Wudinna - Places to See

Mount Wudinna Tourist Drive

If the visitor keeps driving along Naylor Terrace, past the town's swimming pool and the local hospital, they will head straight out towards the granite outcrops which are the most interesting feature in the area. The drive, known as the Mount Wudinna Tourist Drive, goes to a number of interesting granite outcrops including the Polda Rocks which are 7 km outside of town, the Pygery Rocks which are 8 km, Little Mount Wudinna (9 km), Turtle Rock (12 km), Mount Wudinna (12 km), Peella Rock (30 km), and Corrobinnie Hill (32 km). These are not just a pile of rocks in the middle of a rural landscape. They are strange and impressive granite outcrops which were probably formed over 1500 million years ago at the same time as the Gawler Ranges.

Mount Wudinna, for example, is 260 m high and covers an area of about 112 ha. and Turtle Rock, even to the untrained and unimaginative eye, really does look like a huge turtle lying on the plains. All the rocks are believed to be remnants of a much larger granite mass which has undergone intense weathering over millions of years. The notable and unusual geological features of the rocks include rillen (eroded channels on the sides of the inselbergs) and tafoni (caves found on the granite outcrops).

Mount Wudinna, which is by far the largest of the granite outcrops, was first sighted by Europeans in 1844 when the explorer John Charles Darke passed through the area looking for good pastoral lands. He was fatally speared a short time later by Aborigines at Waddikee, between the present day sites of Kyancutta and Kimba.

Motels

Gawler Ranges Motel
Eyre Hwy P.O. Box 314
Wudinna SA 5652
Telephone: (08) 8680 2090
Rating: ***

Hotels

Wudinna Hotel/Motel
Burton Tce P.O. Box 25
Wudinna SA 5652
Telephone: (08) 8680 2019
Rating: **

Caravan Parks

Gawler Ranges Caravan Park
Eyre Hwy P.O. Box 314
Wudinna SA 5652
Telephone: (08) 8680 2090
Rating: **