Lake Bumbunga in Lochiel, SA is a pink salt lake located 2 hours drive north of Adelaide or 40 mins west of Clare.
It is surreal and beautiful and a brilliant place to visit. It’s also isolated, Google Maps will navigate you to a private dirt road hundreds of metres from the lake itself, and the sharp, salt encrusted ground under the water can rip up little feet in an instant.
How to get there?
Navigate to “Jitter Bean Oasis” which is a cafe/convenience style road side stop located in Lochiel, SA. Park outside and cross the road for best access to the lake.
What facilities are there?
The only “facilities” near the lake is a green shed public toilet on the corner of Robert St & the Princes Highway. I don’t recommend this for a toilet stop but it has a tap inside which we used for washing the salt off our hands. I can’t confirm if this was rain, bore or drinking water and there was no signs or anyone around to ask. Let me know if you visit Lake Bumbunga and find a fresh water tap close by!
Here are some tips for making a visit to the “Pinkie Pond” as my 4 year old dubbed it so much smoother.
- Wear rubber sandals if you enter the water – $1.50 thongs from Kmart with a strap did the trick for my little one and saved the pain from the sharp, salt encrusted sea bed. I put my thongs on as well after a few nasty scratches myself.
- Wear sunscreen & hats
- Baby wipes – Trust me on this one. After stepping out of the pretty pink water you’ll begin to notice a layer of dried salt on absolutely everything. My black jeans looked like someone had thrown flour at me, little Lottie’s legs, hands and hair was caked in salt and nothing but the baby wipes we bought in Clare 40 minutes later after a crunchy and uncomfortable car ride would get it off.
- Carry fresh water – common advice for visitors to the Clare Valley as many properties run on rain water and the safe tap water has a strong taste. You can buy cases of water in supermarkets and food stores in the towns around this area. A case of fresh drinking water in the car and a few bottles of safe tap water for washing will make the journey back from the lake a lot more comfortable especially if little ones managed to get salt in their eyes!
What did we learn?
We did some research on the differences between fresh and salt water creatures before our trip and used our visit to Lake Bumbunga to reinforce the differences between the water in the sea, inland lakes, swimming pools and taps. Honestly, this was mostly for fun and photos rather than study!
