Surfing Wave Rock

From Kowlyin we headed for Karlgarin to use it as a base to explore the area.  We stayed at a fantastic Caravan Park called Tressie’s for three nights.   It is on part of a large family farming enterprise and is managed  by Laurel and Merv.    Merv was no longer able to do many things on the farm so he wanted to start up a caravan park to keep himself busy.  It took some three years for the plans to be passed through council  (seems councils are the same everywhere...incredibly slow).   Merv put a lot of thought into the design of the park and although it is some eight years old, you wouldn't know it.  It is spotlessly clean and Merv and Laurel are very friendly and helpful.  Merv also has a museum and for $3 you have a look back in time on a museum tour which he runs twice a day.

I’ve got to tell you, the $3 is well worth it.  His private collection has been a labour of love and when he starts the tour, he switches on special lighting and old fashioned music.  He has to refer to his hand written notes, but he did an excellent job.  The show cabinets themselves are a work of art…made right on the farm but he was only the helper he told us, they were actually designed by someone else, I forget who.

Everything is beautifully presented and he has everything in there that you have ever seen (except for one item…more later)  and there were much of “I had one of those”….or “remember them”. Part of it is his very large collection of gramophones and 5000 records.  There are seats so you can sit a listen to the vinyls (LP, 33 or 33 1/3 rpm) or records (78 rpm) he plays or any of your favourite tunes from his catalogue.

The one thing he has in his collection that is unknown is a metal item marked with the words “the third hand”.  The family has done much research and can't find out anything about it.  Merv asks each visitor doing the tour if they can identify it for him….it is still unknown as to what it is used for.

The weather turned nasty as another cold front was coming through (who would have thought !!) but we were still able to have a fire due to the relocatable metal fire places that Merv designed and the kindling and firewood he had available.  Nobly Mallee tree roots make the best fire wood, they burn hot and long, so we discovered.

Keeping warm at Tressies

We used Karlgarin as a base to visit Wave Rock at Hyden and also to drive along the Tin Horse Highway to Kulin.

Wave Rock is an amazing natural attraction in a reserve 4 klm east of Hyden.  The spectacular granite formation reaching over 15m high and the “wave” is approximately 110m long.   We also visited two other rock formations - Hippo’s Yawn and Mulka’s Cave.

Nick and John Surfing

The other side of the Wave

Nick and Gail at Hippo's Yawn

The town of Hyden was interesting. They play music continuously from the amphitheatre in the centre of the main street…..I mean, it is loud and never stops...during the day that is.  Friendly people though…a lady just stopped us in the street and wanted to know where we were from etc and the people in the coffee shop were lovely too.  The information centre at Wave Rock had a great collection of stuff including stuffed birds and a dried flower arrangement on the ceiling that was spectacular.   We had coffee there and John and Deb had sausage rolls.  A guy from the next table asked John how he like it...it turned out that he bakes them.  He is a motor mechanic by trade but just decided that he would take up baking for a change.  John is a connoisseur of sausage rolls and was happy to oblige with his opinion...."tasty but the sausage meat was a bit soft" -  John prefers it firmer.

Part of the Butterfly flower arrangement on the ceiling.

Nick and his birds.

We had dinner in the Karlgarin local Country Club one night ……sat right in front of the lovely fireplace, good food, a New Zealand Chef with a wicked sense of humour.... good night was had by all.

The following day we laughed our way down the 15 Km Tin Horse Highway to Kulin stopping to take photos of the “community art” along the way.   I have twenty three photos of different and quirky creations.  Unfortunately, can't put them all here.

Since 1995, Tin Horses have been popping up along the highway as farmers try to outdo each other.  They even have an annual competition where you can go in the running to win a share of generous prize money for the best “Tin Horse”.... and there are some very specific guidelines.  The judging takes place  by public vote and the winner is announced at annual Kulin Bush Races.   We had lunch at the Kulin hotel… had the best, juiciest, succulent Chicken Parma ever.   They were holding a darts competition at the time….serious stuff by all accounts.

