Lake Eyre North also known as Kati Thanda is the lowest point in Australia. When it's dry it's fifteen metres below sea level. When its full it's by far the biggest inland freshwater lake in Australia and ranks about twenty-eighth in the world.
The Lake Eyre Basin is the drainage area for northern rivers originating from mountain ranges far away to the northeast. The monsoonal rains come in the "wet season" but only occasionally are they of such magnitude as to produce sufficient flow to reach its southern destination.
I'm driving in the far north on the way home after visiting Lake Eyre. The road sign reads, "You are now entering the Lake Eyre Basin Catchment Area." How about that? We are at least 1,200k's north of Lake Eyre. How does it find its way down there?
It's simple ... it's downhill! When the water gets there months later is sticks around for a while then gradually evaporates. The lake bed reverts to a thick layer of salt.
But astonishing things happen when the rivers are in flood. Fish appear from creek beds that have not seen water for several years. Birds from thousands of kilometers away somehow get wind of this food bonanza and migrate from diverse places to feast and populate.
This story concerns a solo camper-trailer 7000k twenty-five day road trip to Lake Eyre to actually witness it in flood.
It's about natural Australian wonders but more specifically about the people we meet on the way.
The Lake Eyre Basin is the drainage area for northern rivers originating from mountain ranges far away to the northeast. The monsoonal rains come in the "wet season" but only occasionally are they of such magnitude as to produce sufficient flow to reach its southern destination.
I'm driving in the far north on the way home after visiting Lake Eyre. The road sign reads, "You are now entering the Lake Eyre Basin Catchment Area." How about that? We are at least 1,200k's north of Lake Eyre. How does it find its way down there?
It's simple ... it's downhill! When the water gets there months later is sticks around for a while then gradually evaporates. The lake bed reverts to a thick layer of salt.
But astonishing things happen when the rivers are in flood. Fish appear from creek beds that have not seen water for several years. Birds from thousands of kilometers away somehow get wind of this food bonanza and migrate from diverse places to feast and populate.
This story concerns a solo camper-trailer 7000k twenty-five day road trip to Lake Eyre to actually witness it in flood.
It's about natural Australian wonders but more specifically about the people we meet on the way.
