Wayne Ryan's blog: In The Pink

Sunday, 11 March 2012

In The Pink

The Pink Lakes are in the Murray Sunset National Park in the far North Western corner of Victoria, on the border with South Australia and New South Wales. You turn off the highway at Underbool, 60km west of Ouyen on the Mallee Highway and 80kms from the South Australian border. From here its an an all weather gravel road to the main camping area at Lake Crosbie and nearby you have Lake Becking, Kenyon and Hardy. The waters of all these lakes appear pink and the intensity of colour varies throughout the year and is strongest after rains and in overcast conditions. The water is actualy crystal clear and 80 times more salty than the ocean, its on the solid salt bed of the lakes which is covered with a species of red algae (Dunaliella salina) that gives the lakes their characteristic pink colouring. Commercial salt mining was carried out here from 1916 until 1979 and there was once even a small town and a school. Access further north into the 633,000ha national park is 4WD only, very soft sand and some of the most remote areas of Victoria. We returned home via Manangatang and Swan Hill where I finally got to see a Murray Cod.