PS...Leave a comment to let me know how the photo's are...most of them that I have posted here are at a lower resolution so that I can put more on.

Kwolyin Bush Camp

Well, we were heading east from York, the plan being to visit Kokerbin Hill (Australia's 3rd largest monolith) and we would have driven right past it if it wasn't for Trevor.

Watch out..... its going to fall on your head.

As we were travelling along Quairading Road, somewhere close to the township of Yoting, a guy in his vehicle on a private road was waiting to turn onto the main highway as we passed him. John dropped back to channel 40 on the UHF just in case the guy wanted to speak to us……that was Trevor.   Well, Trevor did speak to us and we found out from him that we were not far from Kokerbin Rock and that there was a fantastic bush camp at Kwolyin. So, that is why, if not for Trevor, not only would we have driven right past Kokerbin, we would also not have known about Koberbin Bush Camp.

In 2008 the Western Australian Government instigated a program called the "Royalties for Regions" where they have focused on development that is supported with the reinvestment of mining and onshore petroleum royalties on regional projects.  Kwolyin was one of those areas that benefited. 

Under the Royalties for Regions program, the Bruce Rock Shire opened an excellent new bush campground at Kwolyin which has flush toilets, hand basins, camp kitchen with a gas hob, covered and uncovered picnic tables, gas BBQ’s and good water supply with plenty of water pressure.   It has been designed with individual caravan sites as well as group camping/tent sites.  

Kowlyin used to be a small town in the Wheatbelt region of WA which was settled in 1908. The townsite was selected in 1912 due to its position near a spring and the townsite was gazetted in 1913, the same year that the railway opened between Quairading and Bruce Rock.  

There seemed to be some rivalry between the next town, Shackleton… after all, Kowlyin had a pub  (hotel) and Shackleton didn’t.  The Kowlyin pub was a two story building of brick construction located on 1/2 acre of land opposite the Kwolyin Railway Station.  The closest other pub was Bruce Rock, so you can see why it was popular and a social hub.   The Pub opened in 1914 and was demolished after it was burned down in 1992. There was speculation that the owner was responsible but it could not be ruled out that some one else, perhaps from Shackleton was the culprit.  However, in January 2012, a cold case investigation saw a Port Kennedy man and women charged over the devastating fire.

Kowlyin Pub after the fire (file photo from the internet).  There is nothing there now. 

Kowlyin is now a ghost town….the only sign that it was once a thriving little town is the cricket pitch and the Church.  

Cricket Pitch

Shackleton, only seven kilometres up the road has survived well and is home to a number of people including artist Steve and his wife Christina.  Steve uses chicken wire fencing and discarded metal bits and pieces to design very interesting sculptures. 

When we called to say “g’day” to Steve at his Art Studio, he was working on his cafe called “Floe’s Place” which he hopes will entice more people to stop in the town.  Although we didn't go into the Art Studio, the garden is an artwork itself, full of interesting sculptures.  

Bank in Shackleton

Shackleton, was also home to the smallest bank in Western Australia.  Originally, the 3 x 4 meter building was the Bank of New South Wales before it became Bankwest.  It was also used as an aircraft observation centre in WWII and at one time was a child health centre. 

It was windy and cold along with a sprinkle of rain at the Kowlyin bush camp.  Nick and John set up a tarp as a wind break and collected firewood with the aid of John’s battery operated rechargeable chain saw.  I went looking for something that could be used as a wind break and came across some small sheets of corrugated iron.  I got Nick to come and get it.  He picked up one sheet and we both got a fright as the blue tongue lizard that was living under it demonstrated quite clearly that he was not happy about being disturbed.   Nick said it was a rather silly thing to do, picking it up with his hands as it could have been a snake.  He put the sheet of iron back as it was the lizards home and with a stick, looked under two other small sheets before picking them up and taking them back to the fire. 

 

Deb sheltering against the tarp keeping out of the wind and rain

Nick and John cutting up firewood

Nick tending the fire (note the small corrugated iron sheets)

We thoroughly enjoyed our bush camp there but pressed on the following day to Karlgarin.