all about water
24 August 2025
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| The creek from Picannini Ponds and the beach beyond |
My first destination wasLake Condah and that was quite fascinating even though I could not do a tour on a Monday
It's a sinkhole in the middle of town and it has been landscaped in different pretty much since the town was settled.
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| Lake Condah |
It's an extensive wetland where our First Nations people effectively farmed eel. The area was of course drained and thoroughly degraded by early settlers but with ongoing effort the area has been restored and is now heritage listed.
The juvenile eels travel from the Coral Sea near Vanuatu and live in the Lake for up to 20 years before travelling back to spawn. The Gunditjama people constructed channels to funnel the eels in woven mat, from where they transferred them to ponds for later use.
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| Lake Condah |
As I'm driving to tonight's destination in South Australia, I have a sudden thought about taking fruit and vegetables across the border. A consultation with Google and checking the biisecurity website for South Australia says I am going to have to get rid of my fruit and my capsicum but I can probably keep the rest. In due course I dispose of it in a quarantine bin, after stopping a couple of times for snacks. There is however a limit to how much fruit I can eat at once when I stocked up only yesterday morning.
The last couple of days I've spent a substantial amount of time on back roads, albeit sealed back roads. Well, mostly. I think there is a new interpretation of the road sign graphic that I usually associate with slippery roads. I think it also means watch out for oncoming traffic swerving to avoid the potholes. There were plenty of them and avoiding them kept me on my toes.
Across the border I headed for Picaninni Ponds. While it is currently closed to snorkeling and diving, I do rather want to look at it since it's one of those freshwater dives I have heard about since forever and a day.
Looking down into the pond, the water seems to be as clear as promised, even though there's a fine layer of dust scattered across the top and some unwanted algae cleanly visible around the edges.
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| Picannini Ponds |
The sounds of the frogs and the birds and the sight of the swamp harrier soaring overhead, along with a Black Swan standing across on one of the little islets is all a reflection of the RAMSAR status of this rather amazing wetland.
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| Picannini Ponds |
Again, it's one of those places that had become incredibly degraded, but efforts to restore and rehabilitate have been most successful.
I drive down the road a little further to the place where the short walk begins - classified as a great short walk - and as I walk the track, from time to time I am tantalized by the sight of the creek with crystal clear water.
The vast extent of beach beyond with its never-ending rollers doesn't appeal to me for a dip.
The walk takes me onto boardwalk through some shallow wetlands out to the edge of the ponds, which again is just delightful. Not only are the frogs singing away to their hearts' content, but there's something else in the nearby reeds. It makes a sound that's a bit like a cross between that of a young chick and a frog.
Even the shallow wetlands under the boardwalk, where there is no algae, are crystal clear water which is really unlike many shallow wetlands which can be quite muddy.
I spot a little fish. Maybe one of the galaxids or a stickleback. Bit hard to tell and i thought I saw a small turtle drift under the algae mat but I think that might have been wishful thinking.
Walking back, I passed through one area that's particularly scented and stopped to look around to see what it is and realise it's the tetragonia. I've never picked that one before as being highly scented.
Back at my car. I choose to walk up a step sand track to look at the creek mouth and the beach on the other side. There was plenty of evidence of other vehicles having traversed this route but I wasn't going to.
Down on the beach there was one other visitor and as we passed the time of day remarking on the location he tells me there are freshwater springs along the beach. I ask how far and he offers to walk with me and show me, so we walk. He introduces himself as Graham.
The tide is a bit high to see the springs really well but as the waves approach and recede one gets a bit of a view.
Back of my car again. I checked the route to my accommodation for the night and realise it's really not far away so I search to see what else I can look at on the way. Something called Hell's Hole is a short detour with a very short walk, so I take that. It's a sinkhole with a tiny patch of native vegetation in the middle of a pine plantation. The sinkhole is apparently dived by cave divers but whether that is happening at the moment I don't know as the surface is covered by an absolute mat of green growth.
From there I head to cave garden in town and it really is a rather pretty location.
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I collect a loaf of bread, which I pre-ordered only this morning and top up my fruit supply to replace those dropped in the quarantine bin before checking into my accommodation.
I'm in a cabin in a caravan park and it's the spa cabin. Not that the jets in the spa actually work. It's a bit of an odd configuration with the only heating being a heat pump in the bedroom rather than the living room and not enough cooking equipment for a unit that provides a stove and microwave. And we won't mention the knives. I could probably turn them upside down and get the same result with trying to cut my vegetables.
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