25/05/14 Long drive to Wave Rock, Hyden today. 19oC, overcast with stops at Ravensthorpe and roadside to "stretch our legs". Dodged an echidna, a blue tongue and two 'roos crossing the bitumen on the way. Driving through the Eastern Wheatbelt of Western Australia, we were quite surprised by the seemingly never ending immense paddocks being worked by huge, huge farm machinery and the vast areas of salt flats and salt lakes. "Wave Zone" sign posted along the way...we all enjoyed the humor...."you are entering the WAVE zone", "people here will WAVE to you", "please WAVE back", "remember to WAVE safely" etc. Arrived at "Wave Rock" Caravan Park as daylight was fading, speedy setup and discovered we'd left hose/tap connection behind and BBQ fitting has broken, so no Webber roast tonight - bummer. Then down came the rain & the temperature = inside for game of "celebrity heads" and an early night with heater!

26/05/14 Greatly enjoyed our day today. Saw / climbed / surfed Wave Rock - had lots of fun faking surfing poses on our $8 boogey board bought in Esperance especially for use as a pics prop. We learnt that the wave or eroded area in a rock is called a "tafone" coming from the italian word for "window". The Wave face is 15mts high and 110mt long, it is granite and is estimated to be 3 BILLION years old. The climb and walk on top of the rock had fantastic panoramic views of the surrounding countryside. Hiked the trail to Hippos Yawn, another 'tafone', climbed up a little gap in the back which kids found to be quite dare-devilish and then hiked the salt flats, saw a natural salt spa "for a dead sea like experience" except way too cold, saw crystallised salt on rocks, branches etc and had to follow Dad's instructions very carefully to ensure we didn't disturb the trolls under the bridges! Nightmares tonight? After lunching back at the van, we had a great time visiting the wildlife park and yester year exhibits - great collections of items from back in the day, huge toy soldier collection setup showing battles of infamous past wars / battles, lace display, T-model ford and the kids favourite being the wildlife park. Many bird species, albino kangaroos, curious camels, grumpy donkeys, an even grumpier rooster that screeched his "cock-a-doodle-doo" at you quite aggressively, vibrantly coloured pheasants, a crazy adolescent wombat that jumps up and tries to bite you through his cage, a corella that did bite our toes through his cage and a crazy cockatoo that swung his head back and forth like it was going to fall off! Spent the evening chatting with "Thomas", a young french backpacker. Really enjoyed our time here.