Wave Rock

This real nature wonder is located 3 Kilometers east the town of Hyden in Western Australia and around 350 Kilometers south east Perth, in the region known as Australia’s Golden Outback. The Wave Rock is 15 meters high and almost 100 metres long. The face of the Wave Rock appears ready to crash onto a pre-historic surf, which was frozen in the time. 

The rock is composed by grey and red granite strips. According to geologists, the particular shape of the rock was formed by subsurface chemical weathering followed by removal of the soft weathered granite by fluvial erosion; this weathering occurred below ground level before it was exposed. The colours of the rock were produced by the rain chemical deposits (carbonates and iron hydroxide) down the face, forming vertical stripes of greys reds and yellows. It is an interesting and nice spectacle to see how the rock changes its colors along the day, producing awesome views.

Besides, near the Wave Rock is the Wave Rock Dam, an impressive dam which was initially constructed in 1928. This dam was expanded in 1951, to service the Hyden Township and its capacity is 30 megalitres (30 000 cubic meters). The dam has low walls, which have been constructed on Wave Rock to channel the rainwater into the dam. So far this dam system has shown to be very efficient; bearing in mind the small catchment area of only 30 hectares and the low annual rainfall rate, which is only 337 mm. Recently the famous Wave Rock has attracted many tourists and currently it receives around 100 000 visitors per year, being one of the favorite Australian tourist destinations.