Australia: Weekend Getaway to Lake Tyrrell

Something undeniably calming about gazing out of the car window as city scenes give way to country scenery. Summer has rendered the Australian landscape golden…a sequence of large and mostly blonde fields—many are dotted with bales of hay and others are speckled with sheep or cows going about their business under the summer sun. Doesn't everything seem more beautiful when the sun is out? As we head out to Lake Tyrrell for the weekend, Kapil and I swap driving duties so the other can be mesmerised by the landscape.

Lake Tyrrell lies less than 400kms from Melbourne, in the drought-stricken food bowl of the state of Victoria. It is the the state's largest inland salt lake and is drawing more international visitors than Australian ones at the moment. Very few of our friends and acquaintances in Melbourne even know of its existence. In fact, Kapil and I heard about it only a few months ago on a news segment about the massive influx of foreign tourists to the isolated grain town of Sea Lake. The nearest town to Lake Tyrrell, Sea Lake (much to the bewilderment of the locals) has been drawing a steadily growing stream of international visitors over the last couple of years.

So, what makes this lake so special?

Spanning 180 square kilometres, Lake Tyrrell is Victoria's largest inland salt lake.

Sprawled over 180 square kilometres, Lake Tyrrell is pink in colour from a pigment secreted by pink micro-algae red marine phytoplankton. (You can find out more about the lake’s geographical and historic significance here.) The colour of the lake combined with its vastness make for absolutely resplendent sunrises and sunsets. Also, the light pollution in this area is so minimal that the night skies are utterly spectacular. A real treat for avid stargazers and astrophotographers. 

Water level in the lake is determined by climate and ground water, so during the cool and wet months you get a mirror lake that reflects endless skies, magnificent sunrises and fiery sunsets. We have also seen some great portraits and silhouette photos posted online, that have used the mirror reflection from the lake to great, dramatic effect. For much of the year though Lake Tyrrell is mostly dry—a shallow, salt encrusted bowl of water. 

It is summer here, and the weekend Kapil and I spent at the lake was a hot one; so not much water in the lake. Still, as Kapil’s photos attest, Lake Tyrrell was no less spectacular.

Kapil and I spent two whole evenings gazing at the sky as it went from gloriously vivid to bewitchingly inky, shimmering with countless stars. The full moon only temporarily obscured the stars with its brilliance as it rose above the horizon. 

Our first evening there, while Kapil was setting up his camera, I stood spellbound on the lake's viewing platform, until a particularly persistent fly sent me scurrying back into our car. Determined not to miss a moment, I sat in the front passenger seat with my head resting on the dashboard. Looking up through the wide windscreen this way, I suddenly felt like my 10-year old self on a school excursion to the Nehru Planetarium in Bangalore. And that same childlike excitement and wonder bubbled up and lingered as dusk turned to night...as I sat gazing at the stunning celestial canvas, seconds melted into minutes, and into hours. 

A shallow salt encrusted bowl in summer but still spectacular!

Lake Tyrrell: The sky at between sunset and moonrise.

View near the lake's viewing platform between sunset and  moonrise.

Moonrise: Yes, that is the moon rising over the lake at around 10pm.

If the locals could not at the start of the tourist influx fathom such interest in the shallow salt lake in their backyard, they are now embracing the attention and the opportunities that it brings. We stayed in a lovely cabin that we found on Airbnb. The cabin was on a working farm. Our host was great—prompt, hospitable and very helpful. The cabin looked out onto newly harvested fields which were sun-drenched during the day and bathed in the light of a full moon at night. We woke up to beautiful bird songs, and all through breakfast and most of the morning we were entertained by colourful birds playing in the trees and bushes nearby.

All in all, a superb weekend getaway!

PS: If you are driving up from Melbourne, don’t forget to stop at Brim to look at this outstanding artwork by Brisbane artist Guido van Helten on massive grain silos.

A long exposure shot of the  grain silo artwork in Brim by Brisbane artist Guido Van Helten.