Julie Pringle parks her vehicle above the dry shores of Lake Tyrrell in northwest Victoria. Brooding rain clouds stretch across the broad skies of Mallee, threatening to disrupt our pre-dawn tour from the farming town of Sea Lake. But with the rain forecast holding out for a few more hours, and without a hint of a breeze, Julie declares the conditions ideal for creating mirror-like reflections on the surface of the state’s largest and oldest salt lake.
“I love it when we get rain clouds here,” she says. “The sky is opening and talking to you. It’s just beautiful.’
She leads us to the crusty surface of the shallow salt pan. Since it is mid-November, hardly any water remains in the lake. The winter rains that fill it from June to August each year have largely evaporated, with winds moving the rest of the bay from one bay to another. At this time of year, however, most of the water on the lake’s surface has seeped up from below, leaving muddy pools hidden just below the surface crust.
As we tiptoe out onto the lake in distinctly old-fashioned rubber boots, the crunch of dried salt beneath our feet sounds like we’re trudging through a bowl of cereal. Around the edges of the lake, the briny crust betrays a pinkish hue caused by spring rains mixing with high salinity and algae.
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Anne Morely
If the conditions are right, you can capture mirror-like reflections from the surface of Victoria’s largest and oldest salt lake.
Between September and December, that precise chemical process turns this into one of Victoria’s rare pink lakes (others are near Dimboola and in Murray Sunset National Park, west of Ouyen).
In recent years, the ruddy blotch and mirror-like reflections from the shallow lake’s surface have helped make Sea Lake one of the state’s most unlikely tourist towns.
Before 2014, however, young urbanites couldn’t escape it fast enough. The outdated pub, the Royal Hotel, was on its last legs, reflecting his patronage. And the big supermarket chains had left it.
Then a photo of sunset reflections on Lake Tyrrell went viral on Chinese social media, sparking a flood of foreign and then domestic tourists hitting a trail north of Melbourne and injecting some much-needed funds into the region.
Anne Morely
In the warmer months, hardly any water remains in the lake.
The teardrop effect of these never-before-seen visitors strolling into town with a tripod slung over their shoulders, hoping to capture compelling images of the Milky Way arching over the lake, or of the rich dawn colors reflected in the water’s surface, is nothing short of amazing.
Locals banded together to buy the pub and spent millions to restore it as the center of social activity in the city and turn it into a must-see attraction. Real estate prices skyrocketed as properties were bought and rented out through short-term lodging websites.
And as older residents inevitably move to larger cities with better health facilities, young people growing up in the Mallee have begun to return, giving Sea Lake a much-needed energy boost.
Anne Morely
Around the edges of the lake, the briny crust betrays a pinkish hue caused by spring rains mixing with high salinity and algae.
In December 2020, a multi-million dollar tourist installation was opened next to the lake in an effort to enhance the experience, and the road there from the city was upgraded to minimize the chance of car accidents.
Before that, a photo gallery and cafe opened in the old bank building to showcase the beauty of the lake, which was taken for granted in the past. Late last year, the disused Buloke Shire Office building on Calder Highway was repurposed as a brand new visitor center staffed entirely by volunteers. One of those volunteers is Julie Pringle.
It’s fair to say that Pringle has taken the lead in promoting tourism in and around the Sea Lake area. She was the one who uploaded the photo that went viral on Chinese social media. And it was she who answered questions from an inbound travel agency in Sydney, who promptly organized itineraries to the Mallee to see the lake, and arranged a rush of Greyhound buses with unfamiliar foreign letters along the side to stop in the city.
It was also Pringle who saw the business potential early in the play when she opened an accommodation booking service and offered tours to the lake three times a day, seven days a week. Without her knowledge of the seasons and the changing moods of the lake, astro and landscape photographers would not be able to get the shots they want so easily.
Of course, Covid halted the arrival of the buses two years ago, although that is expected to resume once lockdown restrictions are lifted in China. On the other hand, domestic tourists have now slumped, with many visits to Sea Lake and Lake Tyrrell as they drive through northwest Victoria and follow the Silo Art Trail that links small town grain silos scattered across the Wimmera and Mallee regions.
Anne Morely
The lake is a popular spot with landscape photographers.
In October 2019, a colorful artwork depicting a young girl swinging from a Mallee eucalyptus overlooking the lake was completed on the towering silos of Sea Lake, next to the railroad track. Street murals can also be seen all over the city.
But it’s the lake that really attracts them, even though it took 120,000 years for people to realize how special it is.
“It’s probably the nicest thing there is in regional Victoria,” says Pringle. “I really believe that. It’s absolutely excellent.”
Staying safe: To check safetravel.govt.nz to stay informed of the latest travel advice prior to the trip.
Mark Daffey visited Lake Tyrrell courtesy of Sea Lake Tyrrell Tours (sealaketyrrelltours.com.au).