The breaking of the drought. Thunderstorms on Mt. Deception, Outback South Australia.                                                             ©Copyright Peter MacDonald. All Rights Reserved

Although the pictures posted on the Sentimental Bloke website have always been randomly selected there has always been an underlying theme.

For more than a decade I have been recording the ever changing cycles of nature.  These cycles have included drought, flood, dust storms, good weather and bad, the four seasons, the flora, the wildlife and lots more.

Salt patterns with water stained pink by algae on Lake Eyre. ©Copyright Peter Macdonald. All Rights Reserved.

Perhaps the biggest cycle of nature that I have followed is the flooding of the salt lakes in South Australia’s outback.

Watching this epic phenomenon unfold brought with it a realisation there is true natural art occurring almost everywhere, the trick being to see it.

The Sentimental Bloke is now on Instagram with the intention of focusing on the these natural events in a more orderly fashion and to showcase a truly amazing part of the world to an international audience.

Follow on Instagram –  @thesentimentalbloke

Here’s further evidence of the whiteness, the brilliance of the salt on Lake Frome in South Australia’s far north, particularly when it is dry.
Pilots of aircraft flying low near the surface of the lake are likely to experience a phenomenon usually associated with the Antarctic or Arctic where the horizon becomes indistinct because of the large surface area of white.
The spectacular dunes, like the one here, are found mostly at the southern end of the lake and they provide landmarks in the salt which covers about 2,500 square kilometres.

I’ve been told astronauts used the salt expanse to do their white balance checks for the cameras on their space stations.
The other remarkable things is the numerous sand dunes that are trapped on the salt surface.
The desert surrounding the lake have the usual large dunes that run north to south for hundreds of kilometres.
The dunes on the lake are part of that system which was formed in the last ice age more than 10 thousand years ago.
They are significant landmarks trapped in the salt.

©Copyright Peter MacDonald. All Rights Reserved

I am up very high on these runs so that what you see in the images cover quite a large surface area of the lake

©Copyright Peter MacDonald. All Rights Reserved.

The images I have been posting about Lake Frome in recent times have centred around a sand dune location at the edge of this giant salt lake.
It is hard to imagine the size of Lake Frome and like the work I did around Lake Eyre to the north, the images posted here are trying to illustrate that.

The winds that blows across the lake reshape these dunes back and forth almost daily.

Apart from the occasional animal that climbs the dunes or the wandering photographer, the winds erase footprints and and constantly change the beautiful shapes and ripples.
In short, it almost always looks pristine.

©Copyright Peter MacDonald. All Rights Reserved.

However the extent of this unusual formation is only truly seen from the air.
This photograph shows the fine, clean sand surrounded by the salt lake on almost all sides.

But the story doesn’t end here.
There is an equally beautiful relationship between sand and salt to be found far out on the surface of Lake Frome.

The link between sand and salt on Lake Frome is probably stronger than any of the rest of the dry lake system in South Australia’s Outback.
Lakes Eyre, Torrens, Gairdner and the other smaller ones that cover large areas of the deserts have little in common with Frome.
This is where the salt along one section of the coast finishes and sand dunes begin.
What start out as few low ripples grow to exquisite formations of wind shaped dunes.

Lake Frome in South Australia’s far north is a a bit over two and a half thousand square kilometres of salt, glaringly bright in the heat of the day, deceptively beautiful on the first light of the day.

Occasionally a rabbit scampers from one clump of bushes to another along the shoreline. You wonder how they can survive out here. It doesn’t rain often.

Far out on the lake a mob of emus, dots in the shimmering haze.The dune in the distance an outstanding landmark.

A strange landscape for sure.

Exploring the edges of Lake Frome in northern South Australia, an amazing mixture of textures and formations, even aboriginal culture.

The lake is part of the local Dreaming story told by the Adnyamathanha people explaining how the region’s geology and species originated.

According to this Dreaming story, Lake Frome was emptied of its water by the Rainbow Serpent Akurra when he ventured down Arkaroola Creek (which flows onto Lake Frome) to drink.

The snake drank all the water in the lake and returned to the ranges where it still sleeps.

Because of its significance the Adnyamathanha do not venture onto the lake’s surface.

From the air over the edges of the lake, its easy to relate to this legend when rain has recently fallen in the area.

©Copyright Peter MacDonald 2015. All Rights Reserved.

The memory of a scary night caught on Lake Eyre, not that long ago makes me very wary of driving or even walking on salt lakes.

The surface is treacherous. Underneath is thick, deep black mud, about the constituency of treacle. Not something to get caught in as I did.

Of course the salt eventually eats away at everything.

Lake Eyre is only  a few hundred kilometres north of Lake Frome and the conditions are no different.

Here I am safe, not too far out on the lake and on foot as the sun starts to climb above the horizon.