Murray-Sunset Pink Lakes

The Pink Lakes sit at the southeastern corner of Murray-Sunset National Park, a park of nearly seven thousand square kilometres of mallee scrub and dunes that is among the largest and least visited in Victoria. The lakes take their colour from carotenoid pigments produced by algae living in the salt crust, which concentrate as the water evaporates through summer, giving a range from pale rose to deep pink depending on conditions. Salt was harvested here commercially until 1979 and old workings remain. Beyond the lakes, the park holds the Nowingi Line track, mallee fowl, and some of the darkest skies in the state, with campsites at Lake Crosbie and Lake Becking.

What you actually see

• The pink water and crust - algae pigment colouring the salt lakes.
• The old salt workings - remains of the commercial harvest that ended in 1979.
• The mallee scrub - dune country and dense low eucalypt across the park.
• The dark sky - exceptional stargazing from the lakeside campsites.

When to go

March to May and September to November; the pink is strongest in late summer as water evaporates, but that is also when heat is extreme. Summer temperatures pass forty degrees and travel is uncomfortable. Colour varies year to year and is not guaranteed.

Honest expectations

The pink is often much paler than photographs suggest, and dull light flattens it entirely. Tracks beyond the main lakes need four-wheel drive and close after rain. There is no water, fuel or phone coverage in the park.

Nearby

Underbool and Ouyen lie east; the Mallee Highway crosses the region.