Getting up was harder than I thought it was going to be and I managed to say goodbye to a few people in the hostel this morning but some people I really wanted to see had already left for work. I got on the road to head towards Hyden to see Wave rock before going over to Rockingham. The road to Southern Cross was good (although I missed the turning for Hyden and had to come back) but the road to Hyden was mainly gravel road. I didn't mind this since a sign said it was only about 167km away from the turning. The only thing was the directions to Hyden weren't always signposted so I was travelling along a road for a long time thinking I might have taken a wrong turn. So I stopped...because I stopped a road train pulled up thinking I had broken down. Very nice of him really but I had to explain I was simply lost! Now...failure number 1...when the road train pulled up I didn't think to close the window so everything inside the car is now covered in orange dust...d'oh. I looked like I hadn't had a wash in over a week or had overdosed on spray tan...choice of which it wasn't pretty lol. After we debated on which route to take I got back on the road I was already on (haha not lost after all!) and made it to Hyden.

I went to the Hippos Yawn first and spent a few minutes there messing about with my camera taking random pictures of me looking a state with sweaty hair and truck driver arm (yes it was THAT hot outside) before heading over to the main attraction, Wave Rock. Wave Rock is big but for some reason I thought it would have been bigger. I walked around the complex for a while and went up to the dam at the top of the rock. You could see for miles around, it was so calm and serene I should have been at ease but for some reason all I could think about was the fact that I was headed over to Rockingham with nowhere to stay. The Rockingham backpackers was yet another place that refuses to answer their telephone (remember Pemberton?)

I left Hyden in high spirits of the open road and can honestly say if Damian thought some or the roads on the way to Menzies and Leinster had massive stretches of road without bends he's seen nothing till he does cross country over to Perth! (Not the Eastern highway, smaller route 40 I think). I was travelling through no phone signal territory thinking I was never going to make it before dark. Since its summer here I guess I misjudged what time the sun sets here and it was dark after 8pm on the coast. In was literally chasing the sun across WA and failed miserably! Failure 2!

I eventually arrived in Rockingham and did some scouting round hotels and B&Bs but it was way too expensive to get a room and I was too late there in the night to book into one...so...against my better judgement...I found a car park and slept in the damn car! WON'T be doing that again in a hurry...NOT comfortable at all. Still at least I can visit Penguin Island tomorrow and then hit the road again up to Cervantes.

The picture is of me standing in front of wave rock.