Hyden and Wave Rock

The turn off to Wave Rock came up before heading into town so we drove the 3km out to the parking area and caravan park situated at the rock.  Photos of the area we had previously seen only showed ‘the wave’ however this is actually only a small part of Hyden Rock which covers over 3.6 hectares. 

Wave Rock - just a part of Hyden Rock

The rock is granite and there are various walking trails well set out and marked to follow.  We paid our $7 day fee (to the local Shire) and set off to take a wander.   Wandering along the path to Hippo’s Yawn we could still see water trickling down the sides of the rock and also along the path there were areas that had obviously been washed away by the gushing water. 

Hippo's Yawn at Hyden Rock

water running down the rock

We were able to admire the bottlebrushes flowering amongst the She-oak trees around the bottom of the rock as we walked the trail.  After reaching Hippo’s Yawn we then retraced our steps to an area where it is possible to easily walk up onto the rock.  There were holes on top filled with water and also mosses and lichens growing thickly up there. 

water with lichen and moss on top of the rock

view from top of Hyden Rock - lake in distance

 The view across the nearby countryside showed lakes full with water, or maybe flooded land, who knows?  Was certainly a different experience to a couple of weeks ago when we had been in the area of bush-fires.  The diversity of our wonderful country never ceases to amaze.  

When this area was settled in the 1920’s Hyden Rock was considered a natural catchment for water and a dam was built at one end for storage.  A ‘fence’ was built around part of the top of the rock so as to help channel the water for collection.  This catchment area was expanded in 1951 and increased the storage 10 fold and today we could see that the dam was completely full. 

wall on top to channel water to the dam

Hyden dam full to capacity

The short drive into town again showed us water beside the road and when we turned into the service station to fill up with gas we could see that the water had been across the road there not so long ago.  Asking the local lass inside she informed us that the water had fallen in the last couple of hours and it had not been this wet for 8 yrs.  We also found out that our intended road was actually closed due to flooding so we could travel on another 16 km but that was the end of the line for the present.  We travelled again through 2 more lots of water and then set up in the van park to wait it out.  Hopefully overnight the water levels will fall and we will be able to travel on even if along a different road.