Wave Rock

Not quite on the childhood wish-list, but Wave Rock is something that has been mentioned for many years. In fact, 12 years ago when my mum and I drove across the Nullarbor, we considered 'stopping' at Wave Rock along the way. It was only a couple of hundred kilometres off the main road, but with over 3,000km ahead of us, we figured there would be enough driving. So it got put off. And now, finally, I made it there. There are some natrual formations in Australia which are extremely spectacular - Uluru is one of them. And then there are some which are definitely interesting, but one has to also appreciate the clever people who turn them into big tourist attractions. Wave Rock falls into the latter category. It was definitely interesting, and something qutie fascinating to behold, but on a totally different scale to something like Uluru or The Great Barrier Reef. Either way, it provided a great excuse for a proper family outing and a good flight.

View of Canning Dam on the way to Wave Rock - one of Perth's main water supplies.

Wave Rock is on the northern side of a rock formation called Hyden Rock, which is located just outside of a tiny little town in West Australia's wheat belt called Hyden - around 300km due East of Perth. The land out this way is extremely flat (like Denmark, but on a larger scale). There is a hump like rock formation which on the one side has the shape of a massive ocean wave around 10m high. It's actually quite cool to see, and in a way, looks like it was made artificially and then 'put' there.


Nearby is a beautiful salt-lake that almost looks like a frozen, snow covered lake. Quite spectacular. Unfortunately, the reason for the salt like is the rising water table and salinity, which has also caused extremely high salinity in the surrounding soil such that in the last century or so, nearly all the trees in the area have died and stand in place, pretty much dead, looking as if there has been a nuclear war in the area. A pretty amazing, but sad sight to see.

For some reason, I always look lost and confused when I'm piloting a plane!

Our transport - VH-MIQ, Cessna 210

Anyway, the two important parts to this day were that it was a full day family outing, and that it involved flying. We took a Cessna 210 from Jandakot and flew out there with a nice tailwind that got us to cruise along at a ground-speed of around 350 km/hour. The plan was to fly back over Perth's northern suburbs to the coast, south over the beautiful coastline, and then over Perth city. Unfortunately a temporary restricted area canned that plan, but thankfully a friendly air traffic controller helped organise a clearance that allowed us a flight over West Perth and then down along the Swan River towards Fremantle before returning to Perth. Definitely a nice city to view from the air (especially when there are plenty of rich people about to build some impressive mansions and own lots of boats!)

The mouth of the Swan River - approaching Fremantle

All in all, a fun and successful day!