Well this was gonna be our first camping trip in a long time, and for one little fella it was gonna be his very FIRST time in a tent. So with the commodore packed and three little nevilles strapped in, off we drove for the long drive to WAVE ROCK. Our first stop was at YORK and it gave two of the little ones a chance to run across the old suspension bridge, but one neville Jacko was stuck in the car with a bucket! Yep he came down with 'the sicks', and was singing for his supper in the frount seat of the commodore.
Our next stop was a place called Shackleton, which is home to a bit over forty shackletonians and one clam to fame that no other town in Australia has.... it has the smallest bank!
That's right it is the smallest Bank in Australia, and because of that it only opens Friday's from 3 to 4.30. Fairdinkum it's owned no
w by BANKWEST and I reckon it would be funny to watch pension day out here! But right now it was time for a feed of ham, tomato n' cheese sanggers washed down by a drink of juice.
No... our next stop wasn't at Ruce rock, it was at Bruce Rock, that's what happens when you have a apprentice photographer at hand..... bloody casuals!
As you can see Jacko was up and going again but unfortunately not for long, and just after these photos he was back in his seat and yelling into the bucket.
Here is little Tania trying to climb through a hole in the old wagon, in the process getting stuck for a minute... I thought I could get away with only two kiddies in the car. But somehow she managed to get out, untie her legs and get back in the car before I shot out of the information bay.... bugger.
And then after a trip of just over 430kms we had made it to our camping ground WAVE ROCK, here is our tent all set up ready for our night under the stars.
After setting up camp and having a beaut feed of steak n' snags (without a veggie in sight... you little ripper), we hit the track up the hill to have our first sight of this big rock. The kiddies had a touch each and were right in their element,
running all over the place scaring every animal in a range of about three kilometers. Fairdinkum they were little terrors and loving it. Here are the three little mites sliding down the rock at night, I hadn't noticed it before but they were very well colour coordinated hay.... go the red team!
And my thinking had worked a treat, who said Dad's were dumb (probably Mums), the plan was to run them stupid and then lay back and reap the rewards and it worked to perfection. After this photo in about ten minutes they were all in the dreamtime!
The next morning at the crack of dawn we were all up and ready to have a proper gander at Wave Rock, and isn't it a friggin' ripper. Fairdinkum it was really worth the drive to this place, and you just have to have a look at this thing.
I let the kiddies have a beaut run about and just spend some time looking at this rock, this rock is a granite cliff which is 15 metres high and 110 metres long. In 1960 rock crystals from Wave rock were dated as being 2700 million years old, strewth that's a bit old hay. after playing around we had our first proper bushwalk to a place called Hippos Yawn, and that just topped off the day.
And here are the kiddies at Hippos Yarn, it consists of an unusually shaped granite that was formerly part of the larger outcrop. Which formed into a cave that you can see the kiddies in frount off, well okay you can see one kiddie bu
t the other two are there trust me. And this photo was taken with the kiddies inside the small cave, or you could say inside the hippos mouth.
After walking back to the camp site it was time to pack up and hit the road, the first stop was a place called Lake Magic which is a large salt lake. Here is yours truly with Harrison, Sarah and Jacko on the salty shores of Lake Magic.
Then it was back in the commodore and off to a place called Mulka's Cave, Mulka was the illegal son of a sheilah who fell in love with a bloke from whom marriage was forbidden, and so became an outcast and wasn't aloud to integrate with the other kiddies. As a result Mulka lived most of his time in the cave, and out of frustration he t
urned to catching and eating the other children from the tribe. These are Mulka's hand paintings that he placed all over the cave, but his live wasn't to last long. One day after his mother scolded him he turned on her and killed her, which pissed off the rest of the tribe. So knocking off a few kiddies 'here n' their' was one thing but taking the life of his mom was crossing the line (strange mob hay). And the tribe hunted him for 156 kilometres until they caught him and speared him to death. If only I knew this dreamtime story at bedtime last night!
The kiddies inside Mulka's Cave, In Mulka's day this would of represented a full three course meal!
Then it was back in the car and a quick drive through Hyden, Kondinin and we were at Corrigin home of the 'Dog in the ute'. Here in the park the kiddies are on the Dog, which sat in the back of the first ute in the line that became the world record for.... you guessed it, for most dogs in the back of utes in a straight line. Fairdinkum you had to have at leas
t one dog in your ute to be in the line. And how many utes did they get you might ask ?, Well all up it was 1527 all up! Good on them and it put Corrigin on the world map for at least that week. Also in the park there was some beaut swings and this wishing well, which me and Sarah used but it must of been broken. I chucked in a five cent piece and shut my eyes and made a wish.... but when I opened my eyes I was still in Corrigin!
Then we stopped at our last reststop which was back in York, but this time Jacko was back at his best and was trying to swing the bridge... to Sarah's utter disgust (she was pissed), what a great way to end a beaut trip out bush.