L is for Lakes - images of America (and Australia)

A lake, with water in it!

And snow!

For an Aussie to find a perfect lake surrounded by snow capped mountains and with snow receding on a gravelly shore is a thing of wonder and delight!

The morning sun hits the trees, creating lovely shadows and a rich red on the tree trunks at Richardson's Camp, Lake Tahoe.

For travellers who have come from lands where the word lake conjures up images of wide expanses of crystal clear water and delightful wooden homes fetchingly built to make the most of the fragrant breezes, some Australian lakes could come as a bit of a surprise.

Lake Hart - South Australia. Fabulous red rolling hills, greenish tussocky grasses, shimmering water in the lake positively welcoming you to don the bathers, grab a towel and leap in with shouts of glee. Or perhaps what you see isn't what you get!

Lake Hart is called a lake, because sometimes, on rare occasions, flood waters that originated thousands of kilometres way in Queensland, flow across the flat landscape and end up here and taadaa, there's water and huge numbers of birds flock to breed. Mostly though, there's no water, just salt as far as they eye can see. No swimming or fishing, though that would be very welcome! Not only overseas tourists, but many locals are bewildered by the use of the word lake and their hopes are rudely shattered when they arrive. (Here's a post about an unsatisfying visit to Lake Hart.)

 What better place to relax than in the middle of a peaceful lake?

Salt used to be collected here. It was scooped up and brought to shore by train for processing.  It's a long way out along the old rotten tracks before you can find a good spot to relax away from the madding crowds ;-)

There were however, similarities between Lake Tahoe and Lake Hart. There were few people around and we virtually had the shoreline to ourselves to stroll, dream and be absorbed by the beauty, peace and silence. It was also too cold to swim at either lake, even if there had been water in Lake Hart! The desert can be cold too!
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