Day: May 10, 2026

We arrive and squeeze into the William Creek Caravan Park. The place is heaving! With Lake Eyre filling, the tourists have come from all over. You can access the lake at ground level but doing a flight is a popular way to see this great Australian lake.

The Lake Eyre Basin is one of the world’s largest internally draining systems, covering 22% of the Australian continent. It is the final collection point for water flowing from surrounding watercourses, including Cooper Creek, Georgina-Diamantina and Warburton Rivers. Unlike other great river systems in Australia (i.e. the Murray/Darling), these have been left to flow freely and have not been interfered with, dammed or drained for irrigation purposes.

Allowing Mother Nature to do her thing has enabled the ecosystems that rely upon these waters to survive and thrive. Sure, it makes it tough for the pastoralists and it’s no doubt tempting, but they seem to understand the importance of leaving it be to maintain a balance and they have found ways to solve their own problems without creating another for future generations. What a refreshing and intelligent approach!

At the beginning of our trip we travelled along the Darling River but hardly saw any water and we continually see news, reports and comments from other travellers about how that river system is dying, along with the flora, fauna and livelihoods of the people who have built towns, homes and stations along its once powerful and abundant banks. Last we heard Broken Hill is getting desperately low on water, will they survive?

Along with the Great Dividing Range another recurrent travelling partner of ours has been the Great Artesian Basin. It literally pops up everywhere with springs and hot baths all over the place. And here she features again. The Lake Eyre Basin overlies the Great Artesian Basin, which is the largest and deepest underground reservoir in the world, holding about 65,000 gigalitres or 130,000 Sydney Harbours of water. The relationship between the aquifers’ ground water and Lake Eyre’s surface water is largely unknown.

What an amazing country we live in. Even more amazing was how quickly the girls got their school work and journal writing completed the afternoon we arrived. However they were highly motivated with their new friends from Marree arriving any tick of the clock. With much excitement the vans rolled in and squeezed into any space that was left. It’s lovely to see the kids so excited to see and be with other kids. We’ve not really come across too many other families on the road so I think the girls have been a little starved and greatly miss these fun interactions with peers.

The next day we take our flight over Lake Eyre at 1000, unfortunately we couldn’t get on the sunrise flight, but at least we got a sleep in. Luckily we ended up in a small 6 seater Cessna so it was just our family crammed in, which made it more relaxing and very enjoyable.

I’d packed snacks to help pass the two hour flight time and the girls did pretty well.

Once up in the air the nerves abated and they mostly enjoyed it, for them it was probably half an hour to an hour too long. Lulu fell asleep to the drone of the engines and for Ken and I the time seemed to pass quickly.

The pilot was great and the view stunning. Upon reflection, as I now write this blog many months since we took the flight, the four things that remain vivid to my mind and feeling are;

1. The distance it has had to travel and time it takes to get here (approx. 5/6 months).
2. The epic size and amount of water it must take to fill the lake.
3. The 50 shades of pastel, blue, greens, white, pinks and brown of the lake’s surface.
4. The 50 shades of red, orange and brown that make up the dry Australian outback that surrounds the lake.

We’re glad to be back on the ground but totally pumped by what we’ve just experienced.

After the flight we farewelled the other families, hitched up the van and got on the road again. Destination Coober Pedy.