WELCOME TO OUR LAKE

You hear all sorts of estimates on the size of Lake Macquarie, that large body of water between the Central Coast and Newcastle in New South Wales.

But take it from someone who lives next to it, the damn thing is big. It’s said there is no point on the coast from which you can see all of it. That’s true.

When standing on my sloping Colorbond roof, with thongs screwed to the metal, I can’t even see half of it.

For a complete view you have to drive to a lookout in the Watagan Mountains, about 45 minutes away, and look down.

Fact gatherers say the lake covers about 120sqkm, or four times the size of Sydney Harbour, and the shoreline is 174km long.

There is even an estimate of how many Olympic-size swimming pools that equates to — for some reason Australians like to compare everything to pools — but I’ll spare you the exact number in trillions.

Besides, Lake Macquarie is not four times the size of Sydney Harbour, it’s twice the size.

I actually tried sorting through all the mistaken estimates about this