No chance of a sleep in this morning with it being light at 5.00am! Kimbo put everything back together outside and I had everything inside prepared for travel and we were on the road by 7.30am and even at that hour it was hot. The bus ran well on gas so thankfully no problems there. We only had ½ hour to travel to Hyden the home of Wave Rock and we got to the caravan park before it opened for the day. We found a spot and the first thing we did was get the air con on and have a shower.

We went for a walk to Wave Rock and it was amazing. We climbed to the top and we could see forever but it was really windy so we had to hold onto our hats – out of the wind it was unbearably hot. The lady at the park told us the best time to take photos is late in the day.

It was nice and cool in the bus when we got back so we had brekkie and then Kimbo made the ultimate sacrifice by cutting the sleeves out of his Yothu Yindi t-shirt for me so that I had something cooler to wear. Now that is a true sign of love!

With our tummies full we decided it was time to investigate the area.   "The Humps" Nature Reserve incorporates Mulka's Cave and Gnamma holes (natural rock holes).
 The gnamma holes were well patronised by bees (can’t blame them as it was so hot) but the water left a lot to be desired. There was an easy walk up to Mulka’s cave which provided great respite from the heat as was witnessed by the amount of flies in there. It felt at least 10 degrees cooler in there. The rock art (which was mainly hand prints) was really interesting and pleasing to see that there has been no destruction of the art given anyone can access the cave. It would have provided great shelter for Mulka.

This is the story of Mulka

Mulka was the illegitimate son of a woman who fell in love with a man to whom marriage was forbidden. As a result, Mulka was born with crossed eyes. Even though he grew up to be an outstandingly strong man of colossal height, his crossed eyes prevented him from aiming a spear accurately and becoming a successful hunter. Out of frustration, Mulka turned to catching and eating human children, and he became the terror of the district. He lived in Mulka's Cave where the impressions of his hands can still be seen much higher than those of an ordinary man. His mother became increasingly concerned with Mulka and when she scolded him for his anti-social behaviour, he turned on his own mother and killed her. This disgraced him even more and he fled the cave, heading south. Aboriginal people were outraged by Mulka's behaviour and set out to track down the man who had flouted all the rules. They finally caught him near Dumbleyung 156 km south-west of Hyden, where they speared him. Because he did not deserve a proper ritual burial, they left his body for the ants; a grim warning to those who break the law.

We continued walking around the area which comprised mainly mallee scrub and the views from the top of the rocks seemed to go on forever but eventually the heat got the better of us and we decided to head home until it cooled down a bit.

Hyden is a typical small wheat growing town that you’d see anywhere, it just happens to have an interesting rock that people want to have a look at which has this town on the tourist map. There isn’t any other reason a tourist would stop here.

Later in the day the weather changed, a bit like yesterday but this time there were a few drops of rain and some thunder and lightning which was quite spectacular. We walked around to Hippo’s Yawn and that’s exactly what it looked like. Back to the Wave we went and took some more photos before heading back to the safety of the bus. We sat outside and watched the weather but once the rain came I was inside. Rain after a 43 degree day spelt HUMIDITY for me. Ah to have the creature comforts of home. We heard the weather should be much cooler tomorrow.