April 13 -14 Menindee Lakes

April 13 Lake Mungo – Menindee Lakes

Up early to see the sun rise over Lake Mungo. It was really special as you could see the whole lake as the sun rose over the horizon. Must have been an amazing sight when it was full.

Drove to Menindee and have set up camp “On the Banks of the Darling” at Burke and Wills Campsite. The river is running as a result of all the rain in Queensland and they are letting water out of the lake into the Darling. People are fishing and catching lots of yellow belly. We saw a mass of carp not far from where the water was being released. Sat on the edge of the Lakes and watched the sun set. What a magical experience. There were pelicans just cruising along and lots of ducks and cormorants. They were backlit by the setting sun.

April 14 Menindee Lakes

Last year, I read an article in the Sunday Mail about   “River lady” Tour on the lakes at Menindee. It was a sunset cruise which I would have preferred but they are not running them at the moment. To get to the boat, we had to go to the Main weir and then cross to the other side. The road across was closed to traffic today as water is being let out of the lake system.

The cruise actually went done the Darling R and in Lake Wetherell which is formed from the back up water from the dam. Cruise was good. There are hundreds of dead river gums in the lakes. They apparently drowned when the floods came down 50 years ago.

The Menindee Lake System is really a group of lakes: Menindee is the largest, Cawndilla and Pamamaroo are about the same size while Tandure is much smaller and Emu is the smallest. Jo and I did a drive to the lookout on Menindee Lake and water was pouring into it from the weir. We then went to Copi Hollow for a look and found a group of Black Cockatoos – made my day!!!! I got some lovely photos.

Yellow Belly for dinner tonight. My Dad would have loved to be here. He was a great Yellow Belly cook too.