Temporary lakes
Lakes that are not supposed to be there, and are not shown on WAC charts, are not so unusual in the outback. They appear like magic after a big rain. Some disappear quickly, and some persist.
One is near Andado homestead, and another sometimes appears south of Hooker Creek (Lajamanu?). I have that one pencilled in on my WAC chart of the day.
I once flew the road from Docker River back to Alice Springs via Sandy Blight Junction at low level in a C310 looking for people in a Toyota who had not arrived. I had a very white faced policeman sitting alongside me as we followed the twists and turns of the road through the sandhills.
We found them in the middle of a lake that was not supposed to be there, near Mt. Leibig. They had tried to drive through it and got stuck in the middle. I guess they had then used their winch, and flattened their battery, as their radio was not working anymore.
Another time I flew a C205 from Charleville to Broken Hill at night, and saw light reflecting off a lake that was not supposed to be there. This gave rise to serious doubts, and I was very pleased when the ADF pointer stopped describing lazy circles and finally pointed straight ahead to Broken Hill.
The outback is full of changes and surprises.
Last edited by bushy; 7th Sep 2007 at 06:30.