We have covered about beach sands that are in various colors such as:
Now, my focus is on finding lakes with different colored water. My first attempt is to know where pink colored lakes are in the world. During my research, I found out Australia has the maximum number of pink lakes in the world. Let us cover 9 beautiful pink lakes in Australia.
Be it the beach sand or the water in lakes, pink color stands out and is generally accepted as the color of romance.
I don’t think we will give a second glace to large pool of water that is either in black or red color-right?
Let us go over the places where there are pink lakes in Australia.
What is the reason behind pink lakes?
The most obvious reason is the presence of a particular algae or microorganisms that produce pigments such as carotenoids.
There are more reasons behind the pink water but let us not bother into scientific details.
We are interested to touch or stand in pink lakes; that’s all our interest.
9 Beautiful Pink Lakes in Australia
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Pink Lake, Victoria
What a beauty! This pink lake has an alias that goes by “Lochiel:. It is located in a town called Dimboola.
Originally, the responsible algae, produce red pigments. When the lake receives rain, the red water gets diluted to transform into pink.
Dimboola is 334 km away from Melbourne, in Western Australia. The quickest way to go to the Pink Lake in Dimboola is by car. You can cover the distance in less than 4 hours.
All other means of transportations including flight, train, or bus, consumes more time.
Can you swim in this pink lake in Australia?
I don’t think we will like the experience though, we can swim. Therefore, we can wade through the pink, saline water, just for fun and for the sake taking a photo with you standing waist deep in pink lake.
I suppose, this rule/condition applies to all the pink lakes in Australia or anywhere in the world.
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Lake Hiller
The title image on this blog post points to the Lake Hiller, a pink lake. It is located in Middle Island, a Western Australian island.
Esperance Town is the nearest town in mainland Australia.
The distance between Esperance town and Middle Island is 120 km.
Can you visit Lake Hiller (pink lake)?
Unfortunately, we are not allowed to disembark or land on this uninhabited Western Australian island.
The island is prohibited to visit because:
- Middle Island is an unhabited Island
- The tiny sland (2700 acres) is full of eucalyptus trees.
- The island is the breeding ground for the Australian Little Penguins.
In order not to disturb them, Middle Island is off the limits for human beings.
How else can one see the Hiller Lake?
From Esperance, flights are operated in such a way that they hover over the pink lake for us to get an aerial view.
These flights are exclusive flights for scenic purposes. This pink lake in Australia is located at the edge of Middle Island that is floating in the Southern Ocean.
Another way to see the Hiller Lake from the Southern Ocean is to join the Esperance Island cruise tour.
What an experience to look at the Pink Lake in Middle Island, Western Australia!
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Spencer Lake
Simply breathtaking!
Spencer Lake (a pink lake) is located just on the outskirts of Esperance town. This means, you can enter the pink water but not swim.
Since the previous two pink lakes in Australia are located near Esperance town, let me tell you how to reach the town?
Forget about driving. It takes more than 8 hours from Perth.
Take a flight from Perth to Esperance. It is a one and a half hour flight.
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Lake Eyre
Lake Eyre is located nearly 50 feet below sea level. The sea in this instance is the Southern Ocean (Southern Indian Ocean).
Due to its below sea level geography, it gets filled up with saline water up to the brim frequently. When you sea the lake on such occasions, you won’t be able to see its shore on the other side because of the lake’s size that occupies a staggering 9500 sq. km!
Bird sighting in Lake Eyre.
It is the time when the vast lake attracts the Pelicans that migrate from far off places.
Another striking bird that you can spot is the Caspian Tern.
The lakes wears a pink drape over it when its salinity increases. It is when the carotenoids-producing Dunaliella Salina algae flourish.
How do you go to see the pink Lake Eyre?
The nearest city to the lake is Marree. From here, Lake Eyre is 135 km south towards the Indian Ocean.
But, in order to go to Marree, you may have to drive from Adelaide for nearly 7 hours. The distance to be covered is 650 km.
I could not find any nearest airport to Lake Eyre, one of the pink lakes in Australia.
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Hutt Lagoon.
This is one of the pink lakes in Australia that is unique and it is classified as a marine lake.
Obviously, the word marine indicates the lake is close to the sea. In Hutt Lagoon’s case, it is located very close to the Indian Ocean in Western Australia.
To be more precise, Hutt Lagoon is formed at the estuary of Hutt River.
It is classified under ‘swale’ category of geography. It may be the reason that some part of the Hutt Lagoon lies a few meters below sea level. That’s why I mentioned it is a unique lake in Western Australia’s Mid West region.
Hutt Lagoon is fed both by the Indian Ocean, and by rain. In addition, a few smaller lakes are also responsible for the water level.
The reason for the Hutt Lagoon’s pink color is again due to the presence of an alga that produces carotenoids. The name of this alga is Dunakiella Salina.
This kind of unicellular bacteria thrives in salty water bodies.
The nearest town to see the pink lagoon is Gregory. To see the Hutt pink lake, you have to take a flight from Perth up to Geraldton, a city abutting the Indian Ocean in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The flight duration is exactly an hour.
From Geraldton, hire a taxi to Gregory town, the location of the Hutt Lagoon.
You can easily find a place to stay in Geraldton, an important port city on the west coast of Australia.
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Lake MacDonnell, South Australia
This pink lake in Australia is located on the far west of South Australia, one of the Aussie states.
Eyre Peninsula is one of the unique geographical locations in the Australian continent.
Look at the borders of Eyre Peninsula, located about 850 km from Adelaide:
- Spencer Gulf on the eastern side
- Great Australian Bight on the western side
- Gawler Mountain range in the north
It looks like a granite hill range.
The pink lake MacDonnell’s nearest town is known as Penong.
To reach Penong, you can choose to take the arduous road trip from Adelaide.
But, the best option is to fly to Ceduna city from Adelaide. From Ceduna, Penong is 75 km only.
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Lake Albert, South Australia
What a picturesque setting! It appears as though the pink color in the water is reflected in the clouds during the sunset.
Pink lake apart, the lakefront is also an excellent spot for spotting numerous aquatic birds and mammals including buffalo, warthog, waterbuck, and even leopards.
Among the wildlife, the Colobus Monkeys in large numbers are easily visible.
- Colobus Monkey
Among 460 species of birds that were spotted and recorded, a few are mentioned below.
- Cape Barren Goose
- Australian Shelduck
- Orange-bellied Parrots
- Fairy Tern
How should you go to Lake Albert, South Australia?
Meningie is the nearest town. It is 150 km south of Adelaide city.
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Lake Bumbunga
This is another pink lake in Australia that is located in the state of Adelaide.
But, contrary to the location of Lake Eyre which is far North region, Lake Bumbunga is Mid North region of Adelaide.
Which is the nearest city or twon to see the pink Lake Bumbunga?
Conveniently, the big city of Adelaide itself is located just 130 km south of the lake.
The pink hue is very attractive but you need to plan your visit in such a way so as to go there between September and November. This is the spring season in Australia.
Pink Lake Bumbunga is one of the pink lakes in Australia that is conveniently accessible from Adelaide City.
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Pink Lake, Westgate Park, Melbourne
This pink lake is not always pink. It turns into pink when the salinity increases. Another view is the salt’s color change into pink when the temperature raises.
Westgate Park is right in the city of Port Melbourne. It is roughly 20 km southwest of Melbourne city.
Trains ply between the two Melbourne destinations, every 15 minutes.
Westgate Pink Lake in Melbourne is the easiest accessible of all the pink lakes in Australia.
Isn’t it a nice round up of the pink lakes in Australia?
