Five pink lakes in Victoria worth the drive

If you’ll pardon the pun, pink salt lakes are hot at the moment with pics on social feeds inducing drool-worthy travel lust. So if you’re hankering for an excuse to travel around Victoria, put down your rose coloured glasses and have a look at one or all of these intriguing pink beauties.

Lake Tyrrell is Victoria’s largest saltwater lake (about 21,000 hectares), roughly 360km north-west of Melbourne, in the Mallee and close to the town aptly named Sea Lake. Minimal rain means the salt crust glows an eerie pink colour thanks to tiny phytoplankton organisms in the salt. If there’s water, the reflections are mesmerizing. Photographers love it, particularly at sunset and sunrise but also into the night when the sky wheels with stars. There’s a viewing platform, a stargazing lounge and discovery centre, and Sea Lake has accommodation and great pub meals if you’re staying over.

No beating about the bush: Pink Lake is what the name says, a small (about 45 hectare), circular salt lake that has a distinctive pink hue when filled with shallow water or, more likely, bright pink when it has a delicate crust of crystalline salt. The lake sits right next to the Western Highway on the way to Adelaide so it’s just a short walk down to its surface. If you want to sample its table-grade salt, Mount Zero Olives harvest it in small quantities.

If you live in Melbourne it’s not far to drive to this pink lake because it is right under the Westgate Bridge. Westgate Park is a bushland oasis close to the city centre and its salt lake tends towards bright pink hues in the heat of summer as water levels drop and algae starts to inhabit the salt. It’s well worth a look during dry weather, but at any time the walking tracks through wetlands are a tonic to city living.

The huge Murray-Sunset national park is about as far from Melbourne as you can get, located in Victoria’s far north-west. But the reward for the drive is not one, but four pink lakes, in the southern part of the park. Lake Crosbie is the biggest and walking out in the middle across the livid pink salt crust at sunset is a memorable experience. There are campsites on the lake’s edge, walking trails, the Pioneer Drive to explore old salt-mining machinery, and you’ll never find a better introduction to Victoria’s surprisingly arid landscapes.

If you are heading towards Victoria’s north-west, make sure you stop outside Heathcote to see these amazingly colourful gullies. Okay, there’s no lake but the Pink Cliffs were formed by water erosion when gold-seekers in the 1870s washed away to topsoil leaving shallow canyons and cliffs through strata of multi-hued rock. There’s a 30-minute discovery walk, an explanation of the mining process and kids will love to explore the area while adults might also check out one of the many local wineries.

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