Sealake, Victoria
Apr. 4th, 2022 04:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
waitingmanLate on day 2, we arrived in Sealake - a town we only knew existed from our Art Trail map because it has a silo in it
It also has 2 motels side-by-side, one of which was 'staffed' by a disembodied, disinterested voice from a little telephone speaker in the reception area, the other by a friendly guy who gave us the rundown on what the town has to offer besides a silo. Lake Tyrell sounded & looked worth a visit, if the sunset photos on display in Reception were anything to go by. Once in our (thank god!!) air-conditioned room, we leafed through the guest info pack to see what was for dinner & where we could get premium diesel fuel, water & some of that stuff you add to your windscreen washing fluid to better clean bugs off (Spoiler alert - the stuff is useless!!). We also called the number for a sunset/evening tour of Lake Tyrell & added ourselves to that evening's troupe
One disappointing dinner later (most cafés & pubs were closed on a Sunday night), we drove to the Visitor Centre to meet our Guide & other travellers - who turned out to be 2 older & very chatty ladies from Melbourne. In fact I'm pretty sure one of them only shut up when the Guide was talking... & even then she may have only lowered her voice to a whisper
We arrived at Lake Tyrell not long before sunset, but there was enough daylight to see it's a huge salt lake covering over 20,000 hectares & a beautifully barren landscape. There were a few small areas where water covered the salt flat, but by barely an inch or two, so if you got your angle right, you can be photographed 'walking on water'... We didn't... but the 2 ladies from Melbourne did. Inevitably there has been some attempts to mine the salt from the lake over the last 200 years, but now there is only 1 company doing so, from its own man-made areas at the lake's southern end. Rusty evidence of other efforts in the past are scattered around the shore & are irresistible photo subjects
Sunset, when it came, was colourful, but quick...
At which point, our Guide herded the 4 of us into the minibus & we bounced along a dirt road to a different viewpoint to watch the full moon rise. Not being equipped with the kind of photographic paraphernalia that allows you to track the moon's & Earth's movements to give you a clear view, this was as good as we could get
On the rise, just peeking over the horizon, lit by the last of the setting sun
Reflecting in a small patch of water on the salt flat. My black leather boots may never be the same again...
Back to Sealake & goodnights to our Guide & companions, when we could get a word in. Back at our motel, I did some cleaning of my boots, enough to render them presentable again anyway...
The next day after breakfast, it was time to shoot the larger-than-expected silo. From the air...
And from the ground...
Next - onward, south-westward...
It also has 2 motels side-by-side, one of which was 'staffed' by a disembodied, disinterested voice from a little telephone speaker in the reception area, the other by a friendly guy who gave us the rundown on what the town has to offer besides a silo. Lake Tyrell sounded & looked worth a visit, if the sunset photos on display in Reception were anything to go by. Once in our (thank god!!) air-conditioned room, we leafed through the guest info pack to see what was for dinner & where we could get premium diesel fuel, water & some of that stuff you add to your windscreen washing fluid to better clean bugs off (Spoiler alert - the stuff is useless!!). We also called the number for a sunset/evening tour of Lake Tyrell & added ourselves to that evening's troupe
One disappointing dinner later (most cafés & pubs were closed on a Sunday night), we drove to the Visitor Centre to meet our Guide & other travellers - who turned out to be 2 older & very chatty ladies from Melbourne. In fact I'm pretty sure one of them only shut up when the Guide was talking... & even then she may have only lowered her voice to a whisper
We arrived at Lake Tyrell not long before sunset, but there was enough daylight to see it's a huge salt lake covering over 20,000 hectares & a beautifully barren landscape. There were a few small areas where water covered the salt flat, but by barely an inch or two, so if you got your angle right, you can be photographed 'walking on water'... We didn't... but the 2 ladies from Melbourne did. Inevitably there has been some attempts to mine the salt from the lake over the last 200 years, but now there is only 1 company doing so, from its own man-made areas at the lake's southern end. Rusty evidence of other efforts in the past are scattered around the shore & are irresistible photo subjects
Sunset, when it came, was colourful, but quick...
At which point, our Guide herded the 4 of us into the minibus & we bounced along a dirt road to a different viewpoint to watch the full moon rise. Not being equipped with the kind of photographic paraphernalia that allows you to track the moon's & Earth's movements to give you a clear view, this was as good as we could get
On the rise, just peeking over the horizon, lit by the last of the setting sun
Reflecting in a small patch of water on the salt flat. My black leather boots may never be the same again...
Back to Sealake & goodnights to our Guide & companions, when we could get a word in. Back at our motel, I did some cleaning of my boots, enough to render them presentable again anyway...
The next day after breakfast, it was time to shoot the larger-than-expected silo. From the air...
And from the ground...
Next - onward, south-westward...
