WA Road Trip: Part One – Perth to Hyden and Wave Rock

Despite my being equipped with the latest, updated and fully revised Western Australia map book, Roy utterly disrespects my map-reading skills. He sneers when I turn maps sideways or upside–down, and rudely calls me Henrietta The Navigator.

A useful tool – in someone else’s hands, apparently

There are two routes from Perth to Hyden, said the internet, taking 3½ and 3¼ hours respectively. I fancied the first, which takes the Great Eastern Highway up into the Darling Range – the oldest plateau on earth – to historic York, across the grazing farmlands and lake chains via Quairading, Corrigin and Kondinin.

Sadly, I was outnumbered by Roy and his ally, the GPS navigator, who jointly plotted to head southeast to meet Brookton Highway instead, before traversing the beginning of the Wheatbelt via Brookton, and then passing through Corrigin, Kondinin and on to Hyden.

I chose the high road, but he took the low road

Being the magnanimous sort, I will say that Brookton Highway turned out to be a pleasant drive once we’d got out of the traffic of Perth and beyond the airport.

Small-town WA

Brookton was my first WA bush town, and a prototype of those to follow. I find them utterly charming. Their amenities include scrupulously clean public toilets, at least one hotel, a petrol station and roadhouse, a memorial hall, a CWA (Country Women’s Association), a tyre centre and various purveyors of agricultural services. You won’t see a scrap of litter.

Every town has at least one hotel, and this is the one at Brookton

Stumpy’s Roadhouse in Brookton sells the best sausage roll I have ever tasted – so good, I finally realised why these snacks were invented in the first place.

Stumpy’s in Brookton taught me why sausage rolls were invented in the first place

Hyden, our destination for the first night, has a population of only 400 souls, 70 of whom are said to be employed in this small settlement’s heroic tourism industry.

Unusually, there’s no tavern in the town; but you can get a drink from the sole hotel, the Wave Rock Motel. There’s a well-stocked IGA supermarket with the friendliest cashier in the world, there’s what the brochure calls “a modern shopping centre”, there’s a large community swimming pool (in addition to the small one at the hotel), and there’s a bakery that was closed for the entire six-week summer holidays.

Hyden also has a collection of streetscape art in the main road, diagonally across from the hotel. Created by welding together various bits and pieces of metal from agricultural implements and other items, this collaborative community endeavour tells the story of the town’s various pioneers.

One of a series of streetscape sculpture in Hyden’s main drag

An Echidna (Coinus Collectus) – its spines made from old spark plugs, this species is so rare that it might be the only one, anywhere!

Review: Wave Rock Motel

Though the reviews on TripAdvisor sound a bit grudging, that may be because people like to have options – and travellers like to have the satisfaction of having chosen the best of what’s available. And yes, it’s possible that you pay a bit of a premium for its virtual monopoly (there’s also a dusty-looking caravan park), but we thought our neat $150 motel room, recently refurbished and equipped with fridge, microwave, kettle and toaster wasn’t bad value.

With the aid of a cold gin, lemon and lime, I even lured Roy into the hotel pool for a sundowner dip (when last did we do that?); it’s a pity the spa-pool was covered and empty.

I’d been sceptical about the premise of the hotel’s Bush Bistro, but it was literally the only place to eat. From a chiller cabinet, you choose from a range of meat, cook it yourself on a barbecue in the middle of the dining room and then help yourself to a fairly extensive buffet of sauces, salads and hot vegetables that comes free with your meat; around $23 for Roy’s three fat lamb chops and around $30 for my top-quality T-bone. Compliments to the chefs!