Phenomenal Kiteboarding on Lake Eyre

It was at the Marree Hotel, after a couple of schooners of West End, that my true spirit of adventure came back to a wake. The barman Justin revealed himself to be a helicopter pilot, and he knew exactly what I was looking for: good wind and a decent spot to launch my kite on Lake Eyre… Greatly enough, he told me that the weather forecast predicted 15-20 knots of South-Westerly winds for the next few days, and that the best spot would be at Halligan Bay. I thanked Anh-Dao in my thoughts, as she was already in bed at that time – watching the kids so I could go out to the pub, that she had pushed us to get out of the Flinders and dash Northwards – for apparently no reason until these news came up ;-)

Back in bed myself, I suddenly heard big raindrops fall onto our tent in the middle of the night. It didn’t stop raining until the first couple of hours in the morning. The whole place was so muddy, it seemed impossible to drive the car anywhere. Instead, we did a stroll through the ruined railway station of Marree, and found a strange house on stilts next to the roadhouse. It was the seat of the Lake Eyre Yacht Club. Bob Backway explained us a little about the history of Lake Eyre and sailing adventures in the region. He then confirmed what I had already understood from the helicopter pilot. He also said that we might be the first kitesurfers to sail on Lake Eyre… Not that we would be extremely brave to do so, but simply we might be the lucky first ones to hit some water at the lake at a time where there is also some rare wind.

Also lucky that the sun kicked in pretty soon after, along with the strong Southerly wind which helped to dry the road bed. Shortly before lunchtime we headed onto the Oodnadatta track, and dashed almost nonstop all the way to Halligan Bay. A couple hours before sunset we made it onto the water and discovered worldclass kiteboarding conditions! Who wouldn’t dream of constant 20 knots over perfectly flat water in a totally safe spot, alone at sunset? A dream come true!!!!

We ended up camping there three nights, and kiteboarding for three consecutive days. Of course the morning temperatures were a bit chilly, so we’d usually wait for warmer air temperatures as well as warmer water temperatures in the afternoon to head out onto the water. Funny enough, the water temperature oscillates quite significantly over 24 hours, with the cool wind and night-sky radiation chilling the shallow water pretty quickly, only to be reheated again after a few hours of sunshine.
With the wind, our supplies started to come to an end, with the secondary battery reaching an all-time low after not starting the engine for an extended period. We had to stop our fridge pump through the night, and also weren’t able to recharge our cameras. It was time to move on, with so many great impressions from this phenomenal site.

At the next pub in William Creek, we had to stop for some delicious roo and emu pies and a cold beer. It was fun to see all these business cards of previous travellers hanging onto the walls, including many traces of Swiss people… It would have taken me a whole day to go through it all, but I bet I would have recognized someone… Instead I showed some pics of our kitesurfing adventure to the barkeeper, and his first reaction was whether I had asked the local community for permission…

Shame on me I thought – how come did I not think about this before? I mean, whom at the local community would I have had to ask? There was no sign hanging out there at Lake Halligan saying it wasn’t allowed to go onto the lake. I mean, I understand that cars shouldn’t go onto the salt bed due to risk of getting bogged, but what kiteboarder would get bogged??? After having seen the pics of the hobiecat on Lake Eyre in 1974, and of Bob and other members of the yacht club sailing sections of Cooper Creek, I felt it was pretty straightforward for us to go and kite there, as we did in so many other places around the globe where conditions of wind, water and shore permitted. In fact, there is no clear regulation for sailors on Lake Eyre. Fact is Lake Eyre is no nomansland. There are indigenous communities that have deep ties with that lake, and some of their dreamtime stories about the lake are sacred. In ignorance of these, I came to the lake and found it full of water, and caressed by a miraculous wind at the very moment I visited it for the first time. It was like all stars have been waiting for this moment to be aligned, and give me a gift I have been looking out for as long as I have lived along the East Coast of Australia. Those who know me, also know that during the last four summer seasons I have spent along the East Coast, I had the feeling that the wind conditions didn’t satisfy my hopes to push my own boundaries in this sport. Kiting on Lake Eyre has somewhat compensated this frustration. In this way, I feel very humble about this privilege I took for myself, and hope this will be taken in the same way by whomever reads this or sees these pictures.


Click this link to access our photo set of the Lake Eyre Kiteboarding Adventure!