paul managed to do a bit of editing on a few photos too.

We drove down a side track and stopped for morning tea only to find the tree we were parked under had a massive bee hive within a fork that had hundreds of bees coming and going. Note the full pollen sacs of the ones entering the hive.

The outskirts of town had huge fields of Canola that where bright yellow in the midday sun.

In the afternoon we decided do a walk around the town and follow the historical route. There were also loads of local murals and a big pub.

The next morning we put the car into 4WD and decided to explore the 3 nearby lakes. We expected to see more birds than we did but we did see a few including Ducks, Avocets and Stilts.

We were surprised how close the fields were planted to the water’s edge and the views looking back over the Canola fields were terrific.

Further out is a working Talc mine. The mine has a great lookout made from the mine’s tailings and is a perfect spot for lunch.

We had heard of a large Harley Davidson Motorbike sculpture that a farmer had built in the corner of his paddock. It was a bit of a drive to find it but on the way we stopped to look at some amazing Canola fields lit up with the afternoon sun.

The bike was a lot larger than we expected and very cleverly built.

That night we had our first camp fire and toasted marshmallows until it got too cold to stay outside.

When it was warm enough, we packed up camp and moved on but were not sure where we would end up staying for the next night.

Next stop was the town of Carnamah and a great place for morning tea followed by an explore.

Just out of town there is a sheep farm and the sheep were right along the fence line. 

There were huge Canola fields on the opposite side.

Next we moved onto Coorow. Little did we know that this quaint little town would see Paul working there over the coming summer period as he was posted there for the CBH Harvest Season.

The town had an old Holden that had been turned into a flower bed and some great murals on the walls in the main street.

One amazing thing the town has is a community farm. This farm is a joint collaboration between the farmers and local residents with some donating land, some doing the crop planting, harvesting, carting the grain, etc…

The revenue made goes back into the community and they have made a great wildflower walk, purchased the local pub, funded many local events, etc.  It’s a fantastic system so we thought we’d go and check out the farm and walk.

Aside from the flowers, the walk had great views, a lot of unusual birds and stacks of hairy caterpillars.

To exit the walk you have to drive on a one way dirt road that goes right through the community crops. It’s great to get so close to them with crops on one side of the road and magnificent everlasting wildflowers on the other.

We pushed onto Buntine Rock and expected we would camp there. The road was tight coming in and every little side clearing had a caravan there which didn’t leave a lot of room for us.

So we parked near to top and did the walk to the peak lookout. The view was great and we found lots of orchids but it was a little to busy for us so we left and headed to Wubin.

Wubin is a tiny town with a big truck siding and the gateway to some seriously good rocks and camping areas. We had a funny little saying that was “Where the wuck is Wubin!”

Wubin Rocks camp area is huge with dozens of small little areas to camp. We found a nice little spot and camped right in the middle of the wildflowers (but not on the wildflowers...😇).

There was already a campfire pit so we made dinner and enjoyed a great fire with no one else around.

After a sleep in, a nice hot breaky and a late pack up, we had a quick look around and decided Wubin Rocks would be a place we’d like to return to on the way home and explore a little more of this fantastic area.

We drove on towards Dalwallinu but about half way there were forced to park up on the side of the road as firstly a police escort, followed by a second escort and then finally two prime movers carrying massive dragline mining buckets came past. They not only took up both lanes but also a lot of the verge as well. In all our travels, it’s the widest load we’ve ever seen on the roads.

At Dalwallinu we were able to visit the tourist info centre which helped immensely in planning the next few days. We were recommended to go and visit the Xantippe Tank walk, so that’s what we did for the afternoon.

The walk around the tank was really good with lots of orchids and even some new flowers for us. There were a few other couples there also looking for flowers but they didn’t really have an eye for orchids so we started showing a few where they were and they were very grateful. The word spread and an hour later we were still playing orchid guide and happily showing people where they were.

We climbed the rock above the tank and had a look at the long thin dam wall that had been built to channel the water down off the rock and into the tank.

There was a large Bob Tail Skink at the base of the wall.

After the walk we motored onto Petrudor Rocks and drove past the popular walk and camp area and found a large area up higher that had magnificent views for a sunset and some nice wildflowers and trees all around.  The issue was that the first place we picked, we hammered the first tent peg in and it only went in about 10cm before hitting solid rock. The next spot we found 20cm depth. Finally at the third attempt we found a patch where we could hammer all the pegs in full length. The tent was nestled into a great little place surrounded by flowering wattle trees.

We enjoyed a relaxing arvo of extended sunset drinks and Paul chasing a curious little Red Capped Robin around with the big lens. It took him over 90 minutes to get a decent shot.

That night he also did the first star trail shot for the trip with a 150 minute star photo while we curled up in bed watching a movie on what was a clear but very cold night.

In the morning we went back down to the main walk area and did a walk up around the rocks. There were heaps of orchids and great views looking down over the car park and further out to the farms and fields. There were also a few pools that with the early morning lack of wind made great reflection photos.

