Dunsborough to Hyden via the Collie Mural Trail and the Tin Horse Highway

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The house at Cormorant Court has been another lovely holiday house to call home for a few days on our journey … even if the mattresses were a little firm. The only slightly strange thing about this stay was the pricing structure. There was a price for the house and access to all its amenities but add $65.00 if you want sheets on the beds and towels in the bathrooms. Finally, after transporting sheets and towels across the country we put them on our beds on Friday to save ourselves the $65.00 linen surcharge!! So, we re-packed the truck this morning and then draped our wet towels over the top of our luggage. Hopefully they will be dry enough at the end of today’s travels to be able to refold and stash then away for the return trip, ha, ha.

The SatNav was set to make a stop for fuel at Picton south-east of Bunbury because Bernie was keen to refuel at coast prices. We drove north up the Bussel Highway for the third time in four days before striking out on the Busselton Ring Road heading north towards Bunbury. They are in the process of duplicating the highway so we encountered a lot of roadwork along the way. Arriving at the Picton BP Servo Bernie was very excited to be able to put half a tank of premium diesel into the tank. It’s been a while since the MU-X had a drink of the good stuff!

Tracey took the wheel and we headed to our next stop - the mega mural at Wellington Dam. We took the South Western Highway out of Picton before turning onto the Coalfields Highway and then onto the Wellington Dam Road into Wellington National Park. The site for the dam was selected in 1931 and the first dam wall was completed in in just two years. Ever increasing demand for water saw the dam wall raised by a metre in 1944 and between 1956 and 1960 it was raised by another 15 metres to become the biggest dam in the South West.

In 2020-21 the face of the dam wall was transformed with a huge mural titled ‘Reflections’ by Guido Van Helton. The mural measures 8,000 square metres and was inspired by local stories and photographs. The working of the mural to look like a child is holding a hose that is the dam outlet is very clever. The mural is an outlier on the Collie Mural Trail but more on that later.

Yesterday we had discussed whether to drive out the bottom of the Wellington National Park and then east to Collie but this idea had to be abandoned because the dam wall is closed to cars and pedestrians at the moment. Back out to the Coalfields Highway and turn right towards Collie.

We arrived in town just in time for morning tea so parked the vehicles and made a beeline for the bakery. So many cakes to choose from including the biggest trays of garishly coloured meringues I have seen for a long time. Today Bernie and Tracey opted for some bee-sting slices which were delicious.

After morning tea we walked around a selection of the murals in town. The mural trail is extensive with 45 murals listed on the official map. Only four of the murals appear outside the town with the majority painted on buildings within Collie Town Centre. Some of the murals date to the late 90s and early 00s but most were painted during 2021 and 2022 and funded under an initiative of the State Government of Western Australia. We concentrated on the murals in the two blocks between Forrest and Medic Streets and Harvey and Steere Street North. That was more than a dozen murals we managed to check out.

Before leaving town we returned to the bakery to buy sandwiches and rolls for lunch. Not being sure how large - or how small - the towns on our route were going to be we decided it’s better to have lunch in our car fridges than risk having to resort to chips and chocolate.

With Bernie driving again we headed out of town on the Collie-Williams Road. Unfortunately before long we found ourselves stuck behind a loooooong cattle truck which was tedious. With a load of cattle on board it was laboring up the hills at 40kph and then rocketing down the hills at 110kph. The road was narrow, windy (twisty) as well as windy (blowing a gale) and hilly. Absolutely no opportunities to pass. Every so often something wet would spray onto the windscreen setting off the automatic wiper function. Eeeuuuw, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky so it was probably cow pee!

At one stage we were approaching an intersection planning to turn right towards Williams. Bernie was muttering under his breath, please don’t turn right, please don’t turn right. Sure enough, the cattle truck turned right!

As we neared Williams Bernie said he was going to look for a park to stop in for our lunch because he was sick of being stuck behind the cows. Another T-intersection, left to Perth and right to Albany. Would the truck head towards Perth? No, but it did pull across the Albany Highway to park up at the service station. OK, let’s plough on to Narrogin then which is where we had planned to stop. We turned right onto the Albany Highway and then almost immediately left onto the road to Narrogin. Such a relief to be able to drive at a consistent 110kph.

Arriving in Narrogin just after 1.00pm we pulled up opposite their Memorial Park. A lovely green oasis commemorating their war dead and co-located with picnic tables and chairs, a BBQ shelter and public toilets for visitors passing through. We broke out the food we purchased earlier and enjoyed or lunch break in the sun despite a very cool breeze blowing through town. We so thought that we would be leaving the wind behind us on the coast!

Cathy and Steve decided to give the Subaru a drink in Narrogin. The truck certainly didn’t need fuel but really, REALLY needed a windscreen wash. It’s probably a bit cheeky to wash your windscreen without buying fuel but sometimes you just gotta do what you’ve gotta do! The windscreen looked so much clearer after a scrub with the spongey side and a wipe with the squeegee.

