Wave Rock and Flat Tyres

'Owabouttherflies?

Not sharing the boys' excitement
about using the jack!

A flat tyre! Amazingly, we have driven over 22 000kms before the inevitable happened.

We noticed it as we were about to leave the Albany van park, so put the spare on amidst much excitement from the boys and not too much cursing from Dave!

After an educative visit to Tyrepower (where we changed over to 2 light truck tyres as instructed Pap!), we were on the road again, driving through Porongurup and the Stirling Range before hitting new territory on the way to Wave Rock. It was a cracker of a day after the claustrophobia of caravan containment with glorious sunshine and fabulous scenery. The vast tracts of wheatfields with the Stirling Ranges in the background were particularly stunning. We were pleased to be heading inland again - the wheat harvest was evident to the excitement of the kids and the smell of wheat on the breeze was every bit as energising and exciting as the sea breeze.

Desperation!

We stopped for lunch but couldn't eat for the flies. In desperation, we all got under the mossie net from the van to try to eat our sandwiches without extra protein!

The Lake Grace service station attendant gave us the happy news that we could cut an hour and a half off our hot journey to Hyden using a road that was marked unsealed on our map. That, and some iceblocks, cheered us enormously.

Surfing Wave Rock

There were more flies than I could have ever imagined at Wave Rock. We started setting up but had to stop to go to the office shop to buy those dorky fly nets that fit over your hat. Being a dinkum Aussie, I have never imagined owning one of these fashionable articles, but then I've never truly needed one either. I felt better about it when we realised that lots of the locals were wearing them too! Dave reckoned that Wave Rock was obviously named from the fly wave! We had a late afternoon exploration of Wave Rock and the nearby Hippo's Yawn, happily wearing our fly nets.

Jackson was thrilled to put yesterday's
tyre changing lesson to use!

Dave was treated to a lovely collection of gifts the next morning on his birthday. The temperature was climbing and we had a fair drive to Esperance, so we got packed and let the kids go to have a swim in the campground pool while Dave, Jackson and I hitched up, when I noticed ... another flat tyre! Jackson had everything ready and we soon had the spare on.

Attention!

A Toy Soldier and Military History display stopped us on our drive back to Hyden. Dave had a great time remembering all his toy soldiers! The tyre place needed a couple of hours, so we spent the time having a birthday morning tea in the bakery (mercifully air conditioned and NO flies), checking out the town's quirky sculptures, trying to find my credit card (thankfully Mr Post Office had it!) and we took a drive out to Mulka's Cave, one of WA's premier Aboriginal Art sites. The cave was cool, but the art was little more than hundreds of hand stencils, and a bit disappointing.

Wheat storage at Varley

We finally picked up the tyre (now with a tube, as the rim had a hole in it) and hit the road by 1 p.m. The wheat harvest was evident everywhere, although the soaring temperatures contributing to the Margaret River fires were also causing Harvest Bans in many areas. Dave put the newly-repaired tyre back on to the caravan while we stopped in Varley for lunch. The wheat storage facilities are dotted everywhere and are filling quickly!

Spotted this from the road. Flat tyres don't seem so bad now!

The drive in to Esperance was long and tiresome and it was nearly 7 when we finally got to the caravan park. They were about to close, so we quickly took a site, chucked up the tent, popped the caravan top and drove off in the dark to find a cafe for the birthday dinner - 2 minute noodles just didn't seem to fit the bill!

Stay tuned ...