We left the rocks and headed further east until we got to the rabbit proof fence. On the road was a Bob Tail Skink that we had to stop for as it crossed and a dead fox that was strung up on a road sign post that we just had to stop and have a look at.

Next was the small town of Beacon. It had been a week without 240v power and clothes washing so we booked into the local caravan park for an overnight stay. The town is so small but the locals were so friendly and at the tourist info centre we met Jim who manages most things in the area and got loads of info about the local attractions – which sounded amazing.

But for the rest of the day we re-provisioned, washed, charged batteries and relaxed.

Billiburning Rocks is about 40km north of Beacon. On the way we stopped at Honeys Letter Boxes on the roadside that were quite funny. Jim had a big part in putting this fun attraction. For our 2 teddies, it was the highlight of the trip!!

The rocks are great as you could drive right around the base, camp at a few spots and walk all over the area. The rocky structures are varied and the views from the top were mostly over bushland and natural plains rather than the endless grain fields that we’d seen up until now.

There was a lot of bird life around the base both in the trees and eating the grass seed and wildflowers.

We saw heaps of striped lizards sunning themselves on the warm rocks.

We vowed to return one day and camp there for a few days as we thought the area was definitely worth a longer visit.

We returned to Beacon, packed up at the caravan park and headed further east to Beringboading Rocks.

This place, like Xantippe Tank, also had a large tank and a series of man-made walls that surrounded the rocks to channel the water into the tank.

Just around from the tank was a Gnamma Hole that had an incredible rock formation like a mini wave rock that went around it. We photographed it from every angle.

Up on top of the rock platform are huge boulders of all shapes and sizes and some that looked precariously balanced on the rocky slopes. 
The views from the top are fantastic and we could see both Billiburning Rocks and Elachbutting Rocks sticking out on the horizion.

As we were sitting at the rock cairn on the summit, a hawk flew down and sat in the tree beside us. We couldn’t believe how close it was.

On the way down we met another couple and when we told them we were heading to Elachbutting Rock for a few days, they told us about a small campsite that was right at the base of the rock and was hidden within the trees and too small a track for RV’s and caravans. This sounded perfect for us and when we arrived we searched for it and found it. Thanks goodness they had told us otherwise we would never had gone that direction as it was on the complete opposite side to the regular camp ground.

Can you spot our campsite?

We set up camp in the little clearing and had just enough time to climb up onto the rock to have a drink and watch the sunset.

Coming back down the clouds went pink and the colours at dusk got better and better.

The next day we got up early, packed a big backpack with food and water and set off on a full day hike right around and up and over the rock. It’s not quite as big as Ayer’s Rock (Uluru), but it is one of the biggest monoliths in Australia so we knew it was going to be a BIG day.

It turned out to be a huge day of about 10 hours walking.

At first there are some great rock formations around the base and even a 30m long cave called Monty’s Pass that was created from a sheared off piece of the rock.

There are lots of other caverns and a few walls that are also wave style rocks and nearly just as big.

Can you see Lisa sitting at the far end?

Up on top is massive and had everything from bare rock, many pools of water, amazing boulders and formation to areas of dense growth, bushland and even a 4wd track at the end for those not capable of walking up that distance.

Can you spot Lisa in this one?

Lisa decided during the heat of the day that one of the infinity style pools was too good not to have a swim in. She didn’t have any cossies but that didn’t matter…..

At one end there was an amazing looking valley so we stopped in the shade overlooking it to have a drink when Lisa spied a very large Echidna running down from the top of the rock to the base. We tried to run down and chase it but it was too quick and despite seeing where it went into the bush, we couldn’t find it or its burrow.

Further along we found a series of arches that had formed when the layers of rock were forced together and upwards.

Just as we were nearly back to camp Lisa spotted a Harrier Hawk in the trees and further on a waterhole that had some birds having a swim.

Overall this rock is super good and certainly up there in the Top 5 with the other big walks we’ve done like Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kata Juta (The Olgas), Kings Canyon and the Macdonald Ranges.

After dinner we watched a large rabbit in the bush near our camp and had a camp fire and well earned drinks after sunset.

We certainly could have stayed a few more days but reluctantly we pushed on and went 300km south to Hyden. On the way we stopped in to Narembeen to have a look around and have a leg stretch. Sadly it was Sunday and the town was all closed.

When we got to the caravan park at Hyden it was full of A-Vans as it was the WA A-Van club’s annual meeting. We counted at least 50 vans and were thinking the worst as Wave Rock is only a 200m walk from the park. However they all turned out to be nice people who had all seen the rock many times and instead had full day itineraries to do other things as a group that didn’t affect us.

So in the afternoon we went 20km north to an area called The Humps and Mulka’s Cave.
Mulka’s Cave is a walk through cave filled with Indigenous Art. There are over 450 motifs including 275 hand stencils making it the most significant rock art site in Southern WA.

