– a vast expanse of salt, sky and stars –
We had spent the morning in Echuca and were now on our way. The road from Echuca to Sea Lake traverses vast expanses of flat, yellow farmland. Arriving late in the afternoon, we had just enough time to check in and head off for a pre-arranged 5pm sunset guided tour.
Lake Tyrrell was high on our bucket list and was a must-visit stop on our two week road trip through country Victoria. Finding a vacancy at nearby Sea Lake had proved difficult when we tried to book a few weeks earlier. It turns out that there was a big local community event that weekend. However, we managed to arrange one night’s accommodation at a self-service motel right on the edge of town which turned out to be expensive but nice enough.
first…don’t forget to see the silo and street art..
In the spirit of our recent Victorian silo art tour, we made a quick stop to take a few photos of Sea Lake’s silos. This is the work of Joel Fergie (Zookeeper) & Travis Vinson (Drapl).
There was more artwork in town, with plans for even more in the near future.
lake tyrrell at sunset
However, the main event was a visit to Lake Tyrrell which is about 8 minutes north of town by car. The blogs we’d read beforehand recommended that the first visit be with a guide as they know where to find the best photo opportunities. Apparently, this changes with the seasons and the weather conditions on the day, as basins of water can evaporate very quickly and be restored by underground springs just as fast.
On the day we visited, the lake was only subtly pink and there was barely 30 cm of water in a small basin about 200 metres from our parking spot. Our guide told us that as the weather becomes warmer the algae, which give the lake a pink hue, begin to proliferate. This means the best time for photography is around September-October. The days are a little warmer, but the nights are still cold and clear which helps with night time photography. Ideally, this is even better if it’s timed with a new moon so that the light level is low..
We were part of a larger group and followed the guide in our own car to a site off Saltworks Road. This is west of the main viewing platform (more on that later). As we had plans to eventually strike out on our own, we had brought our own galoshes . These are an absolute necessity for walking on the lake as there are soft muddy patches throughout. They can also be hired from the tour guide.
There was just enough time to catch the fading light and grab a few shots – the large group had held up our departure and we could have benefitted from a slightly earlier arrival so that we could have enjoyed a longer sunset!
The lake is vast, desolate and incredibly beautiful. There’s a stark-white mostly dry and thick crunchy layer of salt underfoot punctuated by the odd soft muddy patch and a few small basins of water. This is one of them.
Our guide offered us the opportunity to join the night tour later on, but we decided that we would grab a bite to eat in town and return around 8:30pm on our own. The food options in Sea Lake are fairly limited. There’s the restaurant at the community-run pub (which was closed for an event on the night) and a couple of take away joints on the main street.
We settled on burgers and chips from the Bottom Cafe so that we could make a quick getaway – fair dinkum tucker made by a friendly old-fashioned Aussie bloke!
checking out the night sky at lake tyrrell
If you live in the city then it’s not often that you get the opportunity to see star-filled night skies. The dark, clear and vast sky at Lake Tyrrell is the perfect place for star-gazing. In busy times, you’ll come across quite a few people out on the lake trying to catch that perfect night-sky shot. We had decided to join them.
On this visit we made our way to the viewing platform. We weren’t feeling brave enough to venture out any further on our own. We’d arrived close to sunset earlier in the evening and didn’t really know what to expect on the salt bed. Besides, our guide had told us stories of people being lost on the lake in the night. It was pitch black and bitterly cold – and that didn’t sound like a good idea!
We had just found our way onto the platform, when we made out a crunching sound coming in our direction and then watched as a solitary light slowly make a beeline for us. It was pitch black and I’ll admit we were scared witless. Then a small voice cried out and asked if anyone was there, and we realised we had probably sacred him just as much!
The voice turned out to belong to an adventurous young guy who had been out on the lake since late afternoon. He’d taken some photos which he was eager to show us below the soft glow of his headlamp – it was beautiful work. We parted ways wishing each other well, and relieved to have connected with another soul in this immense blackness.
The lake – and the huge, light-free night sky – is magnificent. Even with our very basic camera and tripod we managed to take some beautiful night sky shots. This was the Milky Way like we had never seen it before.
The light on the horizon in this last shot was a professional photographer out on the lake.
We were so thankful that we’d decided to come out despite the dark and the biting cold. And boy was it cold, especially when the wind got up. We had our European winter gear on and every time we took off our gloves, it didn’t take long for our fingers to start freezing up! Make sure to dress up nice and warm if you decide to do this in winter!
lake tyrrell at sunrise
We had high hopes of catching the sunrise over the lake and made our way out in the dark early the next morning. Again, we headed for the viewing platform, but in the dawn light we were able walk out a little further across the lake.
Unfortunately, the heavy cloud cover meant that we didn’t catch much of a sunrise. Nonetheless, it didn’t stop us from spending about an hour and a half on the lake admiring the nothingness.
As the light got up, we also took the time to try out our new drone.
The cold and the white reminded me so much of the time we spent on Lake Inari in North Finland a year or so ago – we almost look like we’re there, not on a salt lake in Australia!
Finally, a daytime shot of the viewing platform and walkway:
As we were heading for Mildura later in the day, we decided to stop a little further down the lake and have a quick breakfast with coffee made in our billy. Nice……..
our final take
Sea Lake and Lake Tyrrell were definitely a highlight of our trip. Visit during a new moon at the end of winter or start of spring to capture luminous pink salt lake views and awe-inspiring night skies.
