Wave Rock, what can I say about
this place that doesn't turn folks off going there?
The downside to the place is the huge swarms of insects that inhabit the area,
since the rock soars out of ground surrounded by thick woodland, which gives
the perfect haunt for creepy crawlies. We arrived early afternoon, and chose
to set up our tent in the camping area close to the rock. Even though it was
one of those 'quick erect' models the 5 minutes it took was 4 minutes too long
for me. The moment I set foot outside the car I was infested with flies. I do
not use that word lightly, in fact infested is probably too reserved a word.
I could not speak, because the little swines would invade my mouth. I could
hardly see as they tried to drink from my eyes. They were in my ears, my nose;
in fact they almost completely covered me in an overcoat of crawling irritation.
The moment we had the tent erected I cracked. There was no way I was going to
climb up the wave during the heat of the midday sun, and only invite more of
this plague onto my sweaty body. So we opted to escape into the air-conditioned
cafe that was situated close by for a lovely cool drink and a piece of pie.
What a relief!
After staying in there for what seemed an age waiting for the sun to drop, we
finally emerged to find the flies had pretty much buzzed off for the day, only
to be replaced by swarms of darned mosquitoes. It was obviously a no win situation,
and anything I said about it would be considered winging, so 'put up, and shut
up' became the order of the day.
It would be unfair to say that it isn't worth going to see, for it is a truly
amazing sight. The massive granite monolith rises out of the ground like a huge
surfing wave about to break on to the shore. At evening time the long shafts
of light from the setting sun create incredibly complex shadows along the multi-coloured
ancient structure, reinforcing the vision of a massive wall of water. This gives
the opportunity to take a multitude of photos from a variety of angles to try
and achieve the 'perfect' backdrop. The climb to the top can be pretty exhausting,
but worth making the effort for the stunning views to the horizon. On the way
back down I took note of the signs giving warning of the residence of highly
venomous King Brown Snakes within the surrounding woodland.
Great! I really wanted to know that. Thanks a bunch. Now I was not only fed
up with the hordes of flies and mosquitoes, I had to keep a weather eye out
for damned slithery snakes as well.
A little voice appeared to be whispering in my ear "get the hell out of
here", but that would have been considered wimping out. So in the absence
of anything else to do (wave rock is in the middle of nowhere) we knocked up
a quick meal on the site BBQ before getting our heads down very early for the
night.
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