Wave Rock in Australia. Rock stone wave in Australia Stone wave in Australia
Surfers cannot ride such a wave, but nevertheless, the Stone Wave rock in Australia is one of the most amazing rock formations in the world. Multimillion-year-old layers of rocks look as if this rock is actually frozen water, turned into stone by time.
A wave frozen in stone
It reaches more than 15 meters in height and more than 91 meters in length. For decades, the Stone Wave rock has attracted tourists from all over the world. In the language of geologists, this is a slope of variable elevation that forms at the base of an inselberg (an isolated outcrop of crystalline rocks on the surface of the earth in flat terrain). There are several other such formations in Australia, but none are as stunning as the Stone Wave cliff that lines one side of Hayden Rock.
A low stone fence has been built along the entire upper edge of the wave, which is unlikely to protect anyone from falling, but, in everyone’s opinion, it spoils the spectacle and clearly does not add to the popularity of photographs of the rock. In fact, the fence is not supposed to protect anyone from falling: it is not a fence at all, but part of an aqueduct built in the 1920s years in order to bring water to dry areas, which is still in use today.
Australia, in my opinion, is a country of records. Here is the hottest point in the southern hemisphere, the largest coral reef on earth, the driest lake in the world, the deepest underwater canyon on the planet, the world's largest diamond deposit and much more.
If you travel around Australia, I advise you not to regret one day traveling to the Stone Wave rock. This is an amazing rock in the shape of a giant wave. This place is located in the southwestern part of the mainland, near the town of Hayden. And if you fly to Perth, which is the most big city this region, you will need to travel another 4 hours by bus or car. But believe me, even such a rather tiring trip is worth seeing!
The shape of the rock resembles the crest of a giant wave, hence its name. When you look at it, it seems as if someone froze the water and turned it into stone.
This unusual shape of the rock is the result of deep processes that were accompanied by the washing out of soft granite by rainwater. It is noteworthy that the stone block tilted under the surface of the earth even before it was born. Rainwater seeped through the soil layer and flowed down the rock, thereby gradually eroding the base of the rock. All this lasted for many millions of years. Gradually, the wind carried away the top layer of soil, thereby exposing an unusual stone wave, the length of which is 110 meters. And the unusual striped color of the rock was due to rain, which gradually washed away carbonates and iron hydroxide, forming red, yellow and gray vertical stripes.
If you get to the Stone Wave, then do not rush to leave this place, taking only a quick look and a few pictures against the backdrop of the rock in a surfer’s pose, as all tourists usually do. The fact is that during the day the rock changes its color: the vertical stripes become red, then gray, then yellow. Amazing sight!
When you stand at the foot of the cliff, it seems that you are about to be covered by a giant wave.
For many centuries the rock has occupied a very important place in culture local residents. The aborigines noted that the stone wave looked like real water and believed that it was here that the forces of nature and the powers of spirits were intertwined.
Today, Australians treat such objects with special respect and make a lot of efforts to preserve the beauty of such natural attractions for their descendants. In the 50s of the last century, a dam was built here to protect the rock from natural destruction and the possible negative effects of rainwater. Until recently, rain flowed in streams along the sloping surface of the rock and fell from its edge like a waterfall. But water in these places is of great value, and in order to ensure that it does not go to waste, a kind of limiter was made along the upper edge of the rock, which retains and directs rainwater into the reservoir, which is located next to the rock.
The sixth day of the trip and today we need to be in Perth, but on the way we decided to stop by the famous Wave Rock or Stone Wave which is near the town Hayden.
– Wave Rock
Spring Perth and South West Western Australia
part 4 – Australia’s Golden Outback
Wave Rock
On the way... Actually this is a pretty decent detour () - from Busselton to Hayden about 420 km, which is a 5-6 hour drive from Hayden to Perth– 340 km for 5 hours drive. All day on the road just to see a huge stone of an unusual shape.
The road is so exhausting that I simply didn’t have the energy or time to photograph the towns along the way. Although, there were some pretty nice ones.
So, why did we take the 10 hour journey? To see for yourself an amazing natural phenomenon almost 15 meters high and about 110 meters long, in the shape of a wave with an overhanging crest, which seems ready to crash on you at any moment. Vertical stripes resulting from the interaction of rainwater and chemical deposits (carbonates and iron hydroxide) give Stone Wave more realistic look.
It seems that some ancient wizard stopped time with one wave of his magic wand, and giant wave, turned into stone, froze in its rapid movement and is waiting for the moment of release from the spell in order to pour onto the plain, sweeping away everything in its path.
Somewhere in the 60s, a spectral analysis of the rock that makes up this rock was done and it was revealed that the age Wave Rocks is about 2700 million years old. Those. Once upon a time, millions of years ago, a huge flat basalt layer was located under the surface of the earth, and water from spring rains, seeping through the soil and flowing down the stone, undermined its foundation. The soil eroded over time and was gradually carried away by the wind, and thus the rock ended up on the surface.
– Fence at Wave Rock collecting rainwater
Not so long ago, during the rainy season, water flowed in streams along the sloping surface of the rock and fell from its “edge of the ridge” like a waterfall. But water in these parts is of great value, and in order to prevent it from going to waste, a certain limiter was made along the upper edge of the rock, trapping and directing rainwater into the reservoir Wave Rock Dam, which is right next to the rock. The reservoir was built back in 1928, expanded in 1951, its volume is 30,000 cubic meters.
Well, how would we be without a legend! Such a famous place must have an Aboriginal legend, but it’s just right for a horror movie.
In ancient times by Wave Rocks there was an old Aboriginal trail. But 300 years ago this trail was abandoned and now the aborigines avoid these places, walking around them many kilometers away.
