For many farmers salt inundation is bad news. But for a grazier in outback New South Wales, a salt lake once considered a waste of space has now become her happy place.
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00:00It looks like a snowfield, but this is a salt lake in Outback NSW, and it's being harvested.
00:10It's pure, it's like from a pristine environment.
00:14Jill McNamara has been living and working this sheep and goat station for three decades.
00:19Capego Station includes 850 acres of salt lake.
00:23We had a visitor one time who was a chef who suggested that we should do something with the actual salt
00:29and for me to work out how to get the salt, when to get the salt, how to clean it.
00:35The lake is a five kilometre drive from the homestead, and it's a bigger challenge than it looks to harvest.
00:42I came out the other day and actually fell, fell over.
00:47And you can't, there's nowhere for you to put your hands to push yourself up.
00:51It took me ages to try to sort of right myself again.
00:57After gathering the salt, it's dried and prepared back at the homestead.
01:02This Broken Hill Cafe is one of the few outlets where visitors can find this niche bush product.
01:08And the tourists really love it, they just love to buy something, whether it be small or large,
01:14to sort of say, well we've supported the town, or take something home.
01:18But for Jill, it's much more than a bit of pocket money.
01:21I like being out there, it's one of my favourite places, peace and solitude.
01:26And there's always a little bit of something to taste.
01:29Yeah, well it's salt.