Afternoon by the lake

Yesterday, instead of coming straight home after school, we headed down to the lake for a while.

There are parks all round Lake Ginninderra* - this one is the Lake Ginninderra Western Foreshore District Park, off Joynton Smith Drive, Belconnen. The lake, like Lake Burley Griffin and others at Tuggeranong and Gungahlin, was created by damming a waterway and allowing the low-lying areas to fill. Lake Ginninderra was filled in 1974, and the areas around it have been developed since then, mostly for recreational purposes.

There's a boat ramp in the foreground of this photo, and this area of the lake is used for water sports (when it's not closed because of a blue-green algae outbreak). There are children's playgrounds at various points around the lake, barbecue and picnic areas, and walking and cycling tracks right round it. It can be quite busy on sunny weekends!

* Ginninderra comes from the Aboriginal name for the creek which flows through this area. The word apparently means 'sparkling or throwing out little rays of light'.