It would seem, what else can surprise the mainland, in which almost everything is already unusual? But Lake Hiller with its bright pink water is the unsolved miracle of stunning Australian nature.
It is located in the Resherche archipelago, on its
largest island, Middle (Middle), off the southern coast of Australia. Hiller Lake is salty and shallow, and the water in it has a juicy, dense
pink color. When you fly low enough on an airplane, you get a stunning view worthy of a surrealist painter: in the middle of the island lies a bright pink oval with smooth edges, framed by a white "frame" of sea salt and a dark green eucalyptus forest. The pink expanse of Lake Hiller is often compared with a giant bubble gum or shiny cake glaze.
Miracle story
Pink Lake in Australia was first mentioned back in 1802 in notes by Matthew Flinders. This famous British hydrograph and navigator made a stop on Middle Island during his trip to Sydney.
Then whalers and hunters who lived off the southern coast of the mainland in the 30-40s of the 19th century spoke about this lake.
At the beginning of the last century, they decided to extract salt here, but after six years they stopped their activity. And in the 50s, they conducted the first scientific research of salt water of amazing color.
Now Lake Hiller, Australia, is visited by numerous tourists who want to personally make sure that it is really so pink, as in the photographs.
Interesting fact
Water looks bright pink in any quantity, even in a small vessel, regardless of the angle of view.
Imagine how amazing the sunset looks when, in the pale pink Australian sky, the orange sun slowly sinks into the clear pink water!
A little information
The dimensions of the reservoir are quite small - about 600 meters in length and 200 meters in width. An amazing pink water is separated from the ocean by a sandy strip covered with a dense eucalyptus forest. A white ring of sea salt naturally appeared around the lake, which gives additional contrast. It is quite difficult to approach the lake because of the dense ring of eucalyptus trees that surround the lake. But, nevertheless, you can walk here and even swim in the salty pink water!
Why is it pink?
Scientists believed that Lake Hiller owes its juicy pink color to the special
algae Dunaliella salina, which emit a bright red pigment in very salty water. Similar algae have been found in other pink lakes in the world.
Samples of Lake Hiller were carefully studied, but traces of the alleged algae were never found. Studies were conducted by different scientists at different times, so there is no doubt about the reliability of the result. The color of the water has remained a mystery.
Australia loves to amaze such things, so the pink lake of Hiller has taken its rightful place among the living wonders of local nature, along with the bright red Mount Uluru, Shark Harbor, the desert of the pointed cliffs of The Pinnacles in the Nambung National Park, the striped mountains of the Bangle Bangle, the island Kangaroo, The Simpsons Desert and Great Barrier Reef.