Camping at Myall Lakes
Myall Lakes National Park is located about 3hrs north of Sydney, or 1hr north of Newcastle, on the NSW mid-North coast. The park consists of 100,000 ha of scenic lakes and 40 km of beach coastline backed by high sand dunes and bushland housing a wide range of wildlife.
There are over 20 sites to choose from scattered through the park if considering camping at Myall Lakes. All sites have basic facilities including regularly cleaned pit toilets and untreated water available on tap for washing and some providing designated fireplaces for an open campfire.
Our top choice sites as visited so far are Banksia Green, literally a 1-minute walk over a sand dune to the beach with open fires allowed. Little shade is provided, therefore it is recommended to pack extra sun coverage.
Dee’s Corner, situated right next to the lake with shady surroundings and fireplaces for open campfires. Dee’s corner is also a convenient 5 minute walk from the beach over a moderately sized sand dune.
Camping at Myall Lakes National Park
The first and most obvious thing to do while camping at Myall Lakes National Park is to chill out, slow down and take it easy as we did for the weekend, cook a few sausages sink a few cold beers.
During the camping trip the lake apparently contained a 2.8m shark of unidentified species (either bull shark or great white), however, we realized that a shark of this size would require some pretty deep water to swim in and hence hanging around the shallows would be fine. The shallow water of the lake allows for many sporting and swimming opportunities, safe enough for those who cannot even really swim.
A night walk over the dunes to the beach can on a clear night provides an amazing view of the stars in the absence of local light pollution (although the glow of Port Stephens is still slightly visible on the far southern end). Here I had my first attempt at long exposure star trails, although the high ISO left quite a grainy image.
Another extremely popular activity while camping at Myall Lakes is to expose your inner adventure junkie and go out four wheel driving across the extensive sand dunes.
Myall Lakes Photography Challenge
The most planned out and challenging photo taken during the trip was the group photo. The challenge was to balance out exposure and color temperature from multiple light sources; including the white external flash and yellow campfire. While a nice result was achieved in the camera, shooting in RAW was vital in getting the final result with a bit of exposure and color balance adjustment.
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