For Tine · A fortieth birthday
Under the
Sky Mirror
A weekend in the van, chasing the stars across the Mallee — where an ancient salt lake turns the night sky upside down and the Milky Way runs above you and below.
FRI 17 → SUN 19 JULY · MELBOURNE TO LAKE TYRRELL
The route
A constellation to drive by
The drive up · Friday
The road home · Sunday
About nine hours behind the wheel across the whole weekend — nearly all of it Friday's climb north and Sunday's run home. From the Sea Lake base, the sky mirror is only ten minutes away.
Friday 17 July
Country, then the first stars
7:00
Roll out of Melbourne, north into gold country
10:00
Walk the Mountain of Light at Kooyoora — Melville Caves & granite lookoutsSelf-guided through Djaara Country, the old stories read aloud as we climb
1:30
Drive up the Calder, deeper into the Mallee
5:20
Sunset at Lake Tyrrell — gumboots on, out across the pink salt
dusk
Night one. The Sky Lounge beds, a thermos, and the stars coming out — just the two of us
7:30
A parma and a pint at the Royal Hotel
late
Free-camp the van out at the lake's edge
Saturday 18 July
A slow day, then the deep sky
morning
Slow coffee at the Skymirror café & gallery
midday
Picnic and birdsong at Green Lake
arvo
Silo art, salt-flake souvenirs, milkshakes — no rush
6:00
An early dinner before the dark
9:00
Night two. The guided star tour — Boorong sky-stories, the oldest star map on the continent, the Milky Way doubled on the water
late
A warm bunk and a hot shower back in Sea Lake
Sunday 19 July
Sunrise on the salt, then home
7:25
Dawn reflections on the lake — worth the early alarm
9:30
The long, happy road home
12:30
Lunch in Bendigo
3:30
Home, full of stars
Pack warm — we're chasing the Milky Way.
Thermals, beanies, two pairs of socks, a thermos of something hot, and a blanket for the Sky Lounge. The Mallee nights bite in July — but that's the price of the clearest, darkest skies of the year.
Melbourne→Kooyoora→Sea Lake→Lake Tyrrell→home
Happy 40th.
With love, Scotty Bananna