Menindee Lakes

PS I was put off camping near Paramoo lake as there were a couple of caravans there with enormous looking generators, and the area was a bit of a dust bowl anyway.

x 2 for Copi Hollow Grassed camping area - Right on the lake
Top Spot.

we set up camp at Copi Hollow last August as the National Park was closed due to recent rains. This is a lovely caravan park and amenities. I raced boats on Copi Hollow 40years ago and this place has not changed. Well worth the visit. Even though we came up from Pooncarrie in the mud, we cleaned up as much as we could the following morning and informed the caretaker who was very grateful and would finish off the job as their lawns were pristine. The other lakes at the time were dry. Would recommend this park highly. If the boat club is open it is worth seeing the old photos of the boat races.

Good idea. The lakes were as dry as a bone in the Landline show.

Yes, it doesn't matter so much how much rain they've had locally, but how much in the QLD inland region.
Of course some local falls will green up the banks a bit, nad settle the dust for camping.
Might be worth trying to find a biz in a local town in the book, and asking someone first hand about levels.

It is more about how much is held back to the cotton farms in the catchment areas in Queensland and New South Wales. Queenslands say what falls in Quuensland stays in Queensland, so the doesn't allow much catchment for western New South Wales.

Google Earth shows a massive area of dams at Cubbie Station in Queensland - the largest irrigation property in the southern hemisphere. See Wikipedia. Cubbie was sold to the Chinese. Extract:
"The station is licenced to take 460,000 megalitres (16,000 by 106 cu ft), the equivalent of all irrigation entitlements downstream in north-western NSW. The property has the capacity to grow 200 square kilometres (77 sq mi) of cotton. In 2006, the dams on the property were filled to 1% capacity allowing for only 200 hectares (490 acres) of cotton planting.

The station is often derided for its large water usage requirements in a time of extreme drought in Australia and damage to the Murray Darling river system"

Worth reading the whole article on Wikipedia.

If anyone is on Facebook, I can give you links to a whole lot more about the Menindee Lakes debacle. Sorry, I cannot link Facebook pages here.

You can discuss all the theory in the World, but eye witness accounts report a meter increase in water levels and a video of water running over the weir at Menindee has also been posted on Facebook. There has not been enough rain in the catchments to produce any more than that. Most of the water from ex TC Marcia ended up in the Pacific Ocean.

Cubbie Station is not on the Darling but on one of its many tributaries. If there are reasonable rains in the Queensland Tablelands and the great dividing range in South East Queensland water will run down the Darling.

It is my understanding that Cubbie Station fills its large water holdings when there is ample water in the river so that they have water during dry times.

But it is easy to find out if there is water in any part of the Murray Darling System. Phone the Murray Darling Authority or someone in the vicinity of the area of your interest.

But the Darling River Run is interesting no matter the water level in the river. Surely campers don't need a full waterhole every night that they camp.

Cheers,

Kevin

"But the Darling River Run is interesting no matter the water level in the river. Surely campers don't need a full waterhole every night that they camp."

Very good advice Kevin; we travel and see the country as it is and it is a dry country for most of it. We don't often camp near a waterhole when on tour. This thread is not about the fight for water for the people that rely on it for their town water supplies, but about touring the Menindee Lakes area, which includes a visit to the former Kinchega pastoral station, now a National Park. All is not lost for those who tour. Much is lost for those who live there.

I can MM you a link to my Facebook page if you like, and you can see the photos taken of Lake Menindee and adjoining lakes. The December series of posts and photographs show it with no water, but green grass being grazed by station livestock. The photo taken last Sunday shows dry grass. They are not my photos, and while items on Facebook can be 'shared' to other Facebook pages, I would need to get permission from the person who took the photos to post them here.

Some water has been released down the Darling from Bourke Weir, and there is now water at the small Wilcannia Dam. At the Menindee Lakes, water has been pumped into the smaller Copi Hollow for use as the water supply for Broken Hill.