Perth to Hyden

The crew of Nomad 1 leave early, the Uber gets them away before Wally and The Navigator can get a stash of snake lollies legally procured from the hotels concierges jar to Captain Kirk as his performance bonus. To bad Kirk, we’ve eaten them all now.

Nomad 1 crew of Kirk, Smurfette, Harve and Jenzy are returning home on leave from the Nullabor Nomad mission.

Nomad 2 pick up a new rocketship at the Thrifty booth at Perth airport. A nice newish Prado, we can’t find the scratch they say is on it, so we keep that one up our sleeve, just in case. Pauolo is the pilot today. The Don is struggling with back and ribs damage from a hop on hop off bus incident two days ago so he’s in the navigation chair but heavy painkillers see him lose concentration occasionally.

First stop is a Brookton for coffee. The cafe is tidy and clean, like the town, but the nice  Irish waitress is on bariata L plates, pleasant girl but clearly not a coffee drinker. The flat white coffees are milky dish water weak, no crema, so we suck it up, smile, leave gracefully and do a little shopping at the IGA next door.

The crops are healthy, water from recent rains still seeping out of furrows on slopes. Canola is brilliant yellow, blending with deep dark green wheat and chicken peas. The crops are endless and its looking like a great season.

As we near Corrigin, instructions from the rear seat are to pull into the dog cemetery. Its an interesting place where people bring their deceased canine pets for burial. There is one cat buried there, interesting, who allowed this to happen?

A sign is spotted, also from the rear seat ” Wildflower Drive 4.1km – One Way”. Needless to say, we are instructed to take it, although somebody thought it was 41km. There are about 3 little bunches of flowers spotted, then we drive around confusing tracks ending up at a lookout. The lookout has a tower that Wally tackles, leaning forward, bending into her work. We never find out if it was worth the effort. My guess is…. no, don’t say it Pauolo.

After the rally cross track leads us back to the main road, we eventually find Corrigin township for lunch. The cafe is in a one way street, in Corrigin, hard to believe they need a one way street but there it is. We are served by a cheeky waiter, its a nice lunch but the coffee is just OK, good crema but not quite strong enough. The toilet light is an issue for The Don, he nearly hits his head on the wall trying to find the switch, just so he doesn’t miss the bowl, poor bugger,  he’s injured enough so luckily he’s OK.

Next stop is Hyden and Wave Rock. It’s spectacular. A really interesting geological formation in the middle of wheat fields and salt water swampy flats. I put the drone up for a fly, I don’t crash it and it returns to me, so that’s good news. We walk to the Hippos Yawn, a cave formation just like a hippo yawning, on the way The Navigator has a fall, sorry a trip – she didn’t fall and cut her hand and skin her knee, same as she didn’t fall off the bike 6 months ago. Her Iphone watch asks her if she needs 000, but as she mumbling about dropping her phone she cancels it. Good news, she’s OK, shaken but still able to give clear directions and instructions – lucky me!

Dinner is at the pub at Hyden, not a bad feed. More Irish girls behind the bar. This part of the world seems to have a lot of young Irish women backpackers working in pubs, cafes, etc.

A four handed game of Kings sees Wally go past The Navigator at the post. The Don was out of the blocks quickly but pulled up lame early in the game.

Tomorrow Albany.

Ciao

Pauolo