For nearly 20 years of my young adult life I made my way down Button Road, through the middle of the Wangkuntila Aldinga Conservation Park (Aldinga Washpool), to get to Silver Sands Beach. In all that time I never noticed the natural treasure all around me.

At the time, windsurfing was everything to me and the ocean in the distance created a kind of tunnel vision, making me blind to anything other than the beach and the sea beyond. In fairness, my visits were invariably in summer, when the ephemeral wetlands appeared as parched grass and dry spinifex. From the road, the dried-out lagoon basins were simply not visible.

Today I wandered through that very same parched grass and dry spinifex and, for the first time, I noticed the meandering course of Silver Sands Creek. I noticed the pools of brackish water persisting through the dry heat. I noticed the juxtaposition of waterless salt pans alongside the green of sapphire.

Now that I know the treasure I have been missing out on, I will make the effort to visit again when South Australian winter rains fill the lagoons and Aldinga Washpool shows its wetland beauty.