Coming and going

This is Lake George on the road between Sydney and Canberra. It’s an endorheic lake: a new word for me, which means a lake that doesn’t have any rivers or streams flowing out of it. The water level in Lake George varies widely, due to rainfall, run off and evaporation. In 1996 and again in 2016 it came almost up to the highway, filling the brown expanse in the foreground of the photo. At the moment it is invisible from the highway: you have to go up to a lookout to see the narrow strip of water. Sometimes it is empty: the last time it was dry was from 2002 to 2010.
 
Probably because of this strange behaviour, Lake George has a rather spooky reputation. There are stories of the ghosts of people who have drowned, and reports of UFOs and alien presences. An 1866 NSW Road Guide warned travellers "to be careful of a large water monster that occasionally surfaces for air". Present day warnings are less dramatic (extra).