Bullen Merri: water great place to spend summer

SUMMER arrived with a splash at Camperdown's Lake Bullen Merri yesterday as people from across the state enjoyed its sun-drenched waters.Drought has dried up many inland lakes, forcing speedboat enthusiasts to head south in search of watery fun.Ballarat's Jenny Chenhall will spend the next two weeks at the crater lake with her family."We have only had the boat for about six months," Ms Chenhall said."We are really just finding our feet but the children really enjoy it."Ms Chenhall plans to celebrate Christmas in true Aussie fashion, complete with prawns and a barbecue spread at the Camperdown caravan park with friends from Edenhope and South Australia."There will be about 18 of us. It will be great. We will be able to come down to lake have a swim and the children can play a little cricket," she said.The mother-of-three said drought conditions had limited her family's choices about where to spend Christmas. "You used to be able to waterski at Lake Learmonth and Lake Burrembete about 10 years ago, but there is not much water in them now. "Different to this lake (Bullen Merri), it's spring-fed. It's pretty popular for waterskiers. You should have been here on Sunday - there was about 20 boats on the lake."Geelong's Jacki Fitzsimmons and Ash Carter also enjoyed yesterday's heat at Bullen Merri, soaking up the sun on the lake's south beach with their border collie Bonnie."We were studying at Glenormiston College earlier this year," Ms Fitzsimmons said. "We visited Lake Bullen Merri then and decided to come back again because it was such a lovely day."