It’s Mother’s Day today in Australia. A day honoring the “Mother of the family” and a day that is celebrated in over 40 countries. Generally it’s flowers and chocolates or maybe a special lunch for Mother but in my case Robyn had requested a quiet paddle somewhere.

We’ve been travelling in places that haven’t seen water for a while, riding Fatbikes in a desert landscape and if you missed the photos they are here. Having headed more towards the coast we saw a small lake on the map and Mr Google told us it was a fresh water lake suitable for swimming and boating.

A perfect place for a quiet if short-ish paddle on Green Lake and with a camp site on the banks it really was perfect. We drove into the heart of the Wimmera District chatting excitedly about the opportunity for a paddle. What about a swim as well I thought. It might be chilly but that would really wash off the desert dust and there’s nothing better than a bracing dip.

We pulled into Green Lake and found a great campsite right on the sandy bank.

Sandy banks and a great view

There were ancient but serviceable picnic tables and facilities so nothing else to want for.

NIce place for lunch

But it seems that one thing was missing on this perfect Mother’s Day. Yep you guessed it: WATER. Green Lake has been dry for the last 18 years.

Dry as a bone

We chatted with a couple of locals and legend has it that there used to be a tree in the middle of the lake which was a bit of a nuisance to the water skiing fraternity so some bright spark decided to pull it out. Sort of like pulling out the bath plug I think as it broke the lakes’ base layer and all the water disappeared down the plug hole.

Maybe this is the remains of the tree

Now we sit here looking at the old water level gauge and wonder what it was like when local families camped here on Mother’s Days past and the place was alive with sounds of play. Now it’s just us and the only sound is that of a Kookaburra laughing in a nearby tree and a crow calling in the distance.

A reminder of what once was

And on a brighter note there is talk that the locals have raised enough money to reseal the lake and it will return to its’ former glory sometime in the future.

Have a great Mother’s Day.