The drought has broken.

[member34258]

The lake is empty.
They have formed a small earth barrier at one end to trap the remaining 12 inches of water.
Most of my friends who have boated on the Murray over Xmas say it was higher than last year. But one person was killed on the Murray by hitting submerged branches a couple of weeks ago, so I'm not sure if it is higher.

[stui magpie]

What a lot of people don't get is that a river doesn't start off shallow at the edges and get progressivly deeper as you head toward the middle. It can have "gutters" in the most obscure places. near the boat ramp ATM, I could walk 3/4 the way across. But I know from experience that you're only one step from a 10 foot drop. One poor sod from Cobram, an Iraqui refugee found that out the hard way just recently. Plus, there's usually at least 2 tools per year who think it would be a clever idea dive into the river off the bank. 10 feet dive, 6 inches of water, broken neck.

It is higher than last Xmas, but not much. It was lower in early spring. They tend to let a bit of extra water go around Xmas for tourists etc. It's actually lowest over winter.