Lake Hart, South Australia: How to visit this outback salt lake
Lake Hart is arguably the most accessible of the South Australian salt lakes. A short walk from the Lake Hart rest area on the Stuart Highway near Woomera brings visitors to the edge of the lake.
South Australia covers a vast area, and most of it is parched, uninhabited outback above Goyder’s Line. In the middle of this grand expanse of nothing is a series of salt lakes. Of these South Australian salt lakes, Lake Eyre is the largest, and is best seen on a scenic flight. Wrightsair offers scenic flights over Lake Eyre from William Creek.
Lake Eyre is remarkable for both its size and the fact it floods a couple times every century. When it does flood, it becomes a pop-up wildlife haven, as plants and animals flock to it. For the rest of the time, Lake Eyre is just big and salty. You’re taking the scenic flight for the dazzling whiteness, essentially.
But if you want to see a salt lake in South Australia’s outback, there is another option. The Stuart Highway runs through the centre of Australia, connecting Port Augusta at the tip of the Spencer Gulf to Darwin in the Northern Territory.
Lake Hart rest area near Woomera
There’s not an awful lot to see on the South Australian leg of the drive from Adelaide to Alice Springs. But between the missile park at once-secret South Australian military town Woomera and the opal mines and underground houses of Coober Pedy, there is Lake Hart. There’s not much else to see from Adelaide to Coober Pedy, so you might as well drop by.
This isn’t the biggest of South Australia’s salt lakes, but it is the most accessible. There’s a rest area by the Stuart Highway right at Lake Hart’s southern tip. A short walk across the red dirt from the rest area brings you to the lake’s edge. Just take care crossing the railway line which also passes the lake.
Once at Lake Hart, it is possible to walk on the salt flats. The bright white colour makes for good staged photos.
Getting to Lake Hart, South Australia
Get lucky with the right weather conditions, and the algae in Lake Hart produce carotene, turning the lake a shade of pink.
The Lake Hart rest area is 522km north of South Australian state capital Adelaide. That’s a five hour and 18 minute drive if sticking to the speed limit and not stopping for breaks at Stuart Highway roadhouses. The rest area is 54km west of Woomera and 327km south-east of Coober Pedy.
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