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Destinations > The Gawler Ranges
The Gawler Ranges
Mt Ive offers a variety of four wheel drive tracks for you to explore. Similar to the properties found in the Flinders Ranges, a small fee applies to make it worth their while, but the $20 per vehicle won't break your bank. If Mt Ive is the jewel in the Gawler Ranges then Lake Gairdner is definitely the diamond.
Nothing can really prepare you for the fantastic sight of Lake Gairdner. The friendly folk at Mt Ive Station will arm you with the appropriate maps and a key to the locked gate. This is a place where land speed records have been set. There is even a Dry Lakes Racers Association who hold speed trials each year on the salt lake, weather permitting. The lake stretches for over 150 kilometres and is up to 50 kilometres wide in places. You can drive right up to its edge and then walk out onto the metre thick layer of white salt. This is an awe inspiring place and one worth visiting for sunrise, sunset and in the middle of the day.
On the way to the lake there are numerous landforms marked on your mud map also worth inspecting. Kath's Castle and the old embankment built in 1892 are both worth a little time. The organ pipe rock formations at Kath's Castle are quite amazing although they do require some rock hopping to get up close and personal. Don't worry if the thought of expending all that energy is too much, there are many more opportunities for shorter and easier walks to organ pipe formations throughout the Station and the National Park.
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There are several other drives you can take on Mt Ive Station and the mud maps supplied will help you find your way around this fascinating station. Some tracks are steep and require low range, whilst others have harsh jagged, red rock just waiting to pierce a tyre. The notes recommend tyre pressure down to no more than 30 psi, heed this warning.
Mt Ive is just a blip on the radar though when it comes to the wider area of the Gawler Ranges. To the south of the Station there is the Gawler Ranges National Park and this place could easily absorb several days.
On my visit I headed to Thurlga Homestead and then followed the Kimba road through some spectacular rolling hills and dry lakes to take the public access route into the National Park. You pay your entry fees at Paney Homestead which has been preserved and contains many relics of the pastoralist era. From here you can circumnavigate the Park on roads that are unsealed but in good order, they would be impassable after rain. There are several camping opportunities. At Kolay hut, there is level camping under shady trees above a dry creek bed with the old hut nearby in case it does rain. Just around the corner from the hut is Kolay Mirica Falls. The road ends at a car park and it is a short and easy walk to a rocky cliff face where the organ pipe formations are easily reached.
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Nothing can really prepare you for the fantastic sight of Lake Gairdner. The friendly folk at Mt Ive Station will arm you with the appropriate maps and a key to the locked gate. This is a place where land speed records have been set. There is even a Dry Lakes Racers Association who hold speed trials each year on the salt lake, weather permitting. The lake stretches for over 150 kilometres and is up to 50 kilometres wide in places. You can drive right up to its edge and then walk out onto the metre thick layer of white salt. This is an awe inspiring place and one worth visiting for sunrise, sunset and in the middle of the day.
On the way to the lake there are numerous landforms marked on your mud map also worth inspecting. Kath's Castle and the old embankment built in 1892 are both worth a little time. The organ pipe rock formations at Kath's Castle are quite amazing although they do require some rock hopping to get up close and personal. Don't worry if the thought of expending all that energy is too much, there are many more opportunities for shorter and easier walks to organ pipe formations throughout the Station and the National Park.
read on below advertisement
There are several other drives you can take on Mt Ive Station and the mud maps supplied will help you find your way around this fascinating station. Some tracks are steep and require low range, whilst others have harsh jagged, red rock just waiting to pierce a tyre. The notes recommend tyre pressure down to no more than 30 psi, heed this warning.
Mt Ive is just a blip on the radar though when it comes to the wider area of the Gawler Ranges. To the south of the Station there is the Gawler Ranges National Park and this place could easily absorb several days.
On my visit I headed to Thurlga Homestead and then followed the Kimba road through some spectacular rolling hills and dry lakes to take the public access route into the National Park. You pay your entry fees at Paney Homestead which has been preserved and contains many relics of the pastoralist era. From here you can circumnavigate the Park on roads that are unsealed but in good order, they would be impassable after rain. There are several camping opportunities. At Kolay hut, there is level camping under shady trees above a dry creek bed with the old hut nearby in case it does rain. Just around the corner from the hut is Kolay Mirica Falls. The road ends at a car park and it is a short and easy walk to a rocky cliff face where the organ pipe formations are easily reached.
next page »
