Kati Thanda

I’ve always wanted to see Lake Eyre in flood.  It’s renown for two geological records; the dry lake bed is the lowest natural point in Australia (approximately 15 m below sea level) and on the rare occasions when it contains water, it’s the nation’s largest lake (covering 9,500 km2). 

For much of its time, the lake is a dry and dusty salt pan.  It fills completely only a few times each century; with less dramatic flood events happening every three to ten years. However, each time it fills, the water rapidly evaporates and is all but gone by the end of the following summer. 

Earlier this year a series of cyclones in the tropical north sent floodwaters flowing through the lake’s catchment resulting two separate flood events that have filled the lake to its greatest depth in almost a decade.  As luck would have our road trip through the Red Centre coincided as the second flood was reaching its peak.

I decided to shout Garry an early birthday present and booked us on a half-day flight.  The tour departs from Coober Pedy airport shortly after 8am. On board were the two of us, a couple from Melbourne and our pilot.  Our flight took us across the desert, passing over the Oodnadatta Track, the Outback town of William Creek and on to the lake itself.

The lake was magnificent!  Our tour took us over the northern limb of Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre as its officially known, then across the mouth of the Waburton River and into the surrounding channel country.  The floodwaters here had breached the river bank filling the area with sun-speckled, water-filled pans and streams.

We then headed south along the lake’s Waburton Groove, a deep channel in the middle of the lake that feeds water towards its southern-most, and deepest points, called Belt Bay and the Madigan Gulf.  The view was genuinely breath-taking.  Water stretches out in gentle fans across sodden mudflats, surrounds two of the lake’s temporary islands and slowly transforms itself into a classic aqua expanse at its deepest point.

Our pilot even took us on a brief detour over the top of one island where we could see the occasional tree clinging to life on the desolate rocky ground.  We were also lucky enough to see a large flock of pelicans in flight.

From the lake, we flew on to William Creek, where we landed for an hour on the ground.  The tour fed us morning tea at the local hotel (said to be one of Australia’s remotest pubs) and then left us to explore the township and its “town square”.  The town has a population of 10 and contains just a handful of buildings; many of which support the local airstrip and nearby Anne Creek Cattle Station.

It’s also a popular fuel stop on the Oodnadatta Track, sitting halfway between the track’s northern entry point at Marla and the Oodnadatta township further south. In the brief time we were on the ground, a stream of four-wheel-drive vehicles constantly drove in and out of town.  However, the highlight was the arrival of an enormous triple-trailer cattle truck that heralded its approach with a massive billowing dust cloud.

The final leg of our flight tour took over the recently “discovered” Painted Hills.  These hills rise from the Outback in a series of spectacular banded domes and outcrops.  Our pilot landed on a remote gravel strip and took us for a trek through the foothills of one particularly impressive formation. The colours of the rock were simply awe-inspiring.  Bands of ochre, yellow, red, purple, orange and grey (and myriads of hues in between) encircle the hills in candy stripes.

Our tour then finished with a flight over the Stuart Highway and Coober Pedy township.  As our aircraft slowly turned and lined up for final approach we were presented with a final dramatic sweep over the region’s unique landscape filled with pile after pile of opal mining rubble.