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Legend of the Dreamtime ()Once upon a time, in forgotten times, there lived a girl from one Aboriginal tribe and a young man from another. They met and fell in love, but ancient law forbade them to marry. But, one way or another, the young couple disobeyed the law and decided to live together, no matter what.
Expelled from their tribes, the young people went to a cave, which they found not far from Wave Rock, and began to live there in love and harmony.
But the gods did not forgive them for breaking the laws, and they had a son with slanted eyes. The parents named the boy Mulka. Mulka grew up surprisingly tall and strong, he was a head taller than his peers, but his squint did not allow him to hunt and he could not get his own food.
Rejected by all the surrounding tribes and left without help, the young man gradually became embittered with the whole world and hated everyone, including his parents, who unwittingly became the cause of his misfortunes, and one day, suffering from hunger, he decided on a terrible act: he sneaked into the camp of one of the tribes at night and stole baby and ate it. This method of obtaining food seemed easy and safe to him, and so Mulka became a cannibal.
When the unfortunate mother tried to reason with her son, in a fit of rage he killed her and ate her. Then the local tribes gathered in council and decided to kill the young man, who had become a threat to the entire area. Having gathered an army, they went to the Mulki cave. Upon learning of the impending attack, Mulka fled, but was found 156 kilometers to the south and stabbed to death with spears, but was not buried. His body was left to be eaten by ants as a warning to those who wished to break the law.
Since then, the cave in which Mulka lived is considered a cursed place in Aboriginal mythology, the aborigines began to walk around it for many kilometers and an ancient path passing nearby Wave Rock, empty.
– Mulka’s Cave
In Mulki Cave you can still see his handprints high above your head, where the hand of an ordinary person cannot reach. This is an ancient Aboriginal tradition: boys coming of age leave handprints made with ocher paint on the stone, or, conversely, light silhouettes of the palm left against the background of dark paint sprayed around.
How do you understand Mulka's Cave or “Bat Cave”, is not so far away, about 20 kilometers northeast of Hayden.
– Hippo’s Yawn
And if you walk along the path that goes along the cliff, you can see another stone formation - Hippo's Yawn– on the diagram near the parking lot between points No. 5 and No. 6. The path is actually a bit long, 3.6 km, designed to take an hour to an hour and a quarter. Walking along it you can still see such formations as - The Humps, Camel Peaks And King Rocks.
The Wave is an amazing rock formation on the border of Arizona and Utah, on the slopes of Coyote Buttes in the desert rocks of the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, on the Colorado Plateau. Large masses of red stone resemble waves frozen in time. The stone is actually sand, which over 190 million years compacted into a rock-like monolith and was polished off by powerful streams of water during the rainy seasons. The "wave" consists of intersecting U-shaped depressions that were eroded into the Navajo Sandstone during the Jurassic period.
The two main troughs that make up this rock measure 19 meters wide by 36 meters long and 2 meters wide by 16 meters long respectively. At first, infrequent runoff eroded these troughs along the joints within the Navajo Sandstone. Once formed, the drainage basin that provided rainwater to these gutters shrank to the point that runoff no longer contributed to cutting these depressions. As a result, gutters are currently only deformed by wind. Near the Wave are popular US parks such as the Grand Canyon Park and the American national park Zion. To get to Volna, you have to walk 5 km, and no more than 20 tourists per day are allowed into the Volna zone, because... monoliths are very fragile and require careful handling.
Photo materials used from the sites: www.wildernessutah.com; images.summitpost.org
Wave Rock is an amazingly beautiful rock formation in Western Australia. Just 340 km from the city of Perth there is a place that is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. Granite wave, stone tsunami - it is quite difficult to describe this place in words; not a single language in the world has enough epithets! The most convenient way to get to the rock is from small town Hayden, 15 minutes by car - and you are there. You can come here on your own or buy tickets and go to group excursion with an experienced guide.
The visible part of the rock rises above the ground to a height of about 15 meters, and its length is 110 meters. According to scientists' hypotheses, the wave rock appeared more than 27 million years ago. For many centuries, Wave Rock has occupied a central place in the culture of the local population. The aborigines noted the similarity of the stone wave with real water and believed that it was in this place that the forces of spirits and the forces of nature intertwined.
Today, Australians treat such places with special respect and make great efforts to preserve the beauty of such natural attractions for posterity. In 1951, a dam was built to protect the stone wave from natural destruction and the possible negative impact of rainwater.
Recently, annual rock festivals have been held in this area, which attract not only ordinary fans of serious music, but world-famous performers such as Sugar Army, Day of the Dead and Jamie T. This event usually takes place in the second half of September.
Have you been to this place and blogged about it?
Blogs
Hyden, Wave Rock
Wave Rock is a natural rock formation located 350 km east of Perth, near the small town of Hyden in Western Australia. This rock was one of the attractions we wanted to see during our trip to Western Australia in August 2014.
thenomadicexplorers , 3 Apr 2015, 11:00
Hyden & Wave Rock
Hyden was founded in the 1920s when the government allowed the land to be used for agriculture and began to distribute these lands to farmers. In the 1930s they held railway, which linked the municipality to Perth. In addition to local attractions - a couple of nondescript caves with some semblance of aboriginal art, the main force attracting tourists to the region is natural monument called Wave Rock - Wave Rock.
kaihopara , 16 Jul 2013, 04:19
Western Australia - southern ring
This time we decided to drive a camper around the southern part of Western Australia. Unfortunately, such a trip requires quite a lot of vacation time, which is never enough, so it was decided to split the trip into two parts.
anzhiv , 30 Mar 2012, 10:01
