Aussie Geolidays: Gawler Ranges NP

Campground: Kolay Hut
Facilities: Toilet, Rainwater Tank.
Good stuff: Shelter in Kolay Hut if the weather was terrible and nice location.
Not so good stuff: Can be windy but just bad timing on our part.
Price: $10 Vehicle Entry; $10 per vehicle (up to 8 occupants)

The Gawler Ranges is a good place to stop off if you are in the North Eyre Peninsula. Whether you are short of time and just want to head to the ‘Organ Pipes’ to see some awesome rhyolitic volcanism, the parks most well known feature, or wander around the Old Paney Homestead a few kilometres on, you would get a good overview of the Gawler Ranges in general. But you have come so far, what’s another 50km to see everything this place has to offer?

Sums up a lot of the scenery in the Gawler Ranges

The organ pipes are a must do if you are heading here and only just over 20km return from the southern park entrance. The only bummer is that the track is 4WD only, that is with some nice ruts and deep channels where people have had issues in the wet. All in all it was an easy drive if you take your time to avoid the sudden bumps – in the wet, well lets hope you have traction aids as the tracks will turn to slop. The scenery at the end is well worth it with a 500m walk to the vertical rhyolite columns.

Organ Pipes (Rhyolite) in the process of falling down the hill...

From there we commenced along the 2WD Old Paney Scenic Route to the Stone Dam. The name of the site is rather blunt and to the point but I guess it’s what it says on the tin. Other places to check out along this road are the Old Paney Homestead and Policeman’s Point. The only thing that was missing from the stop off points in the NP was a lack of informative signs. The walk to Policeman’s Point was nice but why was it called Policeman’s Point and what was the story behind the Rhyolite columns? Suffice to say we made up elaborate stories regarding Policeman’s point, none of which are suitable for this post.

Have you guessed what it is yet?

Now it was time for a bit of 4WDing! We diverged from the Old Paney Scenic Route on to the Mattera track, which took us to the Kolay Mirica Falls, and this track is a definite 4WD only route. The ground looks relatively good… Oh nope another rut. Whether it was the colour of the redy orange track or the lighting at the time it was not the smoothest of rides. The Kolay Mirica Falls lookout had some extra pazazz from the others we visited and it would have looked stunning after some rain (as it is actually a waterfall – but only after a heavy rainfall). The extra plus was IT HAD A SIGN!!! We could finally learn more about the geology of the area: think the 1980 Mt St Helen’s Eruption and times by 37! It was a BIG eruption, which resulted in these rhyolitic outcrops across the park along with most of the volcanics in the Gawler Range area. Kolay Mirica Falls would be both of our top pick for viewing columnar jointing in the national park as you can easily get up close to the face and clamber all over it… for science of course.