Granite & Woodland

the Granite and Woodlands Discovery Trail goes east from Hyden for 300km to Norseman; it is a gravel road most of the way but a very good road.  A pamphlet describes 15 stops along this road, covering natural features and historical points along the way.   Perhaps the most important fact, however, is that much of the area is still in its natural state.  As clearing for agriculture continued westward, the lands became less suitable, thus a bit west of Hyden is where clearing stopped.  For about the first half of the trip westward from Hyden the land is flat, very low scrub and very low rainfall.  While a virtual desert, over the Millennia plants evolved to establish a very unique and complex ecosystem, belying its rather uniform appearance.  Most plants are short, about one metre or less in height, the exception being the flame grevillea, growing 2-3 metres in height and forming an avenue along the road.  One very interesting stop is The Breakaways, for which description I defer to the photos; in my view it is equal to Wave Rock.  Further on another stop is McDermid Rock and is another granite dome with a walking track circuit marked out climbing to its highest point and generally around the Rock.  There are intriguing small hollows on the dome that hold water, with the result that small gardens have developed in them. 

The Woodlands section, mainly a mallee type woodland (small eucalypts with several stems arising from a single base), is, according to the pamphlet, ".. one of the world's  greatest remaining untouched temperate woodlands."  Now, these eucalypts are a true natural art form, with their bark patterns and unique twisted trunks & branches.  The bark colours of different species vary from a light mottled salmon colouring to a smooth deep nutty brown to shaggy black 'stockings' with smooth grey upper growth.  The harsh environment gives them infinitely varied shapes and in driving past them you get a 3D continual panoramic that I find truly beautiful.

Further along the Trail is Lake Johnston, another mainly salt flat but it did have some water visible on the far side.  An excavation was carried out at some recent stage to provide a water hole, most likely for firefighting:  In the material scooped out were many gypsum crystals, from which I would guess there is a large deposit down just a metre or two.  The last stop is Norseman and from here I intend going to Esperance and then to visit the National Parks along the South Coast.