Lake Boolka in north west New South Wales (NSW) actually sits right on the border with South Australia (SA) and the dog fence, which follows the border at this point, runs through this fresh water lake.
Following the recent heavy rains, Lake Boolka is full. The water is fairly clear and drinkable, with only a slight muddy taste. It was great to have ample water for two warm showers! I imagine that in dry times the lake would be much smaller and the water may be of lesser quality.
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While at Lake Boolka I gave my home made camp stove a run: a two kg coffee tin with a few holes for draft at the bottom and a few more for the chimney at the top.
A few little sticks soon boils the billy for a refreshing cuppa after a long drive on a trying track which roughly follows the dog fence and runs about 50 metres away for 30 kilometres.
The water from Lake Boolka made a fine cuppa, the taste not detracting from the tea flavour.
Lake Boolka would be approaching a kilometre across and maybe two or three kilometres long. Judging by the dip of the dog fence into the water, the depth may be around a metre and a half or two metres.
There didn't seem to be a lot of camping space around the lake. I guess it's station land. We camped by a short track that accesses the dog fence where it emerges from the lake, so we were a few metres off the track and maybe six metres from the water.
Firewood was a bit scarce, the vegetation being mainly small scrub, so the campfire was mostly of sticks and skinny little branches with a few stumps and roots recently pushed out by the grader.
But I did manage to bake a loaf of bread as I usually do, in the camp oven in the coals of a cheery campfire.
Wandering around the sand dune behind our camp, I came upon a sleepy: a lizard that appears to have two heads, one at each end.
A bit further along on my walk there was an eroded, ancient sand dune rather like the lunette at the Walls of China at Lake Mungo in Willandra Lakes Heritage Area, away to the south east.