We have been to Kwolyin a few times before and stayed at least once, but always on the way to or from somewhere else. This time we went to Kwolyin to stay there for the weekend.
As usual, we set off after work on Friday, although for me it was also after a filling at the dentist! How is a navigator supposed to dish out snakes full of sugar while they still have a numb mouth! The drive there was uneventful, and we arrived just after a stunning sunset! We had the pick of the sites, choosing a lovely big one, facing the caravan door toward the bush. We quickly set up the house, built the fire, and got some toasties into the presses and into our bellies.
With the temperature plummeting, we needed all the fiery warmth we could get, and consumed a fair bit of our wood and some left over by the considerate folk here before us. The moonless night sky was very lovely, with predictions for even better tomorrow night when there will be no clouds. No doubt it will be even colder than tonight!
Saturday
The plan for this trip was always to head out to Kokerbin Rock and climb it. The rock is famed as the third-largest monolith in Australia, after Uluru and Mt. Augustus. We have seen Uluru, and Mt. Augustus is on the 70B4Seventy list. So after a slow and sunny breakfast, warming up after a cool night, we headed off. We’ve also been to the rock before, looking at it from the picnic area car park. At the time, we said we would come back and climb it, and here we are.
We set off from the car park toward the “wave rock,” admiring the stunning colors of the rock against the clear, brilliant blue sky. The wave rock is small compared to the renowned Wave Rock, but it has a small cave, and we saw a hippo yawn as well. Further along the walking path, we came across the “devils marbles,” again smaller than the renowned ones, but still fun to look at and wonder why they don’t all tumble down. After wandering along a flat path, we eventually started a gently graded walk up the rock, crossing toward the edge, then ascending a slightly steeper section to the top, adorned with a cairn and the obligatory distance map. We could clearly see in all directions through a stunningly clear sky. I am sure the air was as clean at the top of Kokerbin Rock as it is in Antarctica! We hung around at the top for a while before taking our time wandering down, spotting just one sunning lizard.
At the bottom, we strolled off to assess the huge well, deeper than we could see, before making our way back to Maz. Kokerbin Rock met all our expectations for a great place to visit. We had heard it was hard to follow, but we had no problem finding our way. We also found it to be a very achievable ascent, probably due to the fact that the walk takes you out to the least steep part. Overall, it was a lovely way to spend a morning.
Back at Dan, we enjoyed a tummy-filling charcuterie, sitting in the sun and listening to the birds. The campsite was slowly filling around us, with three more sites occupied. There are about seven different groups of people here, spread out across many acres of the campground. We share an immaculate toilet block, a small camp kitchen, and a picnic area with a BBQ, all for the princely sum of absolutely nothing per night! From where we are camped, it’s a good 50 meters to the next folk, and they are the only ones we can see. It’s an awesome place to stay, and I am fairly certain we’ll be back.
Full of lunch, we headed out to grab some firewood to make sure we had enough for tonight, before stoking it up and getting hot water sorted for showers. Our “4th tank” system seems to be working well, although I’ll need to remember to have the water a bit hotter than I think I need it when the weather is this cold. It seemed to lose a bit of heat in the system. With the hot water sorted, we created a sub-fire and cooked up the obligatory baked potatoes, topping them with a bit of spicy mince and some cheese. Absolutely delicious as usual, and made all the better by a couple of lovely apple and raspberry pies with ice cream! All food consumed when camping is calorie-free!
Having consumed our fabulous meal, we decided to head off on a night walk, to find a dark and elevated spot to see the stars. Having not done a daylight recce, it was impossible to safely find our way to the top of Kwolyin Rock, so we settled for stargazing from the path. It was so dark we couldn’t make out the start of the rock. We’ll find it in the morning. Back at the caravan, the final use for my sub-fire was to heat the kettle for our exquisite hot water bottles. Those little bags of warmth make all the difference when the temperature is approaching zero degrees!
Sunday
Unfortunately, and for reasons beyond our control, we didn’t have a great sleep, but thankfully all seemed okay with the world by the morning. Coffee fixes most things, and some camping toast is always a winner, and both certainly didn’t make things worse this morning. After an extra leisurely breakfast, we headed back to the local rock to see just how close we got last night. As expected, we were all but there, but also as expected, it would have been a dangerous walk in the dark, particularly the descent back down to the path. We have been on this rock before, but it’s always nice to look out over the wheatbelt. The view is amazing. Next time we are here, we will take the other path to Cathedral Rocks and explore that area. It looks huge and worth the wander.
Despite looking keenly all weekend, I just couldn’t see any orchids. Admittedly, it is very early in the season, and there is still a month of winter to go. Then, when I wasn’t looking, I spotted a purple glint in the grass and found not one but many cute little fairies! What a lovely surprise!
Eventually, it was time to pack up Dan the Van, hook up to Maz, and head off towards home. Naturally, we didn’t take the direct route, nor the quickest way, instead heading along some muddy dirt roads and around the back way to Toapin Weir. We’ve called in at the weir before but were underwhelmed. However, as it was many years ago, we decided to recce it today for the future. It hasn’t changed that much, yet it is a lot more appealing. There seems to be a new and big camping area, but maybe it was always there and we didn’t notice it. There were a few people settled in for the night with fires ready to combat another likely cold night.
We decided to climb the rock face and recce it for stargazing sometime in the future. As it turns out, it will be a relatively safe option. There are seats at various points up the rock face, and it is not as steep as Kwolyin. It doesn’t have the 360° view, losing some visibility to trees and a higher rock face across the other side, but it should still be a great place to admire the sky (and maybe see an aurora). We will be back soon to try our luck. In the meantime, I was super excited to spot some very sweet vanilla orchids hiding in plain sight in the mossy patches covering the rock. It’s going to be a fun orchid and wildflower season! I can barely wait for the chance to find them…
The Solo Avocado 