Girraween National Park, QLD: Part 5: Mount Norman.

Mount Norman from near the start of the walk.

We drove from our campground in Girraween National Park to the Mount Norman Day Use Area. We did find it quite a challenge to find so I suggest getting good directions before setting off. Once through Wallangarra and heading up Mount Norman Road it is straight forward. Go through the closed gate and travel a few kilometers along a dirt road to the Day Use Area. There is a small parking area, picnic tables and toilets but no water.

Mount Norman Day Use Area and the start of the walking track.

The walk to Mount Norman starts on the opposite side of the road. (Please note that it is also possible to walk to Mount Normon from the Girraween National Park Day Use Area and Castle Rock Camping Area by approaching the summit from the north, via Castle Rock. An 11 km return, Class 3 and 4 track.)

Mount Norman Track (from Mount Norman Day Use Area), 4 km return, Class 3 and 4.

This track climbs to the top of Mount Norman from the southern side.

Wildflowers on the track.

The track climbs steadily upwards but the difficulty gets harder just after the halfway mark. Strategically placed white dashes on the granite show the way.

Right about here the going gets a bit tougher.

Interesting growth in the damp areas of the granite.

Towards the top, I momentarily lost the track before I realised that it went through a gap in the rock wall.

Then the track works its way alongside the rockface until it joins up with the track coming up Mount Norman from the north.

The scale of the massive rocks at the top is hard to capture in a photo. 

It took a bit of hard work, but the final destination is worth it. The "Eye of the Needle" is a magnificent sight!

The Eye of the Needle.

We only saw a few birds on the walk. We took this photo of a White-throated Treecreeper, and although I've seen this bird lots of times, I didn't recognize it because I've only ever seen them from the back or side and never from the front before. 

White-throated Treecreeper

Eastern Spinebill and Willie Wagtail

It was getting pretty late in the afternoon by the time we drove back to Castle Rock Campground and we had to brake very hard to miss a kangaroo. Luckily we weren't driving fast or towing.