Lake Tyrrell
Lake Tyrrell is a shallow salt crusted lake in north-western Victoria, Australia. The lake is located 6km from town of Sea Lake and covers over 20,000 hectares making it Victoria’s largest salt lake.
To date I’ve only seen a very small portion of Lake Tyrrell, mostly around the viewing platforms on the southern end.
I’ve only been to the lake three times now, each time has been unique from the last.
September 2018 - First time I saw Lake Tyrrell
It was back in September of 2017 and I didn’t really know much about Lake Tyrrell.
On a fun day driving the Silo Art Trail we stopped by the lake close to sunset as a last stop before the drive back to Bendigo.
What a fantastic time for a first visit!
After a short walk along muddy and salt crusted lake bed we made it to the waters edge. The shallowness and stillness in the air made for some great reflections.
Since that first visit I’ve wanted to get back there and do some more exploring of the area. I’ve seen many amazing images over the years and want to try capture some of my own that are hopefully a little unique.
October 2019 - First planned photography trip
I planned my next visit to align with the Milky Way core being in optimal position for a panoramic reflection photo. This was in October 2019. I was trying to organise a few photographers to go with me but all couldn’t make it, that wasn’t going to stop me!
Captured 9:30pm with an almost 3 hour drive home ahead of me.
I packed up all the gear I’d need and headed off on the almost three hour journey to the viewing platform at Lake Tyrrell. I planned to arrive with plenty of daylight for some exploration and planning on where I might take the Milky Way photo I wanted.
I was able to fly my drone for a short time but with the high winds the flight time and distance short, at least earlier in the afternoon. A little later the winds calmed down enough I could get a few images and videos from the air.
I explored the area and looked for a good sized puddle that should offer excellent reflections of both the sunset and Milky Way later in the evening. Here I would sit and watch, take photos and wait for the sun to set and for the stars to come out all the while hoping the clouds stayed most away.
At one point I did get a little lost after returning from a walk back to the car.
I thought I had made it back to where I was a before the return walk to the car. I even found the top of a fence in the salt crust that was near my idea location but nothing else looked right!
Chair and camera on tripod out on the openness of the salt lake
Camera bag, Drone bag, Drinks and food bag, chair
I figured I’d walked to much to the left. It’s so dark at the Lake Tyrrell which is fantastic for astrophotography but makes it easier to get turned around.
I had an idea where I was and to confirm this I got out my phone and opened a photo I’d captured earlier knowing it stores GPS coordinates of photos. This confirmed my suspicions of where I thought I was.
Now it was just a matter of following the compass back to my original location. This wasn’t the first time I’ve done this to orientate myself, I good tip for anyone exploring unfamiliar areas!
When the Milky Way core was low enough on the horizon and still not too late (9:30pm - still had a three hour drive home) I captured a few sets of images then packed up my gear and walked the 20 minutes or so back to the car.
This time I didn’t get lost as I had a point of light in the direction the car was parked.
After posting some images to socials I got contact by Sky Mirror gallery and I now have prints on display and available for purchase! I hope to add more to this collection in the near future.
The below gallery has images captured from earlier in the day through to after sunset. It’s amazing how much the light changes here. There is also a short video capturing my time at the lake on this visit.
October 2021 - A quick visit
After a crazy night that forced an almost midnight camp pack-up at Lake Crosbie in the Murray-Sunset National Park followed by a drive to make it to a 24 hour motel in Sea Lake by 2am and managed a few hours sleep.
This was great as I got to have a look at the upgrades at Lake Tyrrell including the walkway from the main car park to the new viewing platform.
Not the best conditions for photos but worth exploring the area for my next visit. You never really know what interesting subjects there may be stuck in the salt ready to be photographed.
