The top of Mt Norman is graced by many large boulders. These are the last remnants of enormous sheets of granite that have fractured and weathered away over millions of years.

Some granite sheets have cracked into fragments and weathered into piles of boulders – rather like stacked rows of children's building blocks. On some boulders, this weathering has occurred not only on the upper surfaces and sides, but also on the underside. The boulder ends up being shaped so that it is resting upon only a small base – the "balancing" point. Two such piles of balancing rocks have formed, side by side and not touching, on the northern end of Mt Norman. When viewed from some angles, the two pillars look like a single column - "The Needle" - with a hole through it - "The Eye".

The Eye of the Needle is easily accessable from the Mt Norman walking track. A short side track takes you to a good viewing point.

For more on how Girraween's amazing granite features were formed, see our Geology pages.