Sunday 22nd February – Gawler Ranges National Park

HOT -  it got to 47C in the camper.  The thermometer was on the north side so I moved it and it did drop down a degree – but it was hot.  We were lucky that we had a breeze which was cool and it took the edge off the heat.  The temperature started to warm up to 30c around 9am and just climbed to the forties around lunch time.  It maxed out around 1.30pm and was starting to drop.  We decided to go for our drive around 3pm and by the time we got back it was down to 38C and we thought – Wow it’s much cooler – see what the heat does to you. :)


This was the loop we completed.  We left Mattera and went down Turkey Flat and then past the Rangers Head Quarters and then up to Kolay Hut and Kolay Mirica Falls. and then back to Mattera.  The trip 2.5 hours and 60 kms.












The drives are on the flat plains between the ranges.  We saw kangaroo, and emu on the drive.











I think these are Wallaroo’s  because of the big smudgy nose.  They range in size between Kangaroos and Wallabies.   Lots of very long fur.  This one was hot and bothered by the heat.  It did have water, as the tank had a leak.












This is Kolay Hut – I am not sure why this has been rebuilt with blocks – I can’t see any historical significance.  It needed a good clean inside.  There was a kitchen, bedroom and shower.  A new toilet block had been built.  It was not locked and was at a camping ground.  Gawler brochures say that you have to be self sufficient, but there was a tank there and water plumbed to the kitchen and shower.  It was obviously an out station hut at some stage, but built not more than 50 or 60 years ago.




The ranges are volcanic rock over 1500 million years old and the volcanic rhyolite is commonly called organ pipes and is one of the largest exposures in the world.  We have previously visited this phenomenon at Mt Kaputar National Park in NSW.   These ones are are not as large as the ones in NSW.  We still have to visit another exposed site of these in Gawler, so it will be interesting to see how large they are.

 





  









Some pretty fancy artwork to match the rocks.






















 




























Looking back to the car in the car park.  Those green trees are along the water course from the water falls and resting in the shade and cool sand were kangaroos.  When we were driving, we disturbed quite a few who were lying in bushes under trees in cool sand.  The cloud is starting to build up for the pretend afternoon storm.



We could see it raining in the distance, but in this heat hardly anything hits the ground.  We joked it was probably raining at camp, yes, everything was open.  As we turned on to the camp road we had several spits hit the windscreen, we scurried a little faster.  In the end we had a couple of spits a rumble of thunder and nothing – the same as yesterday.

It is now just after 8pm and it is starting to cool a little down to 34C. – its still light.
This reminds me of the stories I have read about the months leading up to the wet season in the north, the hot days leading up to threatening rain that doesn’t eventuate, the best part is that there isn’t much humidity here.

The drive tomorrow has more features, so we will be heading off early straight after breakfast.

Update:  cool change came through overnight - it was down below 15C and was still 20C mid morning, so we were wearing jumpers - how crazy is the weather.  Much cooler and breezier today.