Meanwhile in...

[ZenGum]

Meanwhile, in Outback Australia.... the lake catches fire, and can't be put out.

Firefighters in far western New South Wales are frustrated by a bizarre blaze that has been burning on and off for weeks under a dry lake.

About two months ago crews were called out to Lake Woytchugga, about five to 10 kilometres west of Wilcannia.

Chris Favelle, who manages the Rural Fire Service's far west team, said the sight that greeted them was certainly curious.

"We just got a call to the lake and sent our brigade as we normally do," he said.

"I think they were fairly perturbed to find that it appeared that the lake edge was on fire."

Since then, firefighters have tried digging up the hot ground and flooding it, but the smoke keeps coming back.

They suspect it could be being fuelled by ancient organic matter that just keeps smouldering.

"It's a lake bed that's only got water in it after floods and those sorts of things," Mr Favelle said.

"So we've tried everything from flooding the area with water, taking water tankers in and just flooding it, through to trying to dig a breaker around the area and contain the fire within a set location.

"Lately we've tried actually digging up the hot ground and trying to extinguish it that way but it just seems to keep going on us at this point in time."

More at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-1...d-lake/4424436