After almost a week of uneventful marking, odd jobs and a general lack of photographic opportunities we’ve certainly made up for it in the past few days. The usually dull and boring trip across the Hay Plains was incredibly pleasant. Not only was it green, but there was water lying around.
Our destination was the Pink Lakes in Murray Sunset National Park. The park books and website made it sound interesting but we really didn’t know what we’d find. There was a forecast for rain the day after we arrived, so as soon as we got there we went for a walk and found the lake was a salt pan. The pink hue comes from carotene in the algae that lives in the water underneath the salt crust (according to the book).
We were treated to lots of spectacular views later in the afternoon and the next day as the rain came through. The rain formed a lovely thin layer of water on the salt crust and produced some great reflections.
Now we were so close to the South Australian border the itch to get moving couldn’t be kept at bay. Our first stop has been Naracoorte Caves National Park, and we weren’t disappointed. We did a tour of t
he cave where they have found fossils of the extinct mega fauna. The tour was very interesting, with explanations of how the animals fell down pit fall traps, as well as the types of clues they use to try to figure out
more about the extinct animals’ diets and foraging/hunting habits. There was the usual array of cave decorations, and some pretty native gardens above ground too.
A few more days of marking await us, and then it’s further south to Mt Gambier.
After almost a week of uneventful marking, odd jobs and a general lack of photographic opportunities we’ve certainly made up for it in the past few days. The usually dull and boring trip across the Hay Plains was incredibly pleasant. Not only was it green, but there was water lying around.
Our destination was the Pink Lakes in Murray Sunset National Park. The park books and website made it sound interesting but we really didn’t know what we’d find. There was a forecast for rain the day after we arrived, so as soon as we got there we went for a walk and found the lake was a salt pan. The pink hue comes from carotene in the algae that lives in the water underneath the salt crust (according to the book). 
We were treated to lots of spectacular views later in the afternoon and the next day as the rain came through. The rain formed a lovely thin layer of water on the salt crust and produced some great reflections. 
Now we were so close to the South Australian border the itch to get moving couldn’t be kept at bay. Our first stop has been Naracoorte Caves National Park, and we weren’t disappointed. We did a tour of t
he cave where they have found fossils of the extinct mega fauna. The tour was very interesting, with explanations of how the animals fell down pit fall traps, as well as the types of clues they use to try to figure out 
more about the extinct animals’ diets and foraging/hunting habits. There was the usual array of cave decorations, and some pretty native gardens above ground too. 
A few more days of marking await us, and then it’s further south to Mt Gambier.
