A Rock and a Hard Place

Rut, be gone! Yesterday I drove 300 kilometers into the country, climbed a rock in the middle of nowhere and then came home again.

Well, more or less.

The new (also annoying) guy at work was trying to motivate me to do something different the other day and suggested I go for a walk around the (drug dealer) park near my house. It didn't actually strike me as a terribly enjoyable thing to do in 41 degree (celcius) weather, but it did make me get off my arse. I decided that I'd go and find Mollerin Rock out north of Koorda somewhere.

I drove out a different way, through Toodyay this time. It was meant to be a shorter route, but I meandered, stopping here and there to enjoy the peace and quiet. I saw lots of birds and goannas and a big green snake and a dead mammal or two. At one point I thought I saw a kangaroo on the side of the road, until it flapped it's wings and a huge wedge tail eagle flew off. I went north to a tiny town called Beacon and then east and I felt like I was on the edge of civilisation. You can feel the emptiness of the outback starting out there. The land is harsh, the desert begins not too far away. I found my way after a time of feeling a little lost, I hit a road to Koorda, found the dirt road to Mollerin Rock and turned my mother's Honda down the track. I passed pastures, farms, flocks of sheep and kicked up a red trail of dust and dirt behind me.

I was relieved to finally find the damn rock. I had to traverse a windy dirt track that lead off the dirt road. I parked the car at the base of the rock and bounded up the sloped side, barely remembering to watch out for snakes as lizards zoomed out of my way at the speed of light. I have never seen a living thing move as fast as that lizard. It didn't feel so high as I was walking up it, but once I got to the top I had the most amazing view. I took a few photos, got pestered by a zillion flies and whipped by some crazy winds.

And then I was gone.