Paul being a rock art enthusiast (and rock art guide in The Kimberley), we spent heaps of time inside the cave with powerful torches and cameras looking at the art.

 

Despite being late in the day, we decided to do both the Gnamma Trail walk on the lower area and the Kalari Trail which is steeper and takes you up to the summit of The Humps.

The Gnamma trail walk had heaps of fallen trails all over the pathway from a recent storm and it was slow going walking around the damage. However it was nice and cool in the dense foliage.

The Kalari trail on The Humps was very different and out in the open. We walked up the large open rock areas and had to navigate by following the small metal markers embedded into the rock.

On the way up we saw heaps of banded lizards. Many were chasing each other at high speeds all over the rocks.

There were loads of unusual rock formations, small wave rocks and lots of large odd-shaped boulders.

We were quite tired when we got to the top but the views in the late arvo sun made it all worthwhile.

We got to the car just after sunset and had drunk all our water bottles dry. Thankfully we had cold drinks and food in the car. The upside was we didn’t see another person during both walks.

After a very good sleep and a big hot brekkie, we were so excited to finally see Wave Rock. Paul’s grandparents had given the family a set of Wave Rock placemats when Paul was a child so he was fascinated by the photos.  Finally he was going to get to see it.
We thought it was fantastic. We were the only people there too, so Paul went berserk with the camera.
He needn’t have bothered, as each time we went back over the 2 days, we were still the only people there.

We moved on to the walk up to the peak which looks down over the wave. There was another small wall around this rock site which channelled water into the local dam that supports Hyden.  It must work well because the dam was full.

We found more big boulders at the summit area and on the way back down an area with scores of small cairns that people had made from the shale rock in the area.

After lunch we went to the other highlight of the area, The Hippo’s Yawn.  We could have driven there but decided to take the walk trail from Wave Rock to the Hippo.
We found more cool rock formations on the way, some beautiful wildflowers on the edge of the path and some birds that weren’t too afraid of having their photo taken.

Once again we had The Hippos Yawn all to ourselves.

On the way home we stopped for more photos on the wave with different lighting from morning to afternoon.  

Paul also ventured back there at sunset but it was too dark on the wave so he climbed up to look over it.

Not to miss out on all photo opportunities, Paul got up at 4am the next day and headed out fully rugged up in 4 degrees with cameras and a tripod to capture the wave at dawn.

This was to be our turn around point on our trip and we packed up camp and started to head back home but took a slightly different route that took us past Bruce Rock and onto Kokobin Rock.

This is another really good rock to visit but it has no camping facilities. From a distance it stood out from the flat fields all around.

There are no roads around the rock so we had to walk along the trail.
It was very pretty with lots of flowering trees and we even saw an Echidna on the side of the track.

There were some wave rocks at this place too.

The summit was a gradual climb and not too painful but it was worth it to see the great views spanning 360 degrees.

On the way down we took an alternate path and ended up in a picturesque amphitheatre of rocks filled with large trees.

Fortunately we ended up coming back out onto the main trail, cut about 20 minutes off the return trip and saw something different.

By now we were starving and while we had some snacks and food to cook for a main dinner, we didn’t really have any lunch food.
So we drove onto the next town which was almost an hour away and called Cunderdin.
As we were driving along we spotted a large old brick chimney that looked to be part of a museum so we stopped for a look.

We couldn’t believe our eyes (or our luck) when we looked across the road and there was an Ettamogah Pub.
These iconic pubs are a re-creation of the pub from a long running cartoon posted in the Australasian Post magazine by artist Ken Maynard.
We knew there was one in Albury NSW and on the Sunshine Coast in QLD as we had been to both and driven past them many times. However we certainly didn’t expect to see one in remote regional WA. They are the only 3 ever built.
So we went in and had a great lunch in the beer garden out the back.

Further along we stopped to have a look at a bi-plane that was out the front of the local airport.

We were now heading back into crops and fields and the canola along to road side made for some great contrasting photos.

We had promised ourselves we’d return to Wubin so that was our logical place to stay overnight before our big push to get home the next day.

We decided to camp somewhere different but had the same issues as Petrudor Rocks with solid rock being only a few cm’s under the dirt and impossible to drive a tent peg into. Eventually we found a spot and set camp.

As we were having a few drinks on sunset, we heard rustling in the wildflowers quite close to our camp.
It turned out to be an Echidna that was crossing across the open area on dusk. Lisa was super stoked and we managed to get some fun photos of her with it in the flowers. We’d seen a few during the trip but not really good interactions so this for Lisa was a real highlight and one we had hoped for but not expected.

It was a loooong drive home but we decided for a halfway stop at a favourite wildflower place for us at Perenjori which has the ever popular wreath-flowers.

They were there but not as good as last year and there were loads of flies. We did however see lots of other great flowers and trees along the roadside and also stopped in at the Perenjori community garden which also has some great murals on the walls.

We got home just after sunset and incident free. We really loved exploring somewhere new and it was a great 2000km road trip – in peak season but without all the crowds.