Pan shot of the open area of Nardoo, taken by Brett Smith© (November 2005)


The large pond (freshly filled) on Nardoo, taken by Brett Smith© (February 2003)


The large pond (empty, showing how deep it is) on Nardoo, taken by Brett Smith© (January 2004)


The large pond (Nardoo is covering the water) on Nardoo Reserve, taken by Brett Smith© (November 2005)

Nardoo consists of 191 hectares of mallee bushland and is located 2 kilometres west of Moorunde.

Back in 2003 we had several seasons of unusual rain, which allowed the man-made ponds to fill for a few years.
It was empty briefly in early 2004, then filled again. It has been empty since early 2006 due to the drought conditions.
The Nardoo plant grows vigorously every year. Even with empty ponds the Nardoo still flourishes, covering the bottom of the ponds in spring. Without sufficient rain, however, it dies off by Christmas.

Given the environment is semi-arid, it still amazes how such a prolific amount of water based life forms found their way into the ponds.

It is for this reason that the Wildlife photo section contains photo's of frogs, water boatmen, etc.

The reserve is named after the Nardoo plant that grows readily in the ponds every year.