Whilst working on Dakar-style mototsport event, the Australasian Safari, I had the opportunity to squeeze in a couple of hours sightseeing around Gascoyne Junction.
About 90km from Gascoyne Junction, population 100, is the spectacular Kennedy Ranges. These colour-filled rock formations are over 450 million years old and there is clearly evidence everywhere with fossils every few steps that show that the ocean was once here. Mind you, Gascoyne Junction is about 170km inland from the coastal town of Carnarvon. Mind boggling.
The Kennedy Range itself is a huge mesa 75 km long and up to 25 km wide, running North to South. The Southern and eastern sides of the range have eroded to form spectacular cliffs that rise up to 100metres above the Lyons River Valley plain. The eastern to the Kennedys is approximate 50 kms from Gascoyne Junction along the Ullawarra Road.
The Kennedy Ranges are situated within the boundaries of the Kennedy Range National Park which is managed by the Department of Environment and Conservation.
The feeling of the place was nothing short of spiritual. It was certainly magical and we found it unbelievable that we could be the only people on the planet at that spectacular spot. If this place was in America, it would have tour bus after tour bus of tourists coming in to appreciate the natural beauty.
Be sure to put this place on your road-trip plan when visiting Western Australia. Truly, it’s breathtaking.
Hi Di,
Passed through Gascoyne Junction in 2002 but never got to see the Kennedy Ranges!! I did get a piece of Moonrock that is part of the Kennedys’ make-up. It’s very much like a petrified mudstone. That part of WA is very remote but also very beautiful.
Ciao
W