I’m not quite sure how to describe the Thirlmere Lakes Walking Track… it’s not a particularly exciting walk, but it’s not unpleasant either. You could do worse! This wasn’t the bushwalk that we’d planned, but we ended up here after a combination of morning rain and unpleasantly high humidity made the original plan for an off-track walk a bit unappealing. So after checking out the Stonequarry Creek Aboriginal Grinding Groove site and a couple of Aboriginal art shelters, we park at one of the many starting point for the Thirlmere Lakes loop.
From the signposted trailhead along Slades Road, the route initially follows the Dry Lakes Road, a firetrail.
After 600m there’s a junction with a bushwalking track, which circles around three of the Thirlmere Lakes. Thirlmere Lakes National Park was established specifically to protect five perennial freshwater lakes – Lake Gandangarra, Lake Werri Berri, Lake Couridjah, Lake Baraba and Lake Nerrigorang. (The lakes are natural, and are thought to be about 15 million years old.)
The first lake along the Thirlmere Lakes Walking Track is Lake Gandangarra, named after the local Aboriginal people (also spelt Gundungara and Gundungurra).
The Thirlmere Lakes Walking Track passes through paperbark (Melaleuca linariifolia) near the shoreline and the locally significant river peppermint (Eucalyptus elata).
The park is home to over 140 species of bush and waterbirds, two species of macropod (eastern grey kangaroo and the swamp wallaby), the forest wombat and the short beaked echidna.. but we don’t spot much wildlife on our walk. Early morning or late afternoon would be best for this walk.
The Thirlmere Lakes Walking Track circles around the third lake, Lake Couridjah, before it reaches Slades Road. The second half of the loop is along an unsealed road.
Although this part of the Thirlmere Lakes Walking Track is a bit dreary – being along a road – it does provide a better view over the lakes. There’s a picnic area along the edge of the very full Lake Couridjah: it’s hard to imagine that Lake Couridjah was completely dry between October 2018 and February 2020. Water levels in Thirlmere Lakes have fluctuated over time, and for some time there was significant community concern that this was caused by mining activities by the Tahmoor Colliery.
Multiple studies concluded that “the Thirlmere Lakes can effectively be thought of as a set of ‘leaky bathtubs’” and that the primary driver of water level fluctuations over the study period was climate. There’s evidence that the 2018-2020 drought was not unprecedented, and that the Thirlmere Lakes have dried intermittently over the last 120 years of records (with a major drying period dated as far back as 12,000–21,000 years ago).
Alongside Lake Couridjah is the Heritage Pump Station, which was once used to replenish steam trains on the old southern railway line. It ceased operations in 1964, when the boiler and pump were removed.
Overlooking the road and the lakes are a series of sandstone shelters, which offer a shaded spot for a break.
There’s another picnic area next to Lake Werri Berri, where most of the dead trees in the water have been cut off. The large amounts of (mostly dead) trees in all of the lakes gives the false appearance of the lakes being artificial, or drowned valleys, but in fact it’s a natural phenomenon:
During the relatively dry period from 2000–2019, terrestrial plant species, including shrubs and trees, were found to have encroached into areas previously inundated and dominated by wetland species. After the recent rains of March 2021, these trees and shrubs are now inundated and it is likely they will subsequently die as a result. This is not the first time this has occurred, with photographic evidence from the 1950s showing dead trees in the centre of Lake Werri Berri (see Chapter 11). It is hypothesised that these trees may have established themselves during the World War II Drought, only to die after subsequent rainfall and inundation.
Thirlmere Lakes – A Synthesis of Current Research
Although this lake didn’t dry up completely (like the nearby Lake Couridjah), it was almost dry in 2009.
Another 15min of walking brings us back to the car.
Getting to the Thirlmere Lakes Walking Track
You can start at either of the picnic areas along Slades Road, which have parking, or at the trailhead on Dry Lakes Road. Or with a very short car shuffle you could just do the bushwalking track which is the more interesting part of the Thirlmere Lakes loop. Wherever you choose to start, it’s 20km (20min) from the Hume Highway via Picton, or 1:15min from Sydney.
More information
- ABC News – Thirlmere Lakes: Coal mining to blame for damage to World Heritage area (29 May 2016)
- University of NSW – The mystery of Thirlmere Lakes
- University of NSW – Thirlmere Lakes Hydrology: Where has all the water gone in Thirlmere Lakes? [PDF]
- Department of Planning and Environment – Thirlmere Lakes – A Synthesis of Current Research [PDF]
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