Lake Crosbie Campground, Desert camping in North West Victoria

Marton Bodonyi

26 Jul 2020 · Updated 27 Oct 2020

For: Vast, surreal landscapes. Spacious. Clean and well stocked toilets. History meets nature.

Against: Limited protection from sun, thorns, wasps, nowhere to swim.

Lake Crosbie Campground, the sites are along the edges

Just south of the vast Murray Sunset National Park lies Lake Crosbie Campground and the Pink Lakes of the Mallee region. The terrain is unforgiving, covered in low lying bush, red earth and many, many burrs, thistles and thorns. The campground is flanked by 4 large salt lakes: Lake Hardie, Lake Crosbie, Lake Kenyon and Lake Beckling, that turn pink due to an algae that survives on their surface. We visited between Christmas and New Year and the pink wasn’t very pronounced — some fellow campers said that it’s best seen in rainier months.

Amenities

The toilets are clean and stocked, and the entire campsite is well looked after for a freebie. There’s a water tank with non-drinking water for washing hands however the taps are covered by thirsty wasps — more on that later…

Real estate

There’s plenty of space for campers however the spots right next to Lake Crosbie get taken first and trust us, that is exactly where you want to be! The view we woke up to in the morning was stunning, but you kind of had to be there.

Desert views, hard to capture the atmosphere in a photograph

Each of the campsites along the lake’s edge are configured slightly differently with some having a fireplace, some a picnic table, and some having both. All of them are suitable for larger groups or those in campervans and caravans.

Hot tip: Take tarps

On clear days you’ll need shade to stay out of the heat so bring plenty of tarps and ropes. There are some of sturdy trees you can attach to but look after them and don’t tie ropes to thin or loose branches.

The Kline Nature Walk from Lake Crosbie Campground includes a colonial history lesson about the area and the chance to play on some old salt mining equipment. Take more water than you usually would as the desert can really take it out of you. While you’re at it, make sure you’re wearing good shoes and some sturdy pants — the thorns show limited amounts of mercy in this part of the world.

The history section of the Kline Nature Walk — also accessible via Pioneer Drive — offers some good clambering opportunities

The great thing about the campground is you don’t need to take a long walk to enjoy the beauty of the area. At sunrise and sunset the lake next to the campground is wonderful for a casual wander.

The crunching of salt underneath my shoes sounded unreal

For those keen on off-roading there are some easy tracks going north up into the park. We managed to get to Mount Crozier Campground with our Nissan X-Trail without too much bravery or skill. It goes without saying but make sure your car is stocked with water at all times and tell others of your plans when you can.

Wildlife

We didn’t see much wildlife beyond birds, wasps and ants. The ants are really something. There are so many of them thriving in those desert conditions. They kept to themselves mostly, unlike those pesky wasps …

Hot tip: European Wasps!

If there’s one thing this trip taught us it’s that European wasps love water. Like really love water. Our drinking bottles, our dishes, our water containers all got covered in wasps drinking whatever they could from the edges. Once a few wasps had made it to our campsite it was on! We tried moving our water away from our campsite and setting water traps further away but once they were around it was hard to get rid of them. Even after we lit the fire the smoke didn’t deter them that much, in fact many were attracted to the fire and flew straight into it. We ended up eating dinner at a different picnic table to avoid them and by night time they’d all left our camp. None of them tried to sting us and they weren’t all that aggressive, there was just a lot of them. Mozzies on the other hand were nowhere to be found and I personally know which one I prefer.

Lake Crosbie Campground is a spacious, well stocked, and beautiful place to stay in the Murray Sunset National Park. It’s far away from the major cities and feels like it too. One for the mildly adventurous.