On Walkabout At: Lake Eppalock, Victoria

If you ever look at a map of Victoria you will see a large body of water just outside the city named Lake Eppalock. My wife and I decided to take a drive out there and see what the lake was like. As we drove towards the lake we saw lots of signs indicating fishing sites as well as even a sign for the Bendigo Yacht Club. However, once we got to the lake it wasn’t yachts that we saw but this instead:

The drought here combined with increase water usage due to the population explosion in Victoria has led to this lake being nearly sucked dry. Scanning north we actually could make out a little bit of water left in the lake:

Only along the dam is there any water left and I don’t even know if a canoe would get very far without getting beached or stuck on something:

I would have to say Lake Eppalock is definitely the most visible sign of the drought here in Australia that we have seen. So far this fall and winter Victoria has been receiving plenty of rain, however with catchment areas this low it is going to take a lot more rain to ever fill them again. I doubt the Bendigo Yacht Club is going to ever go to be doing any yachting on this lake any time soon.