We had found out that the road from Hyden to Norseman was closed due to the heavy rain – it is an unsealed road – and thus we had a long detour around to reach our next campground where we were reuniting with Gordon and Kerry. We had planned to meet at Afghan’s Rock rest area but due to the length of the drive, and also the ease of location we decided to meet at Newman’s Rock where we had camped on our way over….

The detour would take us south via Ravensthorpe… then almost to Esperance but taking a shortcut on a minor road to Gibson, then north to Norseman and on to Newman’s Rock… the length was almost 700km (as opposed to around 400 on the currently closed dirt road) – but as there was no choice we buckled in for a long day driving….

We decided to leave Wave Rock at 0700 to get some kms under our belt early… it was foggy and cold as we hitched on and left…

The fog did slow the journey somewhat initially as visibility  was not great….

However, there were some great photo ops of the ethereal landscape as the sun rose and the fog swirled around the trees and farmland…

The road was great and wound through beautiful farmland – a lot of grain is grown in the area….

The “Stuck Truck” was an amusing landmark along the way….

As we got close to Ravensthorpe more big mines were evident….

We drove into Ravensthorpe and fuelled up – and grabbed a coffee and homemade baked goods at a small café on the left hand side as you drive out towards Esperance – the coffee and food was delicious!!

Continuing on we drove under a bridge conveying ore from a mine….

through farms of brilliant yellow canola….

And turned off onto the minor Dalyup-Gibson Road – which was again a great sealed road though farmland…. Lots of sheep and lambs….

At Norseman we stopped for lunch and fuel, then continued on the last 1.5hr leg of our day’s journey to Newman’s Rock… the road seemed to be endless as it stretched out in front of us…

We finally arrived at the turn-off to the free camp… and drove in to the welcome sight of Gordon and Kerry who had picked a great spot for us to do a wagon train.

We all needed to stretch our legs so we went for a walk to Newman’s Rock – it was much fuller with water than when we were here a few weeks ago.

The outlook across the valley was lovely….

and the waterhole made a stunning foreground to the backdrop of the setting sun….

Gordie had done a great job getting firewood for the campfire which we were soon sitting around having happy hour….