The (constantly-shifting) mouth of the Murray-Darling river system is also the Coorong’s mouth.
If the Murray is “roaring”, its “fresh” water “flushes” the Coorong – Australia’s longest lagoon; if it is not “roaring”, the combined forces of incoming ocean water and evaporation of the lagoon’s water make the Coorong progressively more saline.
The Coorong’s southern lagoon – a long way south of the Murray – is usually hypersaline.
This post’s photos were both taken from the Coorong’s northern part, looking at the Pullen Spit, and across it to the Southern Ocean.
In effect, the Pullen Spit is the northern bank of the Murray’s mouth.
Most of the birds in the featured image are fairy terns; you are looking at a nesting site.
I took the photo at 10.39 am on 13 March 2024.
In 2022, for the first time in two decades, the dredges at the Murray Mouth enjoyed a “holiday”; the 21st century’s first such major “flood event” had enabled the river to keep its mouth wide open, unassisted.
That happy state persisted for a little more than one year.
Dredging resumed on 27 November 2023.
It is possible – and permitted – for 4WD vehicles to drive along the shore (NOT into the sand dunes) from Goolwa’s Ocean Beach all the way to northern side of the Murray mouth…as pictured below.
Click here for spectacular aerial views of the 4WD route, Southern Ocean’s edge, Murray’s mouth and the Coorong’s northern lagoon.
Comments