Back on the road heading for Wickepin and then Kulin. When we reached Kulin we made a quick stop at the Visitor Information Centre to see if they had a bit more info about the Tin Horse Highway. We grabbed a brochure outlining the Tin Horse Tourist Route and another titled ‘Pathways to Wave Rock’. We were also given a tip about taking Karlgarin South Road past Buckleys Breakaway as we headed north to Hyden.

With the afternoon getting away from us we quickly accepted that we did not have time to visit the West Kulin Tin Horses, we would have to concentrate on the ones along the Kulin-Lake Grace Road as that was the direction we needed to be travelling in. I don’t think we realised how many tin horses there are! I think the number of tin horses continues to grow year on year as more farmers get involved? Anyway we saw PLENTY of crazy and colourful tin horse creations alongside the road between Hyden and the turn off to Lake Grace.

Continuing on the Kulin Holt Rock Road we turned off onto Karlgarin South Road for some more dirt road driving. Almost as soon as we left the bitumen a truck came hurtling towards us throwing up a huge plume of dust. That was the only good thing about the wind today – it blew that plume of dust away really quickly and Bernie could see where he was going!

We had Buckleys Breakaway to ourselves at 4.45pm. We raced past the info boards to make our way down into the gully while some late afternoon sun continued to shine over this picturesque landform of bright orange clay deposited over glistening white cliffs and gullies. Despite being very different from the much better known Wave Rock (on itinerary for tomorrow) Buckleys Breakaway shares the same origins.

Most of the granitic southwest corner of the Australian continent is part of a geological area known as the Yilgam Craton and dates back 2,700 million years. Sand and soil covers much of the granite and that provides the right conditions for growing wheat here in the wheat belt of WA but there are also many interesting and dramatic outcrops that have been shaped over millennia by the erosional forces of water.

As we were finishing up at Buckleys Breakaway the Wave Rock Resort rang to check if we were still coming. Yes, Bernie told the receptionist, we’re just finishing up at Buckleys Breakaway and we’ll be there soon. We were under the impression that reception was open until 6.00pm each day through until the end of March. Hmmn, they were wanting to close reception at 5.30pm.

We continued north on Karlgarin Road South until we reached Hyden Road where we turned right to travel into Hyden … and then out the eastern side of town to Wave Rock Resort. Phew, just made it by 5.27pm so we weren’t holding anyone up! We completed check-in and received our maps and guides and the keys to our cottages over by Lake Magic. We have two, two-bedroom cottages booked for tonight. We probably could have done it cheaper and shared one cottage but of course they are set up for families with only one queen bed and then three singles in the second bedroom!

We unpacked quickly and headed over to the lake to watch the sunset. On our way over to the lake we inadvertently walked past a cottage that had the curtains open for a couple who were planning to watch the sunset … from their bed??! Oops.

We had just enough time to scout out some trees and stumps to create some foreground interest in our sunset photos and then it was time to watch a gloriously clear golden sun sink slowly below the horizon. Cathy and Bernie were wishing for some clouds to reflect the sunlight to make the photos more interesting, but Tracey was happy with the sunset show we were given this evening.

Right, the pub only does meals from 6.00pm until 8.00pm so it was time to drive ourselves back into Hyden for dinner. This is the first time we haven’t been able to walk to dinner! We made it to the pub without any wildlife encounters in the semi-dark so that was a relief. The pub’s meal offerings were … interesting. There was an extensive menu on the table and we all decided what took our fancy. Bernie and Steve headed off to place our orders. They were back at the table in short order to tell us that all the options on the table menu, you have to cook yourself on the BBQ plates down the back corner. Whaaat?

The kitchen menu was much, much shorter – parmi, fisherman’s basket, fish and chips and lasagne … maybe one other meal that we can’t recall? Anyhow we sampled one of each of those items. Tracey’s lasagne was delivered to the table barely warm so she asked if it could be heated up a bit more. While she waited for her plate to reappear from the kitchen the others polished off the parmi, the fisherman’s basket and the fish and chips. The lasagne came back barely any warmer than it had been but now with double chips on the side?! The lasagne was nice, very nice in fact, but it would have been better hot. Shoulda gone the parmi or one of the deep fried options!!

The other really quirky thing, we all had writing on our plates that looked like red texta but, presumably, was something non-toxic?? Each plate had a code 90L, 90SB, 90P and 90FC. We eventually worked out it was for Table No. 90 Lasagne, Fisherman’s Basket, Parmi and Fish and Chips. None of us could recall having our plates marked up like that before. Maybe the serving staff are supposed to wipe it off before delivering it to the table???

Our slightly weird dinner done and dusted we drove back out to our cottages at the Wave Rock Resort with it now fully dark. Still no wildlife encounters thank goodness!



Steps: 9,222 (6.10kms)

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