In December 2018, I had cause to travel to Merredin on an overnight trip with a quick stop in Hyden. Literally as I'm writing this I'm wondering if this is even a post worth writing. The Great Eastern Highway is the main route which links Perth with Kalgoorlie and rest of the Goldfields Region. At Coolgardie, just before Kalgoorlie it splits and heads south to Esperance, and north to eventually meet with the Great Northern Highway at Meekatharra.
On the journey out, we stopped at York, with lunch at my favourite locale Jules' Shoppe. The menu is massive and every time I order (the same item), I spent the remaining waiting time staring at the menu wondering what I should order next time.
We further travelled east towards Quairading, then realised that we wouldn't have enough time to visit Hyden and make it to our accomodation in Merredin before the end of the day. We passed the non-pink Pink Lake of Qairading, headed north, passing Mount Stirling Nature Reserve and then rejoined the Great Eastern Highway at Kellerberrin.
We arrived in Meredin where a Christmas street party was in full swing. Dinner at Cafe 42 where I had the Salt & Pepper Squid.
The next day we popped into the same cafe, being the only early opening breakfast place, luckily it was a good spot and then went straight south to Hyden via Narembeen. On the east side of Narembeen, on the road to Wadderin there was a fence along another straight road, but this fence line was different. Shoes, hundreds and hundreds of shoes hung on the fence for one mile. They call it Narembeen's Mile of Boots. According to Trip Advisor its number 2 of 2 things to do in Narembeen. The four reviews seem positive but dispute the one mile claim...
Being a little short on time we decided to have a look at Hippo's Yawn but skip Wave Rock. I don't know if I'd go back. The problem is, there isn't anything else there, nor is it really on the way to any other sights or even food spots. After the hippo's yawn, we returned to Perth and that was that!
