I Visited The 'Pink Lake' In Melbourne And It Really Is Pink

Think rose syrup milk.

Agence France-Presse — Getty Images / Via static01.nyt.com

In case you didn't hear, a salt lake in Melbourne turned pink in early March, sending Melbournians and global netizens alike into (an understandably) collective frenzy.

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Instagram: @meowymous

According to various news reports, the pink phenomenon at Westgate Park in Port Melbourne is not new and has been occurring over the last few years during the summer months in Australia.

The lake reportedly turns pink under certain conditions: super high salt concentrations, high temperatures and low rainfall.

Unless you've lived in Melbourne fairly recently (or you ARE living there currently), it's pretty unlikely that you can claim to have actually SEEN a pink lake.

So like any curious, trend-obsessed millennial traveler would do, I decided to make it a point to actually see the thing during my recent trip to Melbourne.

But as any woke millennial (with a cynical disposition in general) would also do, I initially questioned the veracity of this supposed pink lake. I know the levels to which photos can be digitally manipulated by anyone these days with a smartphone and a photo editing app on it - heck, I've had friends show me how they do the Snapseed... deed (ayy).

@chrysphillips_

After trawling various Instagram accounts and pics for a few days (which showed the lake to be pretty darn pink), I finally decided to look up the directions to Westgate Park one cloudy afternoon.

Following a few wrong turns and one very expensive Uber ride to the park later (turns out that if you input 'Westgate Park' as your destination on the app, it will lead your driver exactly halfway across the West Gate Bridge that lies over the park where the lake clearly IS NOT located), I arrived at the park.

I immediately spotted families and groups of friends milling about, and there it was... the pink lake.

Tbh I was pretty shocked that it actually WAS pink, as everyone had claimed it to be. Granted it wasn't the lurid pink that I'd seen through photos, but no one can say that that's not a pink body of water.

Amanda Yap

I do believe that the lake actually will be a brighter pink in sunnier weather, or if you visit earlier in the day (this was taken at about 4 to 5pm).

UH OF COURSE I proceeded to join all the other visitors who were doing their best to take the perfect selfies with the pink lake after that. It would have been a travesty not to do so.

Disclaimer: The following images were not digitally edited in any way.

Amanda Yap

(Behind me you can see the actual West Gate Bridge where my Uber drive confusedly drove through earlier)

Amanda Yap

It reminded me of how some of my former elementary school classmates used to have rose syrup-and-milk drink concoctions as part of their lunches (which always looked straight up nasty to me).

I was also reminded of how the people in charge of the lake have repeatedly urged park visitors to refrain from touching - and presumably, drinking - the pink lake water.

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Amanda Yap

So, if you're wondering whether the pink lake in Melbourne is worth visiting, I can assure you that it IS indeed pink and you can walk away with some pretty decent shots of/with it, for The Gram.

Just do it at an earlier time and when it's super sunny out! :)