Mt Ive, Nonning,
Yardea & The
Gawler Ranges
National Park
On the 14th June 2008, we were
driving home to Minnipa from
Whyalla.   When we turned onto the
Eyre Highway at Iron Knob, I said to
Craig: "We are going to have to go
home the back way one day"
The intersection for the 'back way'
was right there, so we turned right
and headed off down the track!
We came across the plaque at left,
showing one of Edward John Eyres
campsites in 1839.
The road runs from Iron Knob, to Mt Ive
Station, through to Nonning Station,
then turns off towards Yardea Station
before heading back to Minnipa through
the Gawler Ranges National Park.
The roads are dirt roads, and are pretty
well maintained.
In the dry season they are suitable for
2WD, but in the wet, most definitely
4WD only, and in some cases the road
is entirely closed.  There are NO service
stations, and NO mobile phone service
out there, and its not a 'well used' road.
Mt Ive Station has its own
'submarine' surfacing at its
gateway.... Someone with a
great sense of humour has
taken the time to make this and
place it on the roadside.
A few km down the track, an old
wagon marks a turnoff.
If you get stuck out there,
chances are you wont have
anyone come along to help you
for quite some time.  So if you
do travel that way - Let
someone know where you are
headed!
Stupidly I didnt
photograph the
plaque at these
ruins, but I THINK
its the Old Yardea
Homestead.  As
you can see the
ruins are in a fairly
advanced stage of
decay.
The wildlife out there is in abundance.  
Emus and Kangaroos are by the roadside,
not phased by the sparse amount of traffic.
There is a wide range of types of
kangaroos as you can clearly see in
the photographs - there are a
mixture of Euros, Wallabys and
Kangaroos.
These two furry little creatures were
just adorable and stood there for
quite some time to be photographed.
 Every now and then the little one
would sit right up on its legs ready to
take off, then sit back down again.
It was fairly green up there on the day we
came through.  The numbers of
kangaroos have eaten the grasses down
fairly well, and its all green, but short!
This day was the most roos we have
seen in one trip.  We didnt bother to
count, but there were hundreds that we
saw - so obviously thousands of them
that we didnt see.
They have no predators out there for the
most part, so have bred up to huge
numbers of them.  Its lovely to see them
in their little families!
Its a lovely drive through there,
and we would thoroughly
reccomend it to anyone who has
a sense of adventure, and is
well prepared for driving in
isolated areas.  Remember to
have at least two spare tyres,
plenty of water and food in case
you get stuck, and let someone
know where you are going!
For information on the Gawler Ranges, please visit our page on